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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Communion Service

Well, let's pray together and then we'll just have a little thought tonight.

Father in heaven, thank you today for the testimonies we've been able to hear from the body of Christ as they go out into the community and as they actually are actively serving, and this is 1 of the keys for a close relationship with you, it's not self-focused, but it's focused on what you would have us do for others.

So thank you for the blessing you've given to those who attended and may those who were not able to attend attend next week to receive the blessing as well in Christ's name.

You know, by the way, you know, leaders, look around this room.

The people that are here are the leaders of the Institute.

Because the midweek service is as the pulse is to the body.

And in my church in Wichita, Kansas, my head elder was Dr.

Mills, who's the chairman of the board here.

I can't remember a time he missed prayer meeting.

I can't remember a time that my elders missed prayer meeting.

They came to every prayer meeting and we would normally have, I don't know, at least half the church there on prayer meeting.

And this was kind of like a litmus test of leadership.

They actually took those quotes seriously, and the church really grew.

And they also loved the Sabbath so much they would come to Vespers and so would a lot of people from the community.

And then in that church, elders always hosted also a small group Bible study in their homes on another day of the week.

And I would rotate every night, I was out every night, in an elder's home, if they needed help, holding a small group Bible study to show them how to do that.

The only night I was not out was Friday night.

So, and I just want to tell you that the corporate services of the church are meant to be a meeting place where you come back from your private ministry, which is not just your own personal devotions out in the middle of the woods.

It is connected with those devotions with someone in the community.

Anyway, so this weekend, this weekend our corporate services are focused on something a number of you have talked to me about, and that is they're focused on foot washing this week, and the communion service.

And a number of you have said to me, you know it's been a long time since we had communion service.

How many of you feel like it's time to have a communion service?

So quite a number of you are raising your hands.

And I certainly need a communion service because I'm not a saint.

Look at that person next to you and just say boldly to them, you are not a saint.

So you, maybe this comes as a shock to the person next to you, they're not a saint.

But I want to read you something about this, I want to read you something about this foot washing service.

And Carol worked with a large homeless shelter in Washington, D.C.

She worked with addicts, mental health patients.

And none of them were really safe to live with.

And whenever she went into this situation, she literally was wondering what might happen to her.

She says, every time I washed their feet, a strange thing would happen.

Would you like to know what would happen?

There would be a temporary positive mental health effect.

No matter how deluded the patients were, when their feet were cared for in warm water.

No matter how violent they were physically or verbally, they became visibly relaxed.

So I started foot care on every patient's arrival at the shelter.

Simultaneously I would ask questions with a name and address, their medical history, and they were so calm.

So I asked a psychiatric clinician, what do you think's happening?

And they said, you're meeting a need for nurturing.

And then I ask a visiting medical team and they said, no, this is not just a need for, this is supernatural.

Something is happening here that we just don't understand.

So in this article, interesting, it says this, Jesus used neutral temperature, partial immersion baths with ablution to both relax and mildly stimulate his disciples and to deepen their breathing.

This helped them refocus their attention from themselves to his important message.

Now, in the ancient Greco-Roman world, Many times when you entered a holy site, according to Homer and Strabo, you had to wash your feet before you went into the temple.

Flavius Pictor, third century, said that Roman priests participated in ritual foot washing.

And there was a saying in that day, don't rush into matters with unwashed feet.

In other words, slow down, wash 1 another's feet, calm down, allow your mind to focus.

Now this was also almost exclusively the duty of slaves, or servants.

The Servants would draw the water, the servants would wash the feet, the servants would empty the water.

Foot washing then essentially was a synonym for slavery.

He acted like the lowest on the totem pole.

Normally when people came from the synagogue for Passover, the father would walk into the home and his family members would wash, or the servants would wash his hands.

And then every family member had their feet washed by a common servant.

That was at the time of Passover when Jesus was having his foot washing.

And what he did was he essentially didn't have anybody wash his hands.

Within 24 hours they would have nails through his hands.

And within 24 hours they'd have nails through his feet.

But instead, he washed the feet of the disciples.

And this is why Peter so strongly reacted.

Jesus said, if I don't wash your feet, you can't be my disciple.

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Communion Service

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