“Love was Linda’s native language.” – Bryan CoxWhen I think about the state of Christianity in America today, what saddens me the most is the failure of Christians to follow Jesus, to actually do the things that he commanded us to do, to live the way of life and love that he modeled—
Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. Giving generously to the poor. Showing hospitality to the stranger. Welcoming the foreigner. Accepting the outsider. Providing healthcare for all. Feeding the hungry. Liberating the oppressed. Forgiving debts. Worrying less about the speck in another’s eye and worrying more about log in our own eye.
Do you remember his harsh words of warning at the end of Jesus’ first sermon?
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall…. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall! (Matthew 7:24-27)
Jesus is a teacher who teaches not only though ideas, stories, and metaphors, but also through a living, active example. He teaches us to not merely think about God, believe in God, and worship God, but to actively serve God by serving others—selflessly and sacrificially. Jesus teaches us to live God.
This morning’s scripture lesson is the closest account in John’s gospel of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Through rich, metaphorical, and poetic language, I believe John drives this point home. A life of faith is an active life of selfless, sacrificial service. And this is true life—life that is full, meaningful and eternal.
There is perhaps no story in the Bible which underscores this high calling better than the beautiful story of the Good Samaritan.
Jesus encounters a lawyer who asks a very important question, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds:
A man traveling down a road encounters a band of thieves who rob and beat him and leave him half-dead on the side of the road. After two religious leaders passed the man by on the other side, a Samaritan came by and was moved with pity.
He went over to the man. He took very expensive oil and wine, poured it on the man’s wounds, and wrapped them up in bandages. Then he picked the man up. He placed the man on his own animal. He brought the man to an inn took good care of him throughout the entire night. The next day, he reached into his pocket and took out some money which equaled two days’ wages. He gave the money to the innkeeper and said, “Take care of him, and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.”
Then Jesus tells the lawyer: “If you want to inherit eternal life, if you want to experience life that is full, lasting and meaningful, “Go and do likewise.”
I love that the Greek word translated “do” here is poiei. Jesus says to “go and poiei.” I love it, because this word poiei is related to our English word, “poetry.”
Poetry is something that that has been fashioned, beautifully made, by human creativity. A poem is created with words. It is something “done” with words that has a deep, meaningful, and lasting meaning.
To experience life that is full, meaningful, and eternal, Jesus said, we “must go and poiei” like this Samaritan. Our lives must become poetry. We must fashion our lives in such a way that the way we live, love and work, all that we do is like poetry, a beautiful hymn of praise to God— a poem that lifts up the fallen, pours expensive oil on their wounds, bandages their hurts, gets them more help if needed, and forgives their debts. If we want to experience life that endures forever, then we must live a beautiful poem of selflessness and sacrifice.
One of the most beautiful poems of Jesus’ selfless love occurs later in John’s gospel as Jesus washes the feet of the disciples.
In what is perhaps best be described as poetry in motion, (go back and read it, paying attention each action) getting up from the table, taking off his outer robe, tying a towel a towel around himself, pouring water into a basin, washing the disciples’ feet, wiping them with the towel that was tied around him. And afterwards Jesus says:
“I have set you an example, that you should also “do” (I hear poiei) as I have poieied to you…If you know these things, you are blessed if you poiei them.
I believe Jesus calls us to become poetry in motion by figuratively and literally getting up, taking off our jackets, rolling up our sleeves, pouring ourselves out, bending ourselves to the ground to touch the places in people that most need cleansing.
Of course, we remember Jesus says something very similar after the last supper when he said: Do this in remembrance of me.” As he breaks the bread and pours the wine, Jesus says remember me by doing, again, I hear, poiei-ing. Remember me by being poetry. Remember me by being a beautiful hymn of praise to God.
An interesting aspect of communion is that the partaking of this meal is one of the most active things we do in worship.
In the worship services of some churches, you could sleep during the entire service if you wanted to. But you can’t do that here, not here in our services where we participate in the very active Lord’s Supper every Sunday. You might be able to take a nap during the sermon, but everybody’s gotta wake up to do communion!
To worship around this table every Sunday, we need to be active. And it is through our active participation around this table, I believe Jesus reminds us that that we have been called to a very active service.
Jesus is calling us to remember him, not by merely thinking about his body given for us, but to remember him by doing, poei-ing, giving our own bodies—by living selflessly for others. Jesus is calling us to remember him not by merely thinking about his life poured out, but to remember him by selflessly pouring ourselves out—by living sacrificially for others.
Contrast that with the way of life and leadership that many Christians support today—a self-interested, self-serving way which has brought to life the “distressing” portrait of the world described in Paul’s second letter to Timothy: a world where someone is idolized for being a…
…lover of himself, a lover of money, a boaster, arrogant, abusive…ungrateful, unholy, unfeeling, implacable, slanderer… a brute, a hater of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Oh, how we are going to miss Linda Cox’s faithful leadership behind this table where she offered Communion prayers from her heart like none other. But it is not her service at the table that is going to be as missed as much as her selfless, sacrificial service out in this community. Her husband Bryan, a professional linguist, said, “love was Linda’s native language.” Isn’t that beautiful? The Holy Communion she served from this table was but a rich, poetic metaphor for her life, as Linda’s life itself was poetry in motion, a beautiful hymn to God.
Through her career as a school teacher to underprivileged children in Washington DC, through her service as a public school teacher here in Lynchburg, through her volunteerism at Virginia Baptist Hospital, through the pastoral care Linda provided to this congregation, and to anyone in need, and through the way she made all of us feel loved and welcomed, whether this was our first time in this sanctuary or our thousandth time here, Linda was a reminder that through the meal shared at this table, Jesus says to us: Don’t just remember me, my love and my grace, everything that I have taught you in your thoughts and prayers. But poiei this.
Remember me by poiei-ing everything that I have taught you to poiei.
Remember me by being poetry in motion.
Remember me by loving and extending grace to others.
Remember me by serving God by serving others selflessly and sacrificially.
Remember me not just with the singing of hymns, but by becoming a beautiful hymn to God.
Remember me by loving others in ways that have a deep and lasting meaning.
Remember me with beautiful actions of mercy and kindness.
Remember me by offering the outcast community.
Remember me by never judging another.
Remember me by giving to the poor, healing the sick and feeding the hungry.
Remember me by creating a sanctuary where all are welcomed and no one is judged, a table where even those who betray me, deny me and abandon me are always welcomed to return to be enveloped by grace.
And then experience the fullness of life—life that is full, abundant, meaningful, lasting, and eternal. Amen.
Just Love 