Maundy Thursday and Remembering Their Names
“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.
