Monday, January 26, 2015

Demonstration

When I was in school learning about municipal planning and other governmental functions, I learned that when a government is doing something major or enacting new rules a public hearing was required.  I learned that proper notice of the hearing and a lucid presentation of the proposed action were two of the components of a successful public hearing.  I and my fellow students assumed that when we did these things properly, the public would be peachy and agreeable about what we were proposing.  WOW, was this a mistaken assumption.

When I observed a real public hearing ( a demonstration) I was shocked at the contentiousness, the thoroughness and the tenaciousness of the attendees of such hearings.  Some people were mean, some were argumentative, some were just plain boneheaded and some presented issues and problems all of us "smart" planners had overlooked.  The demonstration was much more educational than the information we received in school.

Disciples gathered in an upper room knew it was Passover.  They knew the tradition and how this had been done for centuries.  They awaited the usual Passover Seder and all of the usual liturgy that went along with it.  Then Jesus shocks them with a demonstration of a new idea ... a new thing the Bible had predicted and prophesied.  It was the beginning of a New Covenant through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Nothing would ever be the same as Jesus demonstrated what He expected of His followers and continued the acting out of that visual demonstration with a very physical demonstration with His blood on a wooden cross.

Jesus ... we remember you this week.  We will again give thanks (that's what Eucharist means) and we will again come to the altar in unity with you and our brothers and sisters in Christ.  May we demonstrate who you are in our lives so others might see You, follow You and live in You.  Amen

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