Reverend Ref +

AND SO IT BEGINS

Yesterday was Maundy Thursday. This has always been the hardest service in Holy Week for me. There's something about the subservience (sp?) of washing the feet of another, and the risk and vulnerability necessary to allow another to wash your own feet.

And then, of course, there's the final Eucharist until Easter. That finality is driven home by the removal of the elements and the stripping of the altar, leaving the sanctuary bare of any furnishings, decorations and sacraments. God is gone. But God didn't leave us; we left him. We deserted Jesus when he needed us; and as a man, he really could have used some friends right about now. The barrenness of the church points our betrayal, rebellion and sinfulness. No, God didn't leave us; we kicked God out.

This is a time to reflect on all the other times in my life when I have pushed God out of the way. It's a time that drives home the point, "This is what life looks like without God -- empty and barren, cold and lonely."

No, God won't abandon me or you. But sometimes God does leave when we ask him to.