The Joy Foot Club

As some out there may know FootJoy is a brand of golf shoes (may have some other outlets in the sporting and/or non sporting realms as well, don't know). As the name implies, or rather hopes, in wearing this said product upon one's feet, said feet will feel an overwhelming sense of joy at the prospect of wandering for 18 holes of golf, seeking that which is lost (namely a little white ball). This perspective on 'Footjoy' has nothing to do with the nature and direction of this pontification. This piece of writing will encompass the nature of only Christ-like leadership, but Christ's Lordship in its truest form.

We, in the christian tradition, live with paradoxical claims and tensions that to a rationally minded world may not make sense. The nature of the trinity, the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus the Christ we easily explain away with the great turn of phrase - "It's a mystery."

Now, really, for the most part, I'm okay with tension, ambiguity, paradoxes in a variety of different forms, but one in particular, I believe to be particularly troublesome in a way that presents, not a paradox of the gospel, but an outright bipolar expression of the gospel; this would be the nature of the power, glory, and majesty the Lordship of Jesus the Christ.

When I hear descriptions of the second coming of the Christ, the images shared combine to paint a picture of gold covered walls, pearly gates, God and Christ sitting atop what can really only be described as Mt. Olympus (Christ slightly lower -holy Spirit's there somewhere) with a parade of people awaiting to have their divine visa stamped for entrance into the Kingdom. The 6 winged cherubim from Isaiah flying above the assembly - with two wings they were flying, two they were covering their face, with two their feet. for some reason, they didn't see fit to cover their 'regles', but that's for another conversation.

With all the Glory, Majesty, Might, and POWER of God on display in these combined images, one cannot help but see every knee bowing and every tongue confessing to the glory of the Lord . . . . This obviously is what the power of God's leadership and might and majesty of the Lord God Almighty is about and progressing toward.

But we have a problem if we think to portray this as the full and complete (or even partial) vision of the Lordship of Jesus the Christ. If we wish to espouse that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; if we wish to uplift the fullness of God dwelling within this man of Gallilee; that Christ is/was fully Creator and fully creation; that who God is - Jesus the Christ is; - - - then I think we need to bring to this image of the second coming, of the triumphal re-entry of the Christ with trumpets blaring and knees bowing - the image John shared in his gospel account of the last time Jesus met with the disciples - where he shared the true expression of leadership/Divine Lordship - that being expressed through kneeling down and washing the feet his followers.

Where in our triumphal, power-hungry narratives of human history and action do we have space for this expression of what the Living Word of God said was the truest act of leadership? I have a hard time visualizing many (any) of our leaders, whether secular or religious from embracing this aspect of the gospel vocation of leader.

In seeking to be faithful, in holding our leaders (and ourselves) accountable to their (our) espoused faith (for those who purport to be xian, at any rate) encouraging that they (we) live out this divine directive (and to do so with joy not out of some sense of duty and obligation) will be a right step in living into a fuller expression of God's present but not yet kingdom.

Welcome the joy in washing another's foot.