Non binary affirmation

 

John 13:1-6

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 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.

Jesus washed their feet 

all of them

In the middle of the celebrations

Jesus stooped to wash their feet

and dried them with a towel

an act of pre-meditated care

that showed how things might be

And then at table, 

Jesus fed them

all of them

in an act of pre-meditated love

that traversed every divide 

For all are welcome

All are loved

All are included

And the divisions we encounter

And the labels we impose

are not of God

who created all in marvellous love

and who holds all in unfathomable light

and who enables all in incredible potential

beyond our restrictive binary notions

So you, my friend

You are God’s beloved 

The very image of God

May you encounter God

stooping to wash your feet

May you see God

offering you a place at the table

May you know God

loving the very bones of you

marvellously created in the image of a non-binary God

(Liz Crumlish, Maundy Thursday 2025)

Hospitality

 

Mark 14:12-15

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

When subsequent events

drown out intention

And a quiet meal with friends

becomes a mere backdrop

to a politically charged execution

that eclipses the intimacy

of final teaching and preparation

for a life of discipleship

Something is lost

in the detail

of careful preparation

of hospitality writ large

Hospitality

that went beyond

the jostling festival crowds

to carve out space

for mutual encounter

in which true meeting is possible