“The Presence of Christ”
“Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.” –John 13.5I really experienced the presence of Christ this Sunday, and I’d like to tell you about it.
After the all-church dinner, we had pie. Some of us REALLY had pie.
The competition was to see who would get a pie in the face: It was between myself, our staff parish chair, our lay leader, our finance chair, or our church council chair. We were raising money for conference giving by having people put money in jars next to pictures of our faces. Whoever raised the most money was to have a pie thrown in their face.
Well in the end, my church council chair (who actually “won”) threw a pie in my face. And then she got one in her face. I threw one in our finance chair’s face and our lay leader got one too. This was the loudest laughter I’ve ever heard in our church. It was so much fun!
For some reason, my “pie” was runnier than the others, so I ended up with whipped cream all over me. In my hair, down my shirt, all the way down and literally covering my shoes! The whipped cream got in my eyes and stung a little, but I didn’t mind. My heart was full of joy, and we raised over $500 for apportionments.
But then… the highlight of my day.
She’s six or seven years old, a cute little girl with long hair. Her mental disability means she’s quite a bit younger than that in terms of her development. This doesn’t stop her from being a free spirit. One time she ran into the sanctuary while the prelude was playing for our second service. She ran straight over to the drum set, climbed up, and began to “accompany” our organist!
On Sunday, after the pie throwing escapade, this girl had been following me around, her mouth open in wonder. She doesn’t speak often, but is capable occasionally of complete sentences. Standing there in a small group she stared at me, covered as I was in whipped cream, and then shouted “Oh my Goodness!” We laughed and agreed with her.
A few moments later I was walking down the hallway to go to my car, when I heard her little feet running after me, so I turned. There she was, holding a tissue.
Without a word, she bent down in front of me, and very carefully wiped the whipped cream from my left shoe, and then the right. I started to protest, but then remembered Peter at the last supper. I bit my lip, and let her finish.
When she was done, I smiled and thanked her and made for the door. For the second time today, my eyes were stinging. And my heart was bursting.
What more can I say, but this? May you know the presence of Christ in your midst this Thanksgiving, and always.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Mitch
