Welcome and Announcements
Hello Everyone! Thanks for joining us for worship today.
Opening Prayer
Creator God, Source of all life,
in you all creatures are connected
and all creation redeemed and made new.
Day by day you make yourself known to your people.
In the beauty of the heavens we see your glory.
In the bounty of the earth we know your generosity.
In strength for our bodies and minds we experience your energy.
Delighting in all that we have seen, known, and heard,
we worship you, one God, Creator, Christ, and Spirit.
Holy One, along with our praise, we offer you our confession.
we know and confess that we have fallen short of your desires and intentions for us.
We know and confess that we are slow to repent of our sins against you and others
We know at times we forget what we once knew of your love.
We know that we are consumed by worry and we forget to trust you.
Although we know you made us for a purpose, we choose our own ways.
Discouragement seeps into our hearts in the cold of winter
and we do not serve you with eagerness.
We do not see the needs of others
and we not come alongside to offer the support that is needed and wanted
We fail to speak out against injustice in our community.
In your mercy forgive us and heal us.
Renew our energy for your purposes.
Raise us up on wings of faith.
May we walk by your light and not grow weary.
May we run and not faint.
Gracious God,
We know that in confessing our sins we open the door
To the forgiveness you offer us in Christ our Savior
And to the renewing and transforming work of your Spirit.
Enable us to be at peace with you
and ever growing in our love for you and others.
Accept the worship we offer you now in Christ’s name. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
O God send your Spirit to move in us and among us. Focus our attention as we listen, so that we may absorb your Word more deeply, come to know you better, and serve you with greater purpose. Amen.
Scripture
John 13:1-17, 34-35 The Master give his students a lesson in humility
Sermon: From Served to Servants
On the night of his last meal with his disciples and after a series of previous discussions about who is the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus took the opportunity to reinforce the importance of being servants with his disciples. In doing so, he gave them another picture of why he had come to earth and that was to show the full extent of God’s love for us.
We are told in the gospel of John, that Jesus got up the table, removed his outer clothes, and took a basin of water and towel and began to wash his disciple’s feet.
We know from studying First Century Jewish customs that it was the common in Palestine that before people went to a feast like Passover that people would bathe themselves. When they came to the home of their host, they did not need to be bathed again. They simply needed their feet washed.
The washing of the feet was the ceremony, which preceded the entry into the house where they were to be guests. This was done obviously because the roads were dusty and cluttered with all kinds of garbage including animal and human waste. In order to keep their homes clean, a servant of the house would greet you at the door and clean your feet.
It was characteristically and universally known at the time as the “Washing of entry into the house.” On that Thursday night, no disciple offered or bothered to perform that important service of hospitality. So Jesus took the opportunity to do what the disciples refused to do on the night of their big dinner.
Jesus went from disciple to disciple, including Judas who would later betray him and washed their feet.
This must have been an unexpected sight to see their master doing the work of a household servant. No head of the household would ever do such a nasty and unpleasant task as to wash their guest’s feet.
How many of us would do that for our guests?
Things were going well with his demonstration of his love for them until came he came to wash the feet of the outspoken Peter. Peter obviously hasn’t got the point and refuses to let Jesus wash his feet as he believes it is in unbecoming to his master. Jesus essentially tells Peter,
“it is not the bathing of your body that you require, that you can do for yourself. What you need is the washing which marks your entry into the household of faith.”
Jesus also responds to Peter’s refusal by saying that if he doesn’t allow him to wash his feet he will “have no share in him ( or anything in common with Jesus).” It is as if Jesus says, “Peter are you going to be too proud to let me do this for you? If you are, then you will lose everything.”
The early church connected Jesus’ act of love in washing the disciples’ feet with the Sacrament of Baptism. They understood Jesus’ service as “the washing of entry” into the household of faith.
The one who comes to Christ cannot be too proud to accept Christ’s sacrificial service for them on the cross. And the one who accepts Christ’s act of service will naturally demonstrate their acceptance of it by being a servant to others as Jesus was his disciples and others.
William Barclay in his commentary on John shares this story of an English Captain to illustrate the meaning of Jesus’ act for us and how we are to follow it.
“In a book the Beloved Captain written by Donald Hankey, there is a passage, which describes how the beloved captain cared for his men after a routine march. “we all knew instinctively that he was our superior – a man of finer fibre than ourselves, a `toff’ in his own right.
I suppose that was why he could be so humble without loss of dignity. For he was humble, too, if that is the right word and I think it is. No trouble of ours was too small for him to attend to.
When we started route marches, for instance, and our feet were blistered and sore as they often were at first, you would have thought that they were his own feet from the trouble he took. . .
Nevertheless, there was in our eyes something almost religious about this care for our feet. It seemed to have a touch of the Christ about it, and we loved and honoured him the more.”
The strange thing is that it is the man who stoops like that – like Christ – whom men in the end honour as a king, and the memory of whom they will not willingly let die.” (Barclay, John, vol. 2, pp 162-163)
At the end of washing his disciple’s feet, Jesus asked his disciples if they understood what he had just done. He asks the question to make sure that they see the connection between what he has just done and what he wanted his disciples to do.
