Whassup?

 What’s up? Whassup! Seriously, Whassup?

Remember the iconic Budweiser commercial? It was silly, but quickly became a cultural phenomenon after airing during Monday Night Football back in 1999. It was a humorous, endearing expression of the comfortable friendship among several men enjoying a football game. The spot was an unlikely hit as it wasn’t created by a large ad agency with a huge budget. Rather, it was a small, independent filmmaker, Charles Stone III, who developed the campaign based on his award-winning short film, True. Stone has since gone on to direct numerous notable film and television productions. 

For this commercial, Stone hired some of his friends, including Scott Martin Brooks, whom I first met years ago on a film shoot in Philadelphia. In the commercial, Scott plays a character named Dookie who sits in front of a now-ancient-looking desktop computer as he and his friends exchange the famous, oft-parodied, ridiculously hilarious greeting “Whassup!” On the set of our shoot, Scott shared that he never thought he would ever be an actor, let alone become famous for a Budweiser commercial. But he did.

God is always up to new things. All too often, we just cannot see or fathom what is happening while it’s happening. I imagine the disciples felt that way too—a lot.

Can we talk about Peter’s vision? It’s strange, right? A sheet coming down from heaven with all those animals on it. Peter sees it as a new vision for the church, one that is more inclusive, a lot less judgmental, and way more open to change.

And then there’s the reading from Revelation; yet another vision - a new heaven and new earth.

Finally, Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment. “Love one another as I have loved you.”

There seems to be a whole lot of new this week. Something we’re getting used to here at St. Mark’s.

Jesus begins his farewell discourse during the Last Supper in this 13^th chapter of John by commanding his disciples to love one another as brothers and sisters, using the Greek word for divine love, the highest form of love, agape. It’s a command, not a suggestion. Jesus knows things are going to get more difficult before they get better. Judas has just walked out because of this. Later, Peter, too, will cave to pressure. Discipleship is not easy. 

Jesus addresses his disciples as little children: 

“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

How did Jesus love his disciples? Here are some of the ways I can think of. You may come up with more: 

With kindness, like when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.

With patience, as he shows his wounds to a doubting Thomas.

With tenacity. He even comes back from the dead to love them!

With acceptance, meeting each of them exactly where they were.

With reminders like bread and wine. “Do this in remembrance of me.”

With boundaries. Jesus takes frequent time-outs.

With creativity, by sharing illuminating stories about God’s love. 

With radical unselfishness. He commends his mother to the care of John even as he is dying on the cross.

In truth, we might be wise to acknowledge that loving one another like Jesus can be remarkably hard, especially during troubling times.

But God is always doing a new thing, always encouraging us to find creative new ways to be in community, ways to find unity in diversity. 

We can do this because God is with us in this. 

“It’s all love,” my friend Scott explained to a reporter when asked about the reason for the seismic popularity of the Whassup commercial. 

It’s all love. 

Easy to say when things are going our way. When there’s lots of money in the bank, when the weather’s sunny, when the traffic’s light, it can certainly feel like it’s "all love." But throw in an unexpected setback or two, well, that’s when the rubber tends to meet the road. Even the strongest, most solid relationships can falter under the strain. 

Friends, may we remember that God is doing a new thing when we receive the bread of life and the wine of the new covenant. May we be reminded that we are commanded, not merely asked, to love one another. And may we be inspired to ever more expansive new expressions of that love in community. May our communion also remind us that it’s not entirely on us. God is in all our new things.

Whassup? Worshipping in a community of love where all are welcome is whassup. Small churches making a big impact is whassup. 

Agape is whassup. It's love that gets noticed, love that calls us to action. We might want to ask ourselves, what is love asking of us right now? 

Here's link to the video.