Cuba has been in the news this week, and our congregation recently received a gift from Cuba that will be on display at tonight’s Maundy Thursday service.

In January CMCers Joe Mas and Linda Mercadante led a group of seminary students on a Cuba trip.  Cuba is Joe’s place of birth.  While there they were given a small banner displaying Jesus washing Peter’s feet.  The patch on the back of the banner says, “Hand-made by Presbyterian Church women, Matanzas, Cuba.  Presented to CMC by Linda Mercadante March, 2016.”  Matanzas is a provincial capital city, about 55 miles east of Havana.

The mighty Jesus stooping down to wash feet is a powerful image of the kind of action that turns hierarchies on their head.  The master serves.  I love that CMC now has a banner displaying this that is a gift from a small country long deemed an enemy of ours.  On this Maundy Thursday may we commit to servanthood, and we may allow ourselves to be served by the generosity of others.