Yes, it was communion Sabbath, and we celebrated communion.
Part of communion is who gets invited to the table to share it.
Part of being invited is being made to feel welcome.
Part of feeling welcome is being a good neighbor.
This week, Pastor Dustin got us thinking about what it means to be a good neighbor. Not just in theory (as if neighborliness is a nice concept that has little to do real people) but actually in our own neighborhood, those houses that people live in right around our church.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and perhaps a video clip even more than that, we thought we would share with you what Pastor Dustin discovered as he moved into the neighborhood and actually talked, not to, but with, our neighbors.
We think they say it best. Click here to hear what they had to say.
Maybe Mr. Rogers was on to something?
Some Key Thoughts from the Sermon:
When the youth held the carwash for the neighborhood, I found myself on my hands and knees in the hot sun, cleaning the dirt and filth from the floors of our neighbors cars, and I thought, ‘This is communion. This is a modern day footwashing.’ Just as Jesus bent down to clean the disciples’ feet that had become dirty from walking the roads, so too we bent down to clean the floor mats and wash the tires of our neighbors’ modes of transportation. And that is what we do today. In communion we celebrate a community of people who gather around a table that commemorates loving service. It’s a table big enough to invite others to gather there with us. And it’s a place where we remember Jesus’ willingness to serve us, and then serve as He did.
Click here to see what some other churches have done as they have considered what it means to kneel and serve in their communities.
Click here if you'd like to take a closer look at just where the people right around us live, and where we might begin, right here in our own neighborhood, to reach out and get to know our neighbors . . . and perhaps in the process be one!
John 13:1-17(TNIV)
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
9 "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
10 Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.