Midweek Moment

In March's newsletter article I talked about Easter being a season of many things, one of them being preparation. This week as I was going through my own tools of preparation, I begin to ask myself "what is the purpose of my preparation?" In other words, what fruits should I be able to show after I go through these 40 days of preparation.

Whenever I want to know if what I am doing falls under the category of kingdom building, I always try and go back and look at the One for whom I am trying to build the kingdom. In looking at this question, I immediately went back to Christ and that last meal that he shared with his disciples in the Upper Room. When they entered the room his first act was not one of introduction, of instruction, or of words at all. His first act was one of humility. As the disciples walked in, Jesus took upon himself the form of a servant, and began to wash their feet. Showing them the value of love, showing them the importance of giving to others, and showing them the necessity to put others above ourselves. Jesus wanted them to fully comprehend and understand that just as he was serving them, they were charged with going out and serving others. They were being told to cast aside societal and cultural mindsets of hierarchy and serve others. Can you imagine what this world would be like if we all did that? Instead of anger there was forgiveness, instead of grumbling there was gentleness, instead of a thirst for power and control there was trust. What would this church, this country, this world look like if we simply “washed each others feet”?

Best as I understand it now, the fruits that I want to show at the end of this season of preparation are the ability and the understanding to be able to pay forward those attitudes, blessings, and knowledge that the Holy Spirit has given to me. I want the time I spent in quiet communion with God to be the foundation for me passing on these ideas that Christ showed his disciples all those years ago.

With that in mind, I want to encourage all of you to join me as we continue to progress through Lent, searching for ways to develop those fruits within each of us. So that we might be the vessels, the tools, the real presence of God to another person. Look for ways you can model the servant mindset of washing feet, so that this season of preparation will bear fruit in all of us. So that this world might be transformed because we were in it. So that this world might know that God is here because we were prepared.




God bless you all and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!