Fellowship

Silly Goose!

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 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Romans 12:3

As a teen-ager I lived on a small farm for about two years. Every day I had pigs to slop, cows to milk, chickens to feed and even a couple of goats to tend. But of all the animals we had on the farm the ones I liked the least were the geese. Yes some mornings the cow could be ill- tempered, the pigs were smelly, and the chickens needed constant protection from the local raccoon but the annoying thing about geese is how they acted like they were better than any of the other animals on the farm.

photo of white goose

Photo by Annari du Plessis on Pexels.com

Whenever I approached to feed them they would stick out their necks and hiss and flap their wings in a phony show of courage. But if I took a few steps toward them, they would turn tail and run as fast as their clumsy webbed feet could carry them.  No matter how much they hissed, flapped or ran they never really convinced anyone of their importance. In fact one of my favorite things on the fourth of July was to shoot bottle rockets close to those geese and then laugh uproariously as they hissed and honked –  (Remember I was a teen-ager!) 

But before feeling so smug about how foolish those geese were I need to ask myself about the  times when to God I must have looked a lot like those geese. He sees me put on a great show of bravery and self-importance for my family, neighbors, or church; but when faced with real danger I have often run for the hills. How amazing that God still loves me and doesn’t treat me like I sometimes treated our poor silly geese. Instead He gently corrects me and tells me to remember that my importance isn’t about being better than others. No one is better than anyone else in God’s family. We are all loved and are each given a different job to do. So let’s not act like silly geese. Yes, God has made us special –  but not better than anyone else on the farm! 

 

When We Say Hello Again

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Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. Romans 16:15

It has been so very long since we have been in church. That last Sunday we were able to worship together the storm clouds of Corona virus had already begun to gather. There were many empty seats in the sanctuary and our greetings were careful and interspersed by the frequent use of hand sanitizer stations that suddenly dotted our lobby. No one knew that this would be the last time we would see one another outside of a computer screen or an occasional meeting in a driveway. Whether you normally greet one another with handshakes or hugs and kisses; we are all feeling the loss of being cut off from one another. Our longing to meet again face to face is a natural expression of the love of Christ and is reflected in Paul’s farewell chapter of the book of Romans.

It is astonishing how at the end of this long and highly doctrinal letter that the Apostle can greet by name dozens of people in a city to which he has never yet traveled. Whatever the practical explanation for that, it is a reflection of the heart of Jesus who the gospel says had compassion on the people because they were as sheep without a shepherd.

On the day of our return to church we must remember the special value there is in greeting one another, whether by a holy kiss or a socially safe elbow bump. Those missing faces in our lives are our brothers and sisters and how we will rejoice on the day when we can once more we can say hello again!

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Washing Feet

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Why foot washing? Couldn’t Jesus have suggested something easier like hand washing or face washing?

But Jesus not only commanded that we wash one another’s feet: He humbled Himself to wash ours first.

It is a strange thing how washing feet shows Jesus that we love him and the world that He loves them! He washes us to prepare our feet to walk onto heaven’s holy ground. We wash one another to prepare each other to walk into the world and share the love of Christ.

With Lent on the horizon this is a good time to ask, “Am I ready and willing to wash someone’s feet today?”