He Reigns yet He Serves

A joyous Easter to all who celebrate. And to those who celebrate Passover, I hope your observance of the defining moment of Judaism was a great experience for you. And to all of those celebrating anything else as I close my period of daily personal reflection during the spring of this year--may peace and serenity guide you.

Yesterday, I mentioned a part of the Holy Thursday mass in the Catholic church--a remembrance of Jesus washing his apostles' feet that I wanted to reflect on this day. Here is the text from the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, starting from about verse 3 and continuing through verse 15. This is long, but well worth the read:

So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples' feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
"Master, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later."
Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet."
Jesus answered him,
"Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me."
Simon Peter said to him,
"Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well."
Jesus said to him,
"Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all."
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, "Not all of you are clean."
So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another's feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do."

In contrast with this, I believe that the closing song for the mass at which the worship band plays tomorrow is He Reigns.  We can sing He reigns because he conquered death.  He has given us the opportunity for new life, and His word is the greatest of all.

Yet, the model he set was that He served.  Just because a person has power doesn't mean that he should use that power to overwhelm all.  Instead, the power can (and should) be used to serve all and to make the world most like the Kingdom of God.  That is what power should be used for.  

Service can be big things--for example I may have another person ready to join Back on My Feet after running with this gentleman off and on for the past year and constantly extolling the virtues of the organization.  Making a commitment to a consistent service is a wonderful thing.

Service can involve teaching the word of God.  That is certainly what Sunday school teaching is all about.  That is another big commitment.

But those are commitments.  Once I am in being "all in" is fairly predictable.  I think that an even better example of service in my life occurred at the grocery store today when I was there for the third time.  (Yes, I ended up making four different trips to the grocery store today.  Two different stores two trips each.)  And, I think that a short reflection on what happened at the grocery store today is actually a wonderful way to end my Lenten and now Easter Sunday reflections for 2012.  

I was walking through the grocery store.  I had picked up three different twelve packs--one non-diet caffeinated soda, one diet, and seltzer water.  I had also picked up the deviled ham I needed to turn our extra hard boiled eggs (long story) into deviled eggs.  And I was headed for the last thing I needed--ice cream.  As I walked along, I saw a woman in a motorized wheel chair accidentally bump into a display and knock it over.  While I should not have hesitated to help her, I did.  But then, I thought to myself-what kind of follower of Jesus would I be if I didn't help her?  She had tried to situate herself to get the display to stand up again, but it was going to be difficult for her.   So, I offered to help, carefully turned the display on its side first to avoid having all the items (I don't even recall what it was but it was in a personal care aisle) fall out, stood it back up, and picked up the few price tags that had been knocked down.  She thanked me and we wished each other a happy holiday.  

Do I deserve a gold star--no, of course not.  It should be second nature.  But it is events like this--little unexpected and unplanned opportunities to serve others in need when I clearly have the power to help and the other person is clearly in need that define whether I am truly a follower of Jesus.  The routine is nice but is hardly a test of character.  The spontaneous will probably be a much bigger determinant of my eternal salvation.  The spontaneous is a much clearer definition of my character.  No time to think--just time to do, or not.  And if I do not, then it would be a sin of omission just as bad as any sin of commission that I might commit.  

So, I take forward with me one final message about being "all in".  To be "all in" when trying to follow the Almighty does not involve might but involves service--first and foremost--in big predictable ways and in little unexpected ways.  All in all the time.  

The Eucharist, The Cross, The Empty Tomb

If we were playing a game show like the $25,000 Pyramid or Jeopardy the response might be "Things a Catholic Priest is Likely to Mention at the Mass of the Lord's Supper".  And, sure enough, Monsignor Rick Hilgartner mentioned these three--not just independently but together at the Mass on Thursday.

The Catholic church sees the time from the Mass on Thursday (a very special mass at which we celebrate when the Lord served his apostles by washing their feet--most likely the topic for my final Lenten experience blog tomorrow) through the Easter Vigil mass as the Triduum.  The Triduum is the great three days--or the three day period during which we celebrate the Last Supper, the crucifixion, and the waiting the apostles did before the discovery of the empty tomb on Easter.

Monsignor not only mentioned these three, but, amusingly, he mentioned it within the context of the Baltimore Orioles.  How did he link those?  With the mass on the day before the opening day of the Orioles season, he reflected on local expectations of the Orioles season (which are poor, although the Orioles did win their first game).  When he talked about how low the expectations are, he also mentioned that solving the problems the Orioles have is not something that can be done with a single change.  The Orioles have a set of problems and solving the set of problems would require a whole set of solutions.

Similarly, Catholics celebrate the Eucharist each week.  It is in celebration of the Last Supper.  The Last Supper would have been only a philosophical discussion if it were not for the crucifixion on the cross (the cross behind the altar being a prominent feature in Catholic churches) the next day.  And the value of either of those would have been lost if not for the empty tomb on the third day.  So, if a person liked feeling like a part of the body of Christ (literally and figuratively as the members of the church today act as the hands and feet of Christ on earth) by receiving the Eucharist but don't buy how harsh the crucifixion was or don't buy the Resurrection then what is there.  Or if a person likes to believe in Resurrection but not the other two, there is something lacking.

What Monsignor emphasized was the need to buy the "whole package".  To buy all of what Jesus did.  And while the discussion was mostly about the things between the Last Supper and Easter, Monsignor also alluded to buying the whole set of things that Jesus preached and Jesus did.

So, once again, I was reminded of being "all in."  Except in this case instead of putting "my whole self in" (to quote the Hokey Pokey) it is putting my whole self around a whole set of beliefs.  Sometimes taking just part of the beliefs really doesn't work.  And this is one of those times.  It is a challenge to buy the "entire set of beliefs" for any church, religion, or philosophy.  But there are difficulties with being a cafeteria Catholic as well.

So, am I "all in" when it comes to this set of issues?  As far as the Triduum yes.  For all Catholic beliefs--there are some with which I struggle, but that is a part of my continued growth.  

"Practice" or "A Practice"

When I was reading Chi Running while Sherry and I were on vacation recently, there was a point in the book at which the author made a distinction between needing to practice something and making something a practice.  I looked for definitions online, and the first use is one we are all familiar with--doing something over and over to improve. The second use is also familiar but a little more subtle.  It is mostly a usual and customary way of doing something.  Many times, a person will need to practice something before it becomes a practice.  But just because a person practices, and maybe even becomes proficient at doing something does not necessarily mean that the person will make whatever it is a practice.  Practicing just requires repeating something.  Making something a practice, in my mind, requires a consequential change in the way that I lead my life.  It requires more of a definitiveness. It requires, to use the expression that I've used throughout my Lenten reflections, being "all in," at least as far as a particular activity or way of doing things is concerned.

As I am now on only the second morning of waking up without having to feed and water the dog and let her out, I notice how much I had made care for all three pets a practice in my morning routine.  There are a variety of other things that I make a practice of in my family life and my career.  One of the goals moving forward, is to realize that there are probably too many things that I was trying to make a practice of, and to focus on a subset and move forward better with those.  To truly be "all in" with the things I am making a practice of while other things get left behind.  Making a practice of better prioritization is key.

But the most important thing that I've made a practice of during this Lenten season that I did not before was daily reflection on my spiritual well being.  Sometimes tied directly to my physical (through all the ties between running and spirituality) and sometimes just standing on is own.  Regardless, I don't know that I'll have the time to write every day after the Lenten season is over, but I do want to try to continue to make spiritual reflection a practice in my daily life.  A usual part of my daily life.  It is a luxury to be able to do so--as there are many other things on my to do list that sometimes suffer--but it is a healthy luxury that helps me to move forward, to continue to grow, and to continue to deepen my understanding of my own spiritual needs, the spiritual needs of those around me, and the the relationship between my spiritual needs and other parts of my life  

Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95

The Catholic church has daily mass. The verses in Daniel that make up the title of this entry reflect yesterday's Old Testament reading. While I did not attend mass yesterday, I have begun to look to the readings each day as a source of inspiration for my writing.

So, what do I take away from the verses in the book of Daniel? Well, aside from some pretty cool names (King Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) the story is about how the last three of the men mentioned refused to turn away from their belief in God even at the risk of being exposed to a "white hot" furnace.

The reading ends with:

Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

This is another reflection of a Bible story with the people being "all in" and trusting in God. Once again it is a reminder to me (as there have been so many during this Lenten season) that life is all about being "all in" and being someone whom others can trust and about me putting my trust in my values, my beliefs, and God.

I suppose the signs of the importance of things like this have always been there. I am just making more of an effort to notice, comprehend, and integrate them into my life this year. It is a pretty awesome feeling.