Jesus asked his disciples with their newly cleaned feet air now air drying by the table,
“Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:12b-17)
Do you understand what Jesus is getting at here? We have no excuses for not doing what Jesus tells us to do for we have the story in John to read and reread to reflect upon as many times as we want.
We know how this act of service fits in with Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.
We have interpreters of Jesus’s service like the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:1-11.
Paul lays that out pretty clearly in Philippians 2:1-11.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, (Phil 2:4-5ff)
And we are told at the end of his final Supper Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment…
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
We are told to go give the world a picture of Jesus through our service to others. People will argue about words, but words put into action as Jesus demonstrated are a powerful combination. It is vivid image of what it means to follow Christ.
On one of my past holidays to California with my wife and in-laws, my sister Sally gave us a wonderful picture of a servant.
When we arrived at the John Wayne Airport in Southern California and were getting our baggage, I heard a familiar “Hey Claydoh.” I turned around and it was my youngest sister, who some of you have met at my daughter’s wedding 2 years ago. We had not expected to see my sister for a week as we were heading north to explore Northern California. She drove the 20 minutes to airport to greet us and welcome me home. She brought food, some lunch stuff that we might need, along with a cooler with an ice pack. She also brought maps and travel books with her for us.
This was our entry into Southern California, and for me a wonderful welcome home. It was unexpected and wonderful gift of service to us.
Those who know deeply the service Christ has sacrificially offered to them will be caring servants to others.
I want to commend one our members who went out their way to serve and help one our members in their time of need this past week on the day in snowed. The act of service speaks volumes about how well this person understands how Christ has served them.
I know we are getting a bit squirrely with having lived with the pandemic for a year now. We are anxious about our future. We are angry and frustrated in different ways. We don’t always know what to do with the excess and diverse emotions and energy we have these days.
I hear in this passage a powerful reminder and encouragement from Jesus to put our energy into the serving and loving our neighbors as did a year ago at the beginning of the pandemic. Our actions of service and love speak volumes about faith and loyalty to Christ.
May we glorify and honor our Lord in our daily acts of service and encouragement to those to whom God sends us to serve. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Holy and loving God,
we thank you for the story of Christ’s life among us,
a pattern for the way we live.
We give you thanks for moments of quiet and contemplation that restore us,
and help us perceive your Spirit at work in the world and in our own lives.
Teach us to trust in your strength,
so that we can live with confidence and courage
even amid stress and anxiety.
These days of pandemic are still difficult
and we need to know you are near in our lonely times.
Meet us in that place of deep stillness within us all.
In the quiet of this moment we hand over to you
all those things stirring within us today:
Anything that has been distracting or hurtful…(Hold a silence)
Anything that makes us worry or brings sleepless nights…(Hold a silence)
Our hopes and dreams for the future…(Hold a silence)
and for the lives of those we love…(Hold a silence)
We hold before you the needs and hopes of those we know who need your presence, especially remembering those facing grief and loss…
(Hold a silence)
We pray for wisdom for the leaders of our world…(Hold a silence)
We pray that peace and prosperity will begin to flourish in places facing war, famine, and disaster, and we pray for the work of Presbyterian World Service & Development serving in these situations…
(Hold a silence)
We pray that those who manage the world economy find honest, just and generous ways to respond to the challenges caused by the pandemic…
(Hold a silence)
We pray that the dignity of each creature be honoured and the earth itself be treasured…
(Hold a silence)
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers we that we offer you in Christ’s powerful and loving name. Amen.
THE BLESSING (Phil. 1:9-10)
May your love abound more and more,
with knowledge and all understanding,
so that you may approve what is excellent,
and be pure and blameless
for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruits of righteousness
which come through Jesus Christ,
to the glory of and praise of God.
Have great week. Stay safe!
Be a blessing to someone this week!
Take care!
Prayer Partnership
Sunday, February 7 (PWS&D Sunday) We give thanks for congregations and individuals who continue to generously support the work Presbyterian World Service & Development is doing to bring abundant life for all.
Monday, February 8 We pray for The Presbyterian Church in Canada’s staff as they work to carry out the decisions of the General Assembly and support the church’s mission in the world.
Tuesday, February 9 We pray for those doing interim or transitional ministry, and for the congregations they are serving, that God will work with them to bring healing, new hope and renewed vision.
Wednesday, February 10 We pray for Sylvia Haddad, Director of the Joint Christian Committee for Social Service, as she supports Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Thursday, February 11 We pray for those offering congregational and mission outreach programs and for those who receive food and clothing from them. May they all experience the love of Christ through these caring initiatives.
Friday, February 12 Today is the anniversary of the publication of the PCC’s letter of repentance for how it has treated LGBTQI people. We pray for those harmed by homophobia and ask for God’s guidance in becoming a more inclusive and whole church.
Saturday, February 13 We pray for Captain Gavin Robertson, who serves as a reserve force military chaplain in Trail, B.C., and for his ministry of presence with the diverse communities that are part of the Canadian Armed Forces.