Maundy Thursday Sermon 2019 – First of Three sermons preached by Revd. Canon Colin Williams – ex Archdeacon of the Diocese in Europe

It happened on a winter’s Sunday afternoon about fifteen years ago.  Quite a long time ago.  But still an occasion which I recall with relish.  At the time I was living and working in the NW of England.  I was an Archdeacon then too. But in those days my title was Archdeacon of Lancaster

 

In my official capacity as Archdeacon of Lancaster, I had  been invited to a special service at our local cathedral One of the privilege that I had been given for that afternoon was a parking space marked ‘Archdeacon of Lancaster’ So I drove round the car park until I: could find it . and then I moved into the space

Now my car wasn’t anything special  in fact it was small, it was a few years old  and certainly in need of a good wash.   The car park was being patrolled by a woman who turned out to be rather officious. And when she saw this dirty beaten up old car being driven into this special place she obviously thought I was some sort of yokel up from the sticks, trying to steal a place which wasn’t rightfully mine.

As I got out of the car she came to me and wagged her finer ‘You can’t park there she said, that’s reserved for the Archdeacon.

Well, the chance was too good to miss.  I took my time.  I turned away, locked the car, got my stuff out of the boot and then drew my self up to my full five feet 11 and a half, looked her in the eye and said something I had been dying to have the chance to say for years.  Madam, I said, Madam,  I am the Archdeacon.

Well I quite enjoyed being able to say that.  But even now I have to admit that it wasn’t consistent with the goals I had set myself on becoming Archdeacon .  I was very conscious then that being allegedly important could very easily go to my head and make me ever so slightly swellheaded .  And so I put some of my friends on what I called pomposity watch.  If I show the least sign of being pompous arrogant, too much up myself I said to them just give me a ring and tell me to back off.  I have to tell you that I did receive several such phone calls .  And just as well I did too  Which is because the man who could say ‘Madam I: am the Archdeacon needed also to learn to be humble.

Because being humble, humility, as our Gospel Reading Reading reminds us this on this Maundy Thursday is a key aspect of our Christian life.  Jesus takes a towel and washes his disciples’ feet.  Without going into the gory details a very unpleasant task indeed.  One in any household which  is reserved for the servant who is furthest down the food chain.  No wonder then that Peter at least railed against this.  Here was the one whom he already more than half suspected to be the Messiah, the one sent from God, seeking to do the task of the lowliest of servants. No wonder he objects ‘no master you will never wash my feet’,

 

So humiity is on the agenda this evening

That  concept of humility , of being humble, has often got a bad press.  Charles Dickens rote of Uriah Heep who proclaimed himself to be ever so ’umble’ but was not.

 

But don’t knock humility.  Don’t knock being humble.  For many learning to be humble will be the key to understanding  what it is to be a follower  of Christ . Because humility, the sort of humility to which as followers of Jesus Christ we are called –  isn’t a passive attribute.  It is powerful dynamic – humility.  Properly exercised it can  change the world around us.

At its best down the ages, the Church has lived in dynamic humility.  Just as this Church has done in the last few years in its reaching out to those who have come among us as strangers and refugees, Down the ages, the Church has been at its best when it has not put its own needs at the forefront of its life, but instead has spoken up for the poor, the hungry, the misused, the broken. Down the ages the Church has been clear that they have been our treasures and that we need to guard them and keep them safe, treasure them and hold them fast.  Making sure that all sorts and shapes and sizes of people are welcome in our midst – and actively humbly reaching out to those in society and in our world who are too easily rejected by others who somehow think themselves superior .

Thinking of others before we think of ourselves.  Serving them and their needs as Christ served the needs of his disciples at that table in that Upper Room on the first Maundy Thursday.

But the challenge to be humble – the challenge to think of others better than we think of ourselves is not just a collective challenge for the Church as a whole .  It is an individual challenge to each of us too.  For each of us to think of others better than we think of ourselves may mean different things. To give away some of what we hold in our bank accounts – so that others in need may be supported. – living more simply so that others may simply live. To give away some of the free time that we have so that the life of the Church may go forward and the needs of our community met, putting those needs above our own. To stop and listen when people need to speak to us about what is on their hearts – even when to do so is painful – even when there are 101 other things we could be doing, 101 other places we could be.   That sort of humility, lived out by a sufficient number of people, helps makes a community which has value and worth.  That sort of humility- much more than I and self-aggrandisement – can quietly change the world.  That sort of humility – exercised in Christ’s Name – make his Gospel much more effectively known than any number of proud sermons by proud preachers.  Makes our churches places worth joining

And it is in our humility that we are most faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ.  For if we do not see the humble Christ, we do not see Christ at all. If we do not hear Christ calling us to be humble as on the first Maundy Thursday he was humble, calling us to be a servant as he was a servant and not a Master, then we do not hear him at all.

 

And it is the humble Christ who strengthens us to live humbly, At His Table he humbly takes the initiative and comes to meet us again as he met His Disciples in the first Maundy Thursday. Humbly offering  himself again and again as we feast on bread and wine – filling our hands and touching our lives as we hold out our hands to him – In doing that matching his humility by reaching out our hands and confessing our need of him  in our lives.

This night we recall that we serve a humble Lord.  And we recall that in his humility he comes to us and strengthens us to live humbly.

St. Paul put it best in the Letter to the Philippians…

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross.