Maundy Thursday

MAUNDY THURSDAY                                                       April 9, 2020

Jesus said: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  John 13:34

Lighting the Christ Candle

[Light a candle as you begin this service, reminding yourself of Christ’s presence with you.]

          On this day

Christ the Lamb of God gave himself into the hands of those who would slay him. 

          On this day

          Christ gathered with his disciples in the upper room. 

          On this day

Christ took a towel and washed the disciples’ feet, giving us an example that we should do to others as he has done to us. 

          On this day

Christ our God gave us this holy feast, that we who eat this bread and drink this cup may here proclaim his holy sacrifice and be partakers of his resurrection, and at the last day may reign with him in heaven.

Call to Worship

          How shall we repay you, our God, for all your goodness to us?

          We will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.

We are your servants, Lord, help us to commemorate this time of sacrifice with thanksgiving.

Help us to fulfill all you intend for us as members of the community of faith.

Prayer

Holy God, we need your help to face the challenges of this night.  Our intentions are good.  We want to share in the heritage of our faith, to remember the saving drama of Passover and to celebrate Jesus’ last meal with close friends.  We want to be disciples, but we also count the cost, and tremble.  Incline your ear to us and hear our supplications.  We gather as your servant people, knowing we are precious in your sight, yet afraid to take the risk of trusting you completely.  Lead us this night into deeper commitment.  Amen.

Hymn:        “An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare”

Call to Confession

Recognizing that this is the night we remember how Jesus shared a last meal with his disciples before his arrest, we remember that we have been making this journey to the cross with him. Let us take a few moments to prepare ourselves for facing those final steps and confess how unready we are.

Prayer of Confession (unison)

Ever Gracious God, we gather this evening hour as friends gathered with Jesus in an upper room long ago.  We come bearing the marks of a bitter and broken world.  We come from anonymous places, with dry and thirsty spirits.  Remind us, in the breaking of the bread, of our need and of your sufficiency.  Refresh us and make us whole with the cup of forgiveness.  Draw us nearer to each other in mutual service and closer to you in the covenant of faithfulness and thanksgiving.  As the night advances, deepen in us a sense of your steadfast love for us in Jesus Christ, our friend and redeemer.  Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness

Jesus met people where they are, imperfect though they were he accepted them just as they were. He ate and drank with imperfect people and those of questionable reputation. Our Savior Lord knows our potential and invites us to grow in trust, commitment, and faithfulness. Believe the good news.

                   In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!  Amen.

Scripture 1:         Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.  Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. … What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

Scripture 2:         John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had

come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in

the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had

already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus,

knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come

from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and

girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to

wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?"

Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you

will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus

answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me." Simon Peter said

to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said

to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is

clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who

was to betray him; that was why he said, "You are not all clean." When he had

washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them,

"Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you

are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,

you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that

you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is

not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If

you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

"Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is

glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to

the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going you cannot come.' A new

commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you,

that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my

disciples, if you have love for one another."

Meditation: “Among Friends”                                                 Rev. Jean Hurst

          Have you noticed what happens when family and friends gather around the table for a meal?  It’s noisy.  Everyone is talking at once.  There’s laughter.  And stories are told and retold.  It’s how we connect with each other, through those stories.  “Remember when ....,” someone will ask.  And we remember.  It’s what holds us together.  Even those who weren’t there still remember.  It becomes part of their story, too. Part of our story….

          Do you remember that one night?  I don’t think any of us will ever forget it.  Remember how Jesus told us the end of his ministry had come, that he would be betrayed and abandoned and denied and would suffer and die.  We didn’t want to hear that.  Afterward we discovered that we were the ones who betrayed and abandoned and denied him.  He knew it before we did.  Remember how he spoke of it?  Yet we could tell he loved us anyway--even knowing what was going to happen.  Jesus seemed to have a sense of urgency that night, like the time was short and he had so much more to say.  He said it in a way we’ll never forget.  We could hardly believe it at the time.

