Updated: Foot Washing. No Job to Small for Our God.

This post is actually an update of a post from earlier today.  I was fortunate enough to attend the Holy Thursday Mass. Our assistant pastor gave a great homily that provided an additional insight.  I got another insight the repose of the blessed sacrament, I was reading William Barclay's commentary concerning the footwashing.  The additional info is in italics.

The Holy Land is a dusty place.  Imagine how dirty your feet would be if you walked around in sandals, all the time. When going into someone's home, a slave or a servant of the owner would wash your feet. If there wasn't a servant, the homeowner would wash your feet. In the case of Jesus and the disciples, if there wasn't a servant or homeowner about, the disciples probably took turns. It would be unprecedented if a rabbi washed the feet of his disciples and a major breach of etiquette if a guest were to wash the feet of others.

William Barclay, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, points to Luke 22:24 as another potential reason for performing the foot washing.  In this passage, a dispute arose amongst the disciples about who would be the greatest. Perhaps they no one was willing to do the washing before entering into the building for the Passover meal?  Jesus takes things into his own hands and does what none of them are willing to do.

Another interesting thing about the footwashing that our assistant pastor brought up concerns what Jesus and his disciples are celebrating?  The Passover.  What is the Passover all about?  Celebrating their physical delivery from slavery under the Egyptians.  What did Jesus do, he delivered us from the slavery of our sin, our sickness, our blindness.  The Lord who has set us free from slavery has become the slave to his disciples.

What an example the Lord has set for us.

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. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it."

John 13:12-17

God humbled himself by coming as a human to share in our experience. He could have come as an earthly king. Instead he came as a servant to set an example for us all. What does that say about his Love for us? What an awesome God.

Blessings to you

Tim

Foot Washing. No Job to Small for Our God.

The Holy Land is a dusty place.  Imagine how dirty your feet would be if you walked around in sandals, all the time.

When going into someone's home, a slave or a servant of the owner would wash your feet. If there wasn't a servant, the homeowner would wash your feet. It would be unprecedented if a rabbi washed the feet of his disciples and a major breach of etiquette if a guest were to wash the feet of others.

What an example the Lord has set for us.

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. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it."

John 13:12-17

God humbled himself by coming as a human to share in our experience. He could have come as an earthly king. Instead he came as a servant to set an example for us all. What does that say about his Love for us? What an awesome God.

Blessings to you

Tim

Enjoying His Creation

We took a ride to see the Snow Geese up near Mt. Vernon and the Bald Eagles who are wintering along the Skagit River. Short trips like this are how we try to spend our Sundays together as a family. Sometimes, life intercedes and we aren't able to something like this. But we do the best we can, right? Here are some pictures from the trip.

This one is looking across the fields of the Skagit Valley towards Mt. Baker.

Another shot of Mt. Baker, this time framed by some trees on the edge of the farms fields.

Close up of some of the snow geese and even some trumpeter swans

Finally, a shot of the final rays of sun on the Cascades near Rockport, WA. I beg to differ from those who say there isn't a God. Our Father has a wonderful, beautiful pallete.

Blessings to you all

Tim

Our Father, Part 1

We started saying bedtime prayers with the girls when they were 2 years old. Now that they are 5 and 2.5, they seem to have them down pretty good. We say the "Our Father", "Hail, Mary", and the "Glory Be". All followed by "God Blesses" where the girls ask for God's blessings on family members, friends, and sometime toys. For instance our youngest occasionally asks for God's blessing for her Hippo Bank or Dora Hat. We try and steer them towards their sister, Mommy, Grandmas and Grandpas, Nana, and the rest of the family.

One of the things that turned me off about the church when I was in high school was that I knew all the prayers, but I just didn't get anything out of it. The rote memorization wasn't helping anymore. It wasn't until later when I started bible study that I actually began to more fully understand what I was praying. Last summer, our Bible Study Group covered the Lord's Prayer as part of our study of the Sermon on the Mount. We used William Barclay's commentary on Matthew for the study. I really recommend reading it. It's quite illuminating and you will probably never say the Lord's Prayer in a hurry again.

From this learning, I plan to slowly break out the meaning of the "Our Father" for our oldest daughter. So, rather than knowing the prayer by heart and trying to get through it as quickly as possible, as is starting to happen, she will hopefully come to love and understand the prayer as I have.

Our Lord told us to pray like this: "Our Father"

So every once and a while, I will talk to her about the phrase "Our Father". I start by asking her what she thinks this means. At first she didn't understand, so I would explain, starting with something all the lines of: God is not YOUR father, God is not MY Father. God is Our Father. All of us are the children of the Father. Sisters and Brothers are supposed to love each other. Sisters and Brothers are supposed to be nice to each other. If we hurt or are mean to one of our sisters or brothers we say we are sorry and we ask for forgiveness. If one our sisters or brothers hurts us, we forgive them and move on.

I've been doing this in small digestible chunks with her and it is starting to sink in. When I ask her about it, she is able to explain it to me. Awesome!

Hopefully these small bits of learning will stick with her when she gets tired of the rote memorization. My biggest concern is that she falls away from the church like I did.

Blessings

Tim

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