Maundy Thursday 2022

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Church of Wilmington April 14, 2022 Maundy Thursday Service Explanation of Maundy Thursday Good evening, welcome to our Maundy Thursday service. This marks the beginning of Jesus journey to the cross, and our journey to Easter morning. Actually, our journey started last week with palm Sunday. But we are not really sure of how Jesus would have spent his time early in the week. He was in town for the Passover. So on Thursday, he gathers with his disciples to enjoy the meal together. He is the host of the meal. So he leads his disciples in a Passover meal and prayer. But he knows that he will not be around for long. So he gives them words of advice to keep going strong. I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King the day that he was assassinated. He encouraged those hoping for a better day to keep going forward when he tells them that he has been to the mountain top. He says that he may not get there with them, but the promisedland is just ahead. Did Jesus know that this was his last supper. – we can only speculate. Perhaps that is what caused him to want to pray afterward. As he is in the garden, he is arrested, immediately put on trial and crucified. That is a lot for us to take in. we will deal with the second half of the story tomorrow. Tonight, we look at the meal, the call to servanthood, and the prayer to God. There are many Maundy Thursday traditions – footwashing, reliving the last supper, serving communion, confessing our sins, stripping the altar, blow out the candles. In my 26 years of ministry, I think each year is different. I have done all of those things. My favorite thing is to gather for a meal. This year, because of covid restrictions – I thought it best to gather virtually. As we gather tonight, I will invite you to gather with something to drink and take a bite of for communion and a bowl of warm water and a towel – as we will do handwashing instead of foot washing. You may also want to have a tablet in order to write down some key thoughts to ponder as we journey with Jesus within the next few days. As we go through this service, I want you to imagine that you are one if his disciples. You have followed Jesus to Jerusalem against your better judgment. You have been uneasy all week, but somehow things seem to fall into place for Jesus. People have mysteriously provided everything that you need all week. And now the 12 of you are gathered together in a room – preparing for the Passover meal. There are tensions amongst the group, everybody seems to be going their own way. But you hope that this time together will change all of that. You turn your attention to the action in the room and what Jesus has to say…… Call to Worship The Israelites cried out to God in their oppression. Their voices still echo around the globe: in India, Sudan, Mexico, and in American cities. God hears the cries of the suffering, and delivers those who wait on God. All who suffer, who die, who are alienated are precious to God; Let us love the Lord who restores liberty, And gives us hope for peace. Today we remember the One who gave himself for us, Jesus the Christ. Let us worship God! Invocation Jesus, Lamb of God, we bless you today, remembering what you have done for us. You poured out your life to show us the love of God. Today we celebrate your gift of life as we somberly recall your death and exult in your resurrection. Amen. Hear these words of Exodus 12:1-14 as we recall the pasover First Passover 12 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month will be the first month; it will be the first month of the year for you.[a] 3 Tell the whole Israelite community: On the tenth day of this month they must take a lamb for each household, a lamb per house. 4 If a household is too small for a lamb, it should share one with a neighbor nearby. You should divide the lamb in proportion to the number of people who will be eating it. 5 Your lamb should be a flawless year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You should keep close watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month. At twilight on that day, the whole assembled Israelite community should slaughter their lambs. 7 They should take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and on the beam over the door of the houses in which they are eating. 8 That same night they should eat the meat roasted over the fire. They should eat it along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire with its head, legs, and internal organs. 10 Don’t let any of it remain until morning, and burn any of it left over in the morning. 11 This is how you should eat it. You should be dressed, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You should eat the meal in a hurry. It is the Passover of the LORD. 12 I’ll pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I’ll strike down every oldest child in the land of Egypt, both humans and animals. I’ll impose judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be your sign on the houses where you live. Whenever I see the blood, I’ll pass over[b] you. No plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 “This day will be a day of remembering for you. You will observe it as a festival to the LORD. You will observe it in every generation as a regulation for all time Imagine yourself and your family in this text, among the Israelites who were enslaved and desperate. What thoughts might go through your mind as you follow these instructions and prepare this meal? How would you explain to children why you are eating “hurriedly”? Are you excited? Fearful? What images of oppression and liberation come to mind? Where do you experience the need for freedom in your life? in your community? in our world? What is the cost of freedom? Foot washing 13 Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully. 2 Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing. 