I’m talking trash today so here it is.

 

June 3

 

John 13

 

Interruptions

 

 “The great thing is, if one can, to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions in one’s ‘own’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one’s life.”

 

C. S. Lewis

 

I learned a lesson from trash today. Ever notice how trash is everywhere. Ever notice how we tend to try not to notice trash. We want to avoid it; at least we want to distract ourselves from it. It is the bane of our existence. It is the residue of the activity of our life. It is the ‘necessary evil” the flows out of the necessary processes that sustain us. For most of us it is someone else’s worry, job, responsibility, concern. Caring for it or about it, is something most of us do not aspire to do and represents that which we least enjoy doing; cleaning up after ourselves. A visit to a landfill is worth the educational experience.

I notice trash wherever it may be. Regardless if I am able to or not I always want to do something about it. For me it has become the signature of serving those around me. If I can pick up someone else’s trash with an attitude of gratitude it is a good day. Weird isn’t it. But you know what is really weird. Washing someone else’s feet. That is what is happening in John 13. Evidently it is a custom or practice carried down through the ages since the time when people regularly walked around on dusty roads in open shoes. I am sure it is still practiced these days in environments that I just described and for the obvious reasons. The feet of people who walk on dusty roads in open shoes tend to get very dirty. So before entering a home or building they would look for a way to clean their feet. Makes sense. It would be like us taking off our dirty shoes at the door before entering a home; either ours or someone else’s. Where it is different, however, is we would take off our own shoes and would be shocked if someone else bent down to do that for us, especially if it happened in our own home. It is conceivable, given the right circumstances, that someone could be employed to do such servile work but hardly.  However inconceivable it may be, that is precisely how it is done in cultures where washing feet is the standard greeting. And that is how it was done in the times when Jesus walked in open sandals among us. The servant with the least seniority in the house would be responsible for this disgusting but expected task. All these thoughts started stirring in my mind while I was reading John chapter 13.

After reading John 13 I asked myself. “How does washing feet translate into the 21^st century? It seems so weird, so out of character in our modern age. I even made a prayer out of my question, which has become a very good classroom for me. I asked, “Lord please show me what it means to ‘wash feet’ in 21^st century western civilization and anywhere for that matter. I know it is done in a symbolic way occasionally in places of Christian influence, but I want to know how to do it in a substantive way. How does it work in the real world? Anybody else care about such stuff?

After my prayer I didn’t hear any “thunder” and came to no real conclusions so I went for a run/walk. (I used to go for a run after reading but these days run/walking is the best I can do for awhile. Read “Heart Issues” if you want to know more.)

Within the first 100 feet of the start of my….exercise, I saw a large cardboard box, obviously set out for trash collection. It was tipped over with its contents, several hundred of those little white packing peanuts, spilled out and beginning to scatter in the wind. Of course I stopped and gratefully picked up the box, replaced the peanut contents and set it back in its place. Score one for the good guys. As I continued my journey I began to notice trash everywhere, which was strange because I had just run this route the day before and I hadn’t notice it then. Either my trash detection senses had been diminished the day before or an inordinate amount of trash had accumulated over the last 24 hours. I tend to think it was the latter. Either way I determined I would remedy the trash situation on the way back. I ran to my usual place where I celebrate my exercise with a donut and a cup of coffee. Ah the good life. Before I left I asked if I could have one of their little carry out plastic bags in which to place the trash I would be collecting on the return trip, or what I would now call, a mission from God. Speaking of whom, it is interesting that as soon as I began the return route, a large empty bag, one which was used for landscaping mulch, blew right across my path. It was if God was saying my faith was too small. I grabbed the empty mulch bag in one hand and I looked at my little carry out bag in the other hand and realized that God had bigger plans than my little plastic carry out bag could handle. (Insert thunder here) So I set out with new inspiration as well as a larger bag. On my way I stopped for each piece of trash and placed it in the mulch bag. It didn’t matter what it was or how large or small, I grabbed it and placed it in the bag. As I continued the process of stopping and starting at each item (sometimes multiple items in one spot) one word came to my mind. “Interruptions!” Every item represented an interruption to my destination. Many times, if not every time I had to leave the sidewalk to retrieve the trash. Each time I stopped increased not only the length of my journey but also the weight of the bag.

The items were not unusual; just the stuff of life. The kinds of things people leave behind or jettison as they navigate through their day. Plastic bottles, styrofoam cups, various wrappers, dog droppings in their own bag, etc. You know; normal stuff.

 

 I began to hear the Spirit speaking through all of this trash gathering. With every stop and piece of trash His voice grew louder. The message I got out of it is that interruptions are a lot like washing feet. The foot washer, the lowest servant in the house, did not have his own daily agenda. His agenda was one of “interruptions.” Whatever the master of the house needed; whatever the days events brought, whatever people left behind, whatever interruptions came into play. You know; normal stuff. That was his agenda. And he was grateful for it. He was in his master’s home.

 

Being the multi-tasker that I am I continued to play out these thoughts during my meditative meanderings. I began to understand that Jesus’ life was a series of “divine” interruptions between the cradle and the cross that was dictated by all the normal stuff of the people of this world for which he cared so deeply.  John 13 captures the essence of this serving attitude during what I would call one of his ultimate interruptions, as he pauses on the way to his appointment with the cross, he demonstrates the depth of his love for his church. During this interruption he even washes the feet of the one who was only moments from betraying him. It was the act of a menial servant as he placed himself under and at the disposal of others. What was shocking and inconceivable for his friends to watch as he played out this holy interruption has now become the kingdom standard for relating to one another and to God. He summarized his intentions and the new standard with these words.

 

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet; you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you and example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

 

Interruptions to my schedule will never seem the same. I pray that I will see them as opportunities to wash the feet of those dealing with the normal stuff of life as they trudge through their daily routine.

 

One of the items that I bent down to pick up was a simple list of names handwritten on a sticky note. Maybe it was an invitation list or a list of people to call about sharing a ride somewhere. No matter, I sensed God in that interruption saying, “Pray for the people on that list.”  I did it because that is what interruptions are about; being bound, not to my own agenda but to the agenda of the one who first allowed his life to be interrupted for me by his death. I did it because I want to know what it is like to wash someone’s feet in the 21^st century

Several other things happened on that return trip. I took the long way back because of the joy in the journey. I also noticed that even though it took much longer to get back the path behind me was much brighter.

 

Just a thought or two

Gotta go.

Papers blowing across the yard.