767 ELM STREET * ROCKY HILL * CONNECTICUT 06067
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767 ELM STREET * ROCKY HILL * CONNECTICUT 06067 |
           
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The word “should” often provokes a stress response in people because they understand that they need to do something different or be something different. Some people respond by actively seeking to change something in their own life or something about our world. This is a positive form of stress-it compels us to act. For other people, they suppress or deny the need for change and nothing changes-for them the stress is to be avoided and thus the situation that stimulated the stress is avoided as well. All of this seems to revolve around the way we “see” things in life. One person once remarked to me that “perception is reality”! Of course, how we see things contributes greatly as to how we respond to life’s challenges and invitations. In his book, “Love is Letting Go of Fear”, Dr. Gerry Jampolsky, a noted Psychiatrist points out that human beings operate from two basic emotions, fear or love. Obviously, one who operates from fear will experience others as a threat to them or their position, they will be anxious about a lot of things in life and will see the glass as half empty. Life becomes a problem to be solved rather than a mystery in faith to live. But the person that operates from love will often display an inner serenity, they serve others lovingly, they do not keep account of past hurts, and that lives in thankfulness-seeing life as a wondrous mystery despite the pain of so much of life. They have an attitude of gratitude. The Lord’s Supper that we celebrate this evening sits in a Passover context. It is a context that calls the liberating and saving action of god to the present and places a choice before us: slavery or freedom; fear or love! The Lord shows us what choice he calls his followers to-the choice to serve, to live for others, to be a person for others. It is here, in this attitude and action of love that human beings find what they had been searching for throughout their lives; freedom from fear, contentment, and inner serenity that comes when one trusts God by leading a life of service. When Jesus took off his tunic and took the wash bowl and towel he assumed the identity of a servant. His request to us: “you must do the same.” Well, Peter will hear none of this. But why? What was he afraid of? Was he afraid of change? Was he afraid to accept the new definition of reality that Jesus was offering? Was he afraid to accept the new definition of how he was to relate to the Lord? Was he afraid to have his perception of reality turned on its head? It sure seems so. Jesus dispenses with the master/slave relationship that was common in his day, and still finds expression in our culture in some ways. He replaces the master/slave relationship with friendship; a friendship anchored in being a “foot washer” for others. To follow the Lord, to partake of him, is to accept the urgency of accepting this new definition of the relationship with the Lord and to be prepared to move quickly on it. In this Passover setting of the Last Supper is that sense of urgency that now is the time to act, freedom is here and is coming with its fullness, seize this moment and passover over to the new life of freedom. And this is a choice each one of us is has to make in life. Things do not happen because of the passing of time, or at least, changes in human affairs do not happen because of the passing of time. As Dr. King once noted in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” “….progress does not roll in on wheels of inevitability.” Progress in human affairs happens when a person, group, or church responds to the call for service and they become God’s earthen vessels for human liberation. The Lord calls all of us to service, diakonia. For each person the acceptance of this call will take various forms. Some will minister to the sick in the medical profession, some will work for social change to promote the interests of the vulnerable of our community, some will work for international peace, and some will work to feed the poor. None of us can do everything but all of us can do something. Here we are here at this commemoration of the Lord’s Supper-his Passover into new life. Lord, give us the strength to choose the way of freedom, the life of service. Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D.Min. Return to Saint James Home Page |