Love and Service

A Sermon for  Maundy Thursday, offered by Nathan Ferrell +, for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17,31-35

Love and service. Love and service. These are the key notes of this feast, the pathways that lead to new heights, the two sides of the same gospel coin.


But what do they mean? In particular, on this night when we remember Christ’s call to serve one another in the ceremony of washing each other’s feet, what does it mean to serve?

These words – serve, servant, service - they mean many different things in our language today. These are some of the most flexible and widely used words in our vocabulary. For instance, please indluge me for a moment and consider the following:

When we gather together at church, we worship the Lord and together we attend the service. We invite our younger brothers and sisters to participate by serving at the altar. If they misbehave a bit, well, we don’t really mind too much. But things are different at school! Their teachers will make sure that their pupils serve their full detention if necessary to correct poor behavior. Of course, many teachers are now encouraged by the possibilities of Service-Learning as a new educational tool at their disposal. As these young people get older, they might join their school’s tennis team. And if they serve the ball well, then they get to hold service for yet another game. Before we know it, our young people will learn to drive, and if they have a problem with their car, well they can go to a nearby service center, where we hope they will receive some excellent customer service.

While driving around, these young folks very likely could be stopped by those who are called to protect and serve. It’s possible that they might then be forced to provide some hours of community service. But if our young people cross the line yet more severely, they may be forced to serve time behind bars. Back at home, they will be served papers with a schedule for their appointed date with the judge! And for all of us, those scoundrels will serve as a good reminder for the crucial importance of developing self-control. Their names will be recorded in the county court records, which are all computerized now and which can be accessed through the courthouse servers. And we do hope that all those working in the county government will provide effective services to our communities, and if they do not, we will serve notice to those public servants in the next election that they must do better.

Perhaps when our young people leave school, they may perhaps join the service by enlisting in the navy. We will all be proud of them for serving our country, and when they are home on furlough, we will gather the family, spread the table and declare with joy, “Dinner is served.”

OK! Do you see my point? How then are we to understand these busy words? Serve and service?

Our Teacher and Lord, Jesus Christ, came to us as one who serves. But what exactly does that mean? How do we understand this use of the word service?

For starters, we do have the visual description of his example. “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 for you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master.”

For us, then, to serve means very simply to meet the needs of another. Therefore, Christian service is action, but it is always first preceded by the movement of the heart. We must first make the choice to be conscious of the other’s needs, and then we must have the intention of doing whatever is required to meet that need.

Now, it seems clear to me that, in general, we are not very comfortable with this kind of relationship at all. Most of us are very independent-minded. “I can do for myself, thank you very much. And you take of yourself, and everyone will be happy!” Because to serve implies different levels of class or authority. Someone is standing over another, giving orders.

But we must change our thinking now. Throw out that old concept, because in Christ, to choose to be a servant is a sign of authority and dignity and power. Christ calls each one of us to make this choice, to freely take on the role of the servant with strength and determination.

Every time we are fed at the Altar of the Lord, we give thanks afterward and we say this: “Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you…”

To love and serve. This is the reason that he feeds us.

Christ has made you clean. You are clean, my brothers and sisters. But you have been made clean not simply so that you can enjoy your cleanliness, but so that you can be prepared to serve others in the power of God’s love.

In just a minute, I will invite all of you to come forward to have your feet washed. You do not have to do this, of course. It is your choice to make. But whatever your choice, tonight, tomorrow and in the days to come, do not let fear control your decision-making. Make your choice on the basis of strength, courage and love. I pray that the Holy Spirit will empower your hearts to make the choice to become servants with Jesus Christ for the sake of love. Amen.