          Our Lord and Teacher stripped down to his inner garments, wrapped a towel around his waist, took a basin and a pitcher of water and kneeling before each of us, washed our feet!  We should have been the ones washing his feet!  It was a humbling act and we weren’t comfortable with it.  A master never kneels before a follower or demeans himself in such a way.  But Jesus insisted that we had to or we weren’t part of him, of who he was. 

          After he washed our feet, he dressed and came back to the table and talked about what he’d done.  He told us that if he, our Lord and Teacher humbles himself and serves us in such a way, then we are to do the same for each other.

          He talked again about dying and said that in dying he would be glorified and God would be glorified.  There was lots more he said that night, like even though he was going away, he would prepare a place for us in his Father’s house and that he would come back for us and we would be together again.  He said he would send the Holy Spirit who would comfort us and help us remember what he’d taught us.  Good thing, too, because there were so many things he taught, so many things to remember--including a whole new commandment.   

          He told us we were to love each other.  Actually, that wasn’t particularly new.  He talked about that often.  It was more the way he said it.  He said we were to love each other in the way he had loved us.  He was always raising the bar, wasn’t he?  It was challenging enough to love in our own way.  He always believed in us more than we believed in ourselves. 

          Anyway, remember how he loved us?  Right off the bat, he accepted us as we were, no matter how we’d lived our lives or who we were or what we’d done or how we differed from him.  Heck, he even accepted old Matthew, a tax collector--and that’s saying a lot!  It wasn’t any high-minded stuff like, ‘I love the person you are...even if you are scum.’  He really loved us, lock, stock and barrel.  We could tell.  You know when someone loves you or if they’re just shining you on or trying to look noble.  He loved us in a way that even healed the hurt inside of us.  And as we all know, we have lots of hurt inside, some that we don’t even talk about. 

          Jesus said something funny that night.  Peculiar funny.  He said that even though he would be physically gone, that people would still look at us and know that we were his followers.  He said we would be ... I don’t know ... something like a sign post.  He said it would be the love.  That if we loved each other, the world would see that.  And they would know that it was his love.  And if they saw that love in us, they would start loving, too.  And that his ministry would then be a success, that he wouldn’t have died for nothing.  Do you think Jesus was right?  Is the world watching us, who are still followers of Jesus?  Will they learn what love is from us?  Will they learn who Jesus is from us?  Wow!  Pretty amazing.  Of course, Jesus amazed us time after time.  Remember?  Remember what he was like?  Funny, it was a long time ago, yet I still feel like he’s here with us.

Silence and Prayer

Holy God, we long to be together again as a faith community. We don’t want to face this night alone. We want the strength of our other believers, to know that together we can do this. But we are alone or with one or two family members. We are isolated, distanced from others. But we remember. So was Jesus. Jesus was abandoned by his followers. He was isolated from those who loved him, who could have helped him face what was ahead. Help us, like Jesus, draw our strength from you in order to have the courage to face what lies ahead. For this is our story as well. Thank you for your grace that carries us through every challenge and pain and struggle we encounter. Help us believe, as Jesus did, that love wins. Amen.

Remembering the Lord’s Supper

Our Lord’s Table is the table of remembrance. It is the place the family gathers as we retell the story. Though we can’t gather as a physical body, we are gathered in spirit. And our Lord is with us. Remember. Remember how he took the bread, blessed and broke it and gave it, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body given for you.” And after supper how he took the cup saying, “This cup is the new covenant, my blood poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. When you drink it, remember me.” Even without the bread and cup in hand, we remember. We remember all that Jesus did for us, how he gave up the divine, becoming human like us. He sought us out and found us in our lostness. He brought us home, forgave us, and reconciled us to God and to each other. And then he told us to love one another, to serve one another, to extend to others the grace that we have received. That is worth remembering. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Hymn:        “Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us With Your Love”        

                       

Psalm 22:1-18

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest. Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. To thee they cried, and were saved; in thee they trusted, and were not disappointed. But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads; "He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!" Yet thou art he who took me from the womb; thou didst keep me safe upon my mother's breasts. Upon thee was I cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me thou hast been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death. Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet -- I can count all my bones -- they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.

God’s peace and reassuring presence be with you through the night. Amen.