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand what I’m doing now, but you will understand later.” 8 “No!” Peter said. “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t have a place with me.” 9 Simon Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus responded, “Those who have bathed need only to have their feet washed, because they are completely clean. You disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 He knew who would betray him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you is clean.” 12 After he washed the disciples’ feet, he put on his robes and returned to his place at the table. He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am. 14 If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. 16 I assure you, servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them. 17 Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them. Read full chapter John 13:31-35 Common English Bible Love commandment 31 When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Human One[a] has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify the Human One[b] in himself and will glorify him immediately. 33 Little children, I’m with you for a little while longer. You will look for me—but, just as I told the Jewish leaders, I also tell you now—‘Where I’m going, you can’t come.’ 34 “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. 35 This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” Imagine yourself in this upper room with Jesus and his friends. With whom do you identify? How do you feel? Peter resists Jesus’ service of footwashing. Would you? Are you surprised that Jesus included Judas in the footwashing? What would it take to offer a service of love to someone who hurt or betrayed you? What manner of love does Jesus model and command of us? 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Common English Bible 23 I received a tradition from the Lord, which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread. 24 After giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me.” 25 He did the same thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me.” 26 Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord until he comes. Somehow Jesus must have known what was next. As he sat and ate, he knew what was going to happen, who was going to betray him. How everyone was caught in their own concerns. They were not with him, they were not even together themselves. Judas would betray him. Peter would deny him. And yet somehow he knows us all, our fears, our concerns, or needs. And he prayed for us all that night at the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus at Gethsemene Night has fallen and I am surrounded by darkness; I am fearful of this dark where evil thoughts lurk, pain is intensified, and I cannot see the way ahead. I feel my light is burning low. Will the darkness overcome it? Terrified I lay here in the dark and call out to my father. And my father is with me; he is in the dark with me. His loving arms surround me and I feel his tears upon my neck. He loves me to the uttermost but he cannot take the darkness away. With him, I must get through this night and the darkness of the next days before the morning comes when the sun rises, in splendour with light for all the world. ©Christine Odell (Sheasby) Prayer of Confession Giver of Life, from time immemorial you call us to yourself. In ways too numerous to mention, we fail to respond. Forgive us, we pray. Our limited understanding of culture gets in the way of fellowship with those different from ourselves. Our limited vision of community gets in the way of your call to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to seek justice and peace for all. Replace our arrogance, Merciful One, with the humility and caring service Jesus modeled, for truly we are not greater than our Teacher and Savior. Amen. Words of Assurance God gives us grace and more grace. Be assured of this truth, that in Christ you are forgiven! Listening for God in the Stories of our Tradition Prayer Prayers of the people My prayer for you is that on this Maundy Thursday is that you have a chance to truly think about what it means to be a disciple of Christ. When we follow Christ, it not only makes a difference in our lives, but in our relationships. It gives us the power to change the world – just in our willingness to be human, to suffer, to serve, to care, to love. We have come to the end of our service today. There won’t be a benediction, or a call to go out into the world and change things now. For now, the church is gone, because we have to see what happens tomorrow. Last Sunday we stripped the altar of anything representing Christ. we come back tomorrow at 7 – we will have a live service, or you can join us on facebook. But it is a dark service of realizing the cost of our sin. Sunday will be a whole new day – you can join us at 9:30 to see what happens. For now, don’t go in peace, but go in sorrow and concern for our world today. What would life be like if we lost Jesus. I leave you with the words of the first verse of the song – Go dark Gethsemane…….peace out Instruction for what’s next (Parts of teh service taken from Maundy Thursday service from UCC Justice and local Church Ministries, Faith INFO Ministry Team 2021)