Maundy Thursday and Remembering Their Names

Jesus meets his accusers

“What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!”

(pause)

It seems as if death,

Is the only time,

That our bodies

No matter who we are,

That our bodies are treated

With mercy and sympathy,

Flowing as mildly,

As the tepid waters

Washing away the last bit of harshness,

Of our lives.

This Maundy Thursday,

Their names

Are on my mind,

Those whose bodies

Were treated

As roughly,

As Judas’s name has been spat out

Out of our mouths

With so much venom

(pause)

Whose bodies

Were blamed,

Without any grace or mercy

Were labeled,

As a liability

And a threat

Simply because their presence,

Was,

Is

The reminder that we do not love our neighbor,

Especially when they do not look,

Sound

Like

Us.

(pause)

Say

Their

Names

Say those names,

Whose voices

Are echoing

In these words

Because at the end of their journey,

It is there

Where they finally found compassion,

Healing

Acceptance

(pause)

Trayvon,

Michael

Eric

Sandra

Stephon

Rekya

Amanda

Oscar

Angel

Tevin

Peter

Alyssa

Martin

Nicholas

Jamie

Luke

and the countless others,

names we may never know,

here beyond our walls

beyond these streets,

(pause)

At the end of their lives,

Stolen

Robbed

From them,

From their families

And from yes,

Us as well,

That place,

Where Jesus Christ goes to make room,

For all of us

Welcoming us

Sometimes,

That place

Is the only place

Where we are lovingly cared for

Washed away, all the pain,

The troubles that bore us down

And forgiven.

(pause)

I don’t understand how hard it is,

To answer this question of

“Who is my neighbor?”

And when that neighbor has been hurt,

Pained

Wounded

Broken

Why don’t we reach out,

With towels

With water

To wash away tears,

Suffering

Agony?

(pause)

When their feet

Are caked over

with bruises

Why won’t we

Pull up a chair

And give of ourselves

So that they can be given relief,

And given back their humanity?

(pause)

When they don’t know

If it’s even safe to rest,

Or if they even have permission to breathe and be still,

Because they are homeless

Or because they are imprisoned

In a hell of humanity’s own making

When disease

And illness

Has robbed them

Of the strength to stand,

On their own two feet

Why can’t we,

Live out our faith

And care for others

Just as we are lovingly cared for

Each and every moment

Whether we realize it,

Or not?

(pause)

Last week,

The wider expression of this Church’s leadership,

Our presiding Bishop,

Along with many Synodical Bishops

Put out a statement of public commitment of witness

Standing for and with those victims of gun violence,

That they as Pastoral leaders were supporting

And encouraging the youth in this Church

To #MarchForOurLives

(pause)

I shouldn’t have read the comments

There were those misguided,

Angry that the Church was siding with those affected

And those oppressed

As if this was some personal judgement against them

There were people who lashed out,

And lambasted the Church

For speaking out,

For being political,

Heh, what Jesus are they following?

(pause)

Instead suggesting that we, the Church

Should simply send our thoughts and prayers,

Should push this nation to accept the Christian God

And stricter moral laws

And two parents in a Christian home,

As if that was going to solve everything.

(pause)

“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.”

(pause)

If Jesus has left us stories,

examples of his work,

his activism,

his actions to do for others,

what are we still not getting about

“Who is our Neighbor?”

or

how we should Love our Neighbor?

(pause)

Does the knowledge that regardless

Of who the disciples were,

Or who we are

Or what any of us have done,

That Jesus Christ comes,

Kneels at our feet

And washes them,

(pause)

Showing us

Teaching us,

In that moment

What it means,

To be responsible for one another’s bodies,

Because Jesus has everything else-

Our FREEDOM

In His Body

Our LIVES

In His Body

Our SALVATION

In

His

Body.

(pause)

But we have to be mindful,

That we should adhere to the love

And responsibility

Of one another’s physical bodies,

That we have to care for this

(pause)

Doesn’t this act,

Of kneeling

Being vulnerable

To one another,

Who are the vulnerable

Fill us UP?

Until the tears are streaming,

Until our spirit is shook,

Until our own soul cannot help but sing,

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.

To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;

While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;

While millions join the theme, I will sing.