Maundy Thursday – Pastor Ellen Mills

I am offering you two ways to receive this.  In print, you will need to read the scriptures for yourself, and then the prayer and reflection that follow in this post.  If you click on the audio link below (below), you can hear all of it, including the scriptures.

Maundy Thursday

Invitation to Confession and Forgiveness:

Friends in Christ, in this Lenten season we have heard our Lord’s call to struggle against sin, death and the devil – all that keeps us from loving God and each other.  This is the struggle to which we were called at baptism.

Within the community of the church, God never wearies of forgiving sin and giving the peace of reconciliation.  On this night let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor, and enter the celebration of the great Three Days reconciled with God and with one another.

Confession:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us,

For self-centered living, for failing to walk with humility and gentleness:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For longing to have what is not ours, and for hearts that are not at rest with ourselves:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For misuse of human relationships, and for an unwillingness to see the image of God in others:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For jealousies that divide families and nations, and for rivalries that create strife and warfare:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For reluctance in sharing the gifts of God, and for carelessness with the fruits of creation:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For hurtful words that condemn, and for angry deeds that harm:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For idleness in witnessing to Jesus Christ, and for squandering the gifts of love and grace:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

Forgiveness:

God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ.  By grace you have been saved.  In the name of (+)Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.  Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.  Amen.

Let us pray,

Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another as he loves us.  Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Exodus 12:1-14

Psalm 116: 1-2,12-19

I Corinthians 11:23-26

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

     For us, for Maundy Thursday in 2020, it will be a different kind of remembrance.  We must remember, but we cannot use the familiar rituals of foot washing and communion together.  But nothing has changed the meaning of the gospel of John.  In John alone, there is no last supper during Passover.  There is a mention of a simple meal together, followed by Jesus’ example of serving and his commandment to love.  Those remain unchanged.  The foot washing was a shocking example for them.  Their beloved teacher, Jesus, was performing the work of the lowest household servant.  For them.  And then saying, “I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”  And this example goes way beyond this one literal act.  It is an act of loving service that can be translated into many contexts.  On this day it may be the medical workers.  Or the clerks and stockers in grocery stores.  It is those who are now risking their lives so that the rest of us might be cared for.  The word “Maundy” is believed to come from the Latin word for commandment.  What does Jesus command?  That we love others “just as” he has loved his disciples, and all of us.  This is said after the act of washing feet.  It is said before Jesus is arrested and crucified.  “Just as” he has loved us.  And he adds an additional reason.  “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  There are some hard kinds of that love showing up today.  It is not just in the people serving.  It is also in the people protecting those most at risk for this pandemic by keeping away from them.  It may mean giving birth alone.  It may mean dying alone.  It may be parents or spouses isolating themselves from the rest of their families because of the job they do.  In this time of great uncertainty and rapid change – what will your love look like?  Will it tell people about how much they are loved by God?  Will this love be stronger than the fear which can so quickly envelop us?  Jesus knew what was ahead, and he chose to keep on going.  He taught his disciples all he could.  He showed them the example of his life, and then he went out and died for them.  “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  In this time, speak love, and do love.  And know that you are loved.  Amen.

Go to Dark Gethsemane

Go to dark Gethsemane, all who feel the tempter’s power;

your Redeemer’s conflict see. Watch with him one bitter hour;

turn not for his griefs away; learn from Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgment hall, view the Lord of life arraigned;

oh, the wormwood and the gall! Oh, the pangs his soul sustained!

Shun not suff’ring, shame or loss; learn from him to bear the cross.

Calv’ry’s mournful mountain climb; there adoring at his feet,

mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete,

“It is finished!” hear him cry; learn from Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb where they laid his breathless clay;

all is solitude and gloom. Who has taken him away?

Christ is ris’n!   He meets our eyes.  Savior, teach us so to rise.

Psalm 22 (said or intoned as the altar is stripped)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer;

by night but I find no rest.

Yet you are the Holy One,

enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

Our ancestors put their trust in you,

they trusted and you rescued them.

They cried out to you and were delivered;

they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

But as for me, I am a worm and not human,

scorned by all and despised by the people.

All who see me laugh me to scorn;

they curl their lips; they shake their heads.

Trust in the Lord; let the Lord deliver;

let God rescue him if God so delights in him.

Yet you are the one who drew me forth from the womb,

and kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born;

you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near,

and there is no one to help.

many young bulls encircle me;

strong bulls of Bashan surround me.

They open wide their jaws at me,

like a slashing and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water;

all my bones are out of joint;

My heart within my breast is melting wax.

my strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

And you have laid me in the dust of death.

packs of dogs close me in, a band of evildoers circles around me; they pierce my hands and my feet.

I can count all my bones.

while they stare at me and gloat.

They divide my garments among them;

for my clothing, they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, be not far away;

O my help, hasten to my aid.

Deliver me from the sword,

my life from the power of the dog.

Save me from the lion’s mouth!

From the horns of wild bulls you have rescued me.

I will declare your name to my people;

in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.

You who fear the Lord, give praise! All you of Jacob’s line, give glory.

Stand in awe of the Lord, all you offspring of Israel.

For the Lord does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither is the Lord’s face hidden from them;

but when they cry out, the Lord hears them.

From you comes my praise in the great assembly;

I will perform my vows in the sight of those who fear the Lord.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied.

Let those who seek the Lord give praise! May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;

all the families of nations shall bow before God.

For dominion belongs to the Lord,

who rules over the nations.

Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow down in worship;

all who go down to the dust, though they be dead, shall kneel before the Lord.

Their descendants shall serve the Lord,

whom they shall proclaim to generations to come.

They shall proclaim God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn,

saying to them, “The Lord has acted!”