Missional Toe Jam

I was driving down the road the other day and noticed a bunch of trash along side the road. There were plastic pop bottles, papers, grocery bags, and some fast food cartons strung along the road side. First, it looked like someone cleaned out their back seat. But the farther I drove, the more trash I found. There was so much stuff that the back seat would have had to be full. I don't know what happened, but the beautiful landscape had been covered with filth. Now someone would have to help get that trash picked up or it would blow around covering more and more of God's creation. But who would pick it up? Whose job is it to solve the problem of littering along the side of the road? The street department? The police? The owner of the property? Who will remove the rubbish from the roadside and make the world a more beautiful place?

If the only problem we faced was garbage in the gutters wouldn't life be wonderful. But is seems that the struggles people face far outweigh the trash along the roadside. Let's face it, the world is a little stinky some times. Scratch that, it stinks a lot!The world can smell like feet on a hot and sweaty day. Pack a lot of garbage together and it starts to stink. All the problems this world produces creates a stink. Pack your feet into a pair of hot shoes all day and they start to stink as well. Jesus had an answer. In John 13, Jesus gets up from a meal with the disciples, takes off their shoes, and washes the feet of the men he had been training. The bible says, "Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love...Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel." I want you to think about the stink for a moment. Dirty feet, covered with the dung, dirt, and grime of 1st century roads. Feet only covered with sandals that had walked with Jesus for three years are now cleaned by the first born of all creation. Think of what the water smelled like as Jesus washed the dirt and crud off their feet.

When the event is over, Jesus tells the disciples that they should go and do likewise. Not meaning to literally wash people's feet, but to love people enough to care for their needs. It was like their mission was to help a stinky world not stink so bad. That was the mission that Jesus called the disciples and us to--To stop the stink by serving the world.

Here is a thought; is the stink this world produces the result of the Church not washing feet? Has the church of Jesus Christ grown so inward and uncaring that the world is smelling worse than ever before? I don't have an answer to the world's problems, but I do know what Jesus calls the church to do. He says, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one an other's feet." God wants us, the Church, to help stinky people not stink so bad. He wants the church to serve in a way that will make the world a better place.

On Sunday, November 14th I am beginning a new series called "Missional Toe Jam, Bowing a knee to a World that needs Christ." We are going to spend some time dealing with God's call to the church to be servants. We can't solve all the worlds stinkiness but we can do something about some of it. Jesus calls the church to serve in stinky places. Will we take up the call? Will we pick up the trash? Will we take care of some of the stink? Will we wash the world's feet?