Sermon: Craving community (Maundy Thursday 2015)

Maundy Thursday

April 2, 2015

Exodus 12:1-14

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

            In about 20 weeks, Michael and I will enter into an entirely new chapter in our lives: parenthood. There will be so much learning, so many new skills to develop (for all three of us!), so much love to give, and we are certain it will be unlike anything we can imagine. So naturally, being the planning, well-prepared person I am, I have sought out communities to help. We go to classes. We reach out to friends we know who already have kids. And recently, I even joined an online Rochester moms group on Facebook, where people can share stories, seek advice, or even set up play-dates with nearby fellow-moms and their kids. Even as we grow our little Rehbaum community in our home, we are looking outward to connect with a larger community both here in Rochester and beyond.

            It’s no surprise, really, that we’ve made this effort. Regardless of our particular place in life, people crave community, don’t we? Online communities are big right now, many of us are connected to community groups such as Rotary or Quilt Guild. Of course many of us here tonight seek our community right here at church, where, in addition to our weekly worship in which we gather around Word and sacrament, we also have fun events, get out in the community and serve, and more.

            Yes, we humans crave community… and yet do you also find that these days, it is harder and harder to find genuine, meaningful community? I think and hope that the church is one place we do that well, but what about outside the church? How well do you know your neighbors, the people who live right next door or across the street? When you go to the grocery store, do you get in and out as fast as you can, or is it an opportunity to see and connect with people? When you need a tool or something, do you go and buy it or rent it yourself, or do you find someone from whom you can borrow it? When you travel somewhere, do you drive your own car, or do you walk, or take the bus, and see whom you encounter?

            Our culture is so interested in the individual and the needs of the individual, and the ability to be self-sufficient is seen as a positive attribute, but I think it is to the detriment of genuine

community. We no longer need each other. I read a fascinating book last year called In the Neighborhood. It was written by a Rochester native and reflects on his experience living in a posh neighborhood in Brighton, as he tries to figure out whatever happened to neighborhood communities. One observation he makes is that now there is no need to go to the community swimming pool, because everyone has their own; no one needs to go to the Y because they have a home gym in their basement; no one needs to go to the movies together because they have a large screen TV in their living room. We are so self-sufficient, we have no need for engagement with our neighbors.

            But the texts we hear tonight, and every year on Maundy Thursday, reflect that God has something very different in mind for humanity. Look at our Exodus text, which describes what would become the Passover event. If you need a refresher, the Passover is what resulted from God’s instructions to the Israelites during the 10^th plague when they were slaves in Egypt – that’s the one where all the firstborns in Egypt were struck dead, but those who followed God’s command in this text would be “passed over” by the spirit of death. This was the act of God that would finally convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go free.

            But here’s what I noticed about the story this time: it is very community-centered. If your

family is too small to eat a whole lamb, share with another family. Consume the meal all together. And be ready to travel, because right after this, we are all taking off together, leaving Egypt and heading for the Promised Land. The message is very much, “we are in this thing together,” all the way to the last line, which says, “And not just you, but everyone who comes after you should remember this communal event for generations to come.” This is not about one community in one moment of time, but about the entire community of God across all generations. There is nothing individualistic about the Passover.

            Of course it was also during the Passover that Jesus celebrated with his friends the Last Supper, which we hear about in our 1 Corinthians text, and which as we know became the central Christian act of community: Holy Communion. In this sacrament, we, too, gather with people in our own congregation, as well as Christians around the world, and people who have gone before us and who will come after, an entire community of believers across time and place, all gathered around a

by He Qi

simple meal: a loaf of bread and a cup of wine. That image of so many people from so many places gathered around the singleness of a loaf of bread and a cup of wine is a powerful one – like the ancient communion prayer, “As grains of wheat once scattered on a hill were gathered into one to become our bread, so may all your people from all the ends of earth, be gathered into one in you.” Even if there are some folks around us whom we don’t really care for, who annoy us or have hurt us – around this sacrament, we are one community in Christ, one loaf, one cup, one people.

            Community is clearly God’s intention for humanity. It is also something I have thought quite a lot about this Lent as we have explored simplicity. The values underlying our study have been those of caring for creation and for each other – in short, loving neighbors near and far, human and nonhuman. While there are some ways we can do this all on our own, the best way to live simply and lightly in this world is to live in community.  

I recently heard an interview with activist and devout Methodist Bill McKibben, who founded 350.org, a grassroots organization focused on raising awareness of the need to lower our carbon emissions if we want to slow the destruction of this beautiful creation. He speaks very theologically and biblically about this need. Toward the end of the interview, he speaks about how some of the best things we can do for the earth are also some of the best things we can do for our own joy… and that is to seek community. To share things rather than just buy them ourselves, to take public transportation, to cook larger meals and invite our neighbors, to shop at the farmer’s market, where people have an average of 8-10 conversations instead of the 0-1 they have at the grocery store. For a people so accustomed to self-sufficiency, these ideas may seem inconvenient and counter-cultural, but they are in fact a beautiful way not only to be kind to the earth and get to know the people who live close to us, but to live into God’s call toward community.

In our Gospel lesson tonight, we hear from Jesus his new commandment: “to love one another as I have loved you.” This he commands after he has himself just expressed his love in the simplest

John August Swanson, Washing

and somewhat inconvenient manner: washing the feet of his disciples. He goes out of his way to serve these people he knows will deny him, betray him, and abandon him, because that is what members of a loving community of Christ do: they love rather than judge, they serve rather than reject, and they go to whatever length necessary – even to the cross – in order to show that love and offer that service to one another, no matter the inconvenience it may require. As Christ loved us, let us love one another, striving for the incredible joy of a community in Christ.

Let us pray… God of all creation, you have created us to live among one another, to serve and help one another, and in Christ you gave the command to love one another as you have loved us. Help us overcome our need to be self-sufficient, and to see instead how we can be in community with those around us, helping, serving, and loving one another. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.