Do You Wash My Feet?

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” John 13:6 ESV

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

When I was four years old, we lived in a tiny apartment over a store and my back yard was the flat roof of the building with a wall around its edge. One morning as I was out there playing with some pots and pans, I got the notion of flinging a frying pan over the wall, but my happy smile turned to terror as I heard loud yelling below and then the sound of footsteps coming up the fire escape. Soon the angry face of a delivery truck driver appeared at the top of the stairs holding the frying pan in his hand! My memory fails me as to what happened beyond the well-deserved spanking my mother dished out that day. As she finished, I shouted, “I don’t like you! I want to go live with Gammy and Cap-Cap!” (My grandparents) Mom quietly smiled as she dried my tears, then without argument, fetched my suitcase, put it up on the bed and started to help me pack. Soon I was down on the street, holding my luggage in one hand, staring determinedly ahead as mom pointed, “Okay you walk up this road about 500 miles and you’ll come to their house.” I made it about half a block when the sound of cars swooshing past and the long late afternoon shadows struck fear in my heart and in tears, I ran back to my mom and threw my arms around her. How hard it was to admit that she had been right all along and that I loved her! Just like me, Peter hated to admit how much he needed Jesus. He was ashamed how dirty his feet were, and shocked to see Jesus kneeling to wash them. But Jesus not only washed Peter’s feet, He wants to wash yours and mine as well. If we simply confess our need for Him, what a joy is ours when He washes us, then picks us up and carries us all the way home!

Till With Him We Will Be

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 


So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:6-7 ESV

It’s not what others say or think
Of what we’re going through
Or how they feel about the way 
Of all God asks of you

But only what His word has said
And what He calls us to
How on His cross He showed us all
That love asks us to do

Then the lame will walk and the deaf will hear 
And the blind begin to see 
By the power of the love of Christ 
For friend and enemy

That washes feet and feeds the poor
And turns the other cheek
And trusts to walk in faith today
Till with Him we will be

Till With Him We Will Be - by Peter Caligiuri copyright 
2021 all rights reserved.
Photo by Peter Caligiuri Pasco County – Florida

The Glory of Unity!

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, John 17:22 ESV

It is quite poplar at church to say that we should be one in the Spirit, but much as I have tried to get a hold on that unity, it seems elusive at best. Singing about it, having communion together and shaking hands after church feels great, but my sense of unity seems to evaporate somewhere in traffic on the way home. Part of the problem is that I along with many of you don’t get the first part of the verse. When Jesus talks about glory, I get this weird image of God giving us a standing ovation in heaven or perhaps Jesus pulling the Father aside and whispering, “See Pete over there – isn’t he great!”

The problem we then run into is that, we try to work up Christian unity by our own efforts. I don’t know how that works for you but the sad truth is that I am totally incapable of doing it. Unity comes only from God’s glory and the most glorious thing that the Father ever gave Jesus, happened at His baptism. Then the Heavens opened and the Spirit descended like a dove. That is a glory that only comes as a gift (Just like Salvation). We can’t work it up, plan it into existence or take credit for it. It is a unity that only comes from heaven and it is God’s gift. To live in His unity and His glory will only happen when we place our life as a living sacrifice on His altar and then wait for His Spirit to come and bring about what only Jesus can do. That way when it happens even for a moment, He gets all power and glory forever and ever Amen!