Maundy Thursday - John Wesley Love Feast

Matthew 26:17-20, Matthew 26:26-32 Passover with the disciples 17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?” 18 He replied, “Go into the city, to a certain man, and say, ‘The teacher says, “My time is near. I’m going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”’” 19 The disciples did just as Jesus instructed them. They prepared the Passover. 20 That evening he took his place at the table with the twelve disciples. Matthew 26:26-32 Common English Bible Last supper 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take and eat. This is my body.” 27 He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from this, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many so that their sins may be forgiven. 29 I tell you, I won’t drink wine again until that day when I drink it in a new way with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 Then, after singing songs of praise, they went to the Mount of Olives. Predictions about disciples leaving Jesus 31 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Tonight you will all fall away because of me. This is because it is written, I will hit the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will go off in all directions.[a] 32 But after I’m raised up, I’ll go before you to Galilee.” Maundy Thursday Is the Thursday before the crucifixion. Jesus knew that his days were numbered, and yet he wanted to host a Passover meal for his disciples and friends. Over the past 2000 years, there have been a number of different ways to commemorate this day – services, hand and foot washing, communion, there are some churches that do a reenactment of the Lord’s Supper. Many churches have a Seder meal as Jesus’ last supper. There is no one way to commemorate Maundy Thursday. Maundy means commandment. When Jesus gathered with his friends, he gave them one commandment – to love one another. It doesn’t matter to Jesus what you do on this night, as long as it is done in love. Hence we are gathered here tonight to have a love feast or an agape meal. Agape means Christian love. The worship committee planned this meal 3 years ago before the pandemic. This was the first year that we were able to do it. I wanted to introduce it to the church, because it is an important tool to add to our ministry tool kit. Sharing a meal together has been a sacred time probably for as long as we have gathered together in community and family. The Passover meal was important to the Hebrew community. God asked them to have a time to remember how God set them free. They were to have this meal every year and to teach their children their history. The Passover meal was important to Jesus – he invited his friends. The disciples continued to gather at meal time and just as Jesus has commanded, they took care on one another and made sure that anyone that was hungry was fed. The early church continued this tradition. Some of these churches would gather to eat at least once a week. They would gather in fellowship, but if there were people in the community that were hungry and only came for the food that was okay. It was called a love feast because it was a time to make sure that the poor were taken care of. Today many Asian churches still have a tradition of serving a big meal open to anyone right after church. There were two traditions that evolved from Jesus’ Last Supper. Communion was one tradition that was adopted by many Christian communities – where you remember Jesus’ last meal with a ceremony using wine and bread. The love feast was a completely different tradition that was adopted only by certain communities where you served a full blown meal and honored Jesus using bread and water. Today Episcopalians, Methodist, German speaking denominations like the Moravians still do love feast. John Wesley started a renewal movement in the US and his home in Britian. He encouraged Christians to gather in groups to further their faith. His classes became the Methodist Church. While working here in America, he started taking bible study with the Moravians – who were German based community. They had Love Feast regularly. He adopted it for his movement and encouraged the Methodist to have love feast. I wanted to introduce the concept to you all – because it has 3 major functions that are important to Methodist mission and ministry. 1. Lay Leadership is critical to Methodism. As a pastor, he knew that he could not be everywhere as churches developed on the frontier. Methodist Pastors were circuit riders who rode to different churches to perform priestly functions, but lay people were the backbone to the church. Wesley wanted to make sure that lay people were empowered to do any function of the church in the absence of a pastor. So the first instance that you would do a love feast instead of communion is if the pastor was planning to be present, but was not able to come to a function. Serve water instead of grape juice and the lay leader is able to carry on. 2. If you are on a mission trip, and you want to have a holy service but no minister is with you on the trip. You can serve bread and water on the chalice and plate. During communion the pastor must says the magic words in order to turn the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. That is not necessary for the love feast. You can just say a prayer, sing a song, have a holy moment and make sure that everyone is served. 3. If you are having a meal or a holy moment with people from other denominations. It is interesting that we as Christians are called together in love, and yet we find so many different ways to separate ourselves, including communion. We have so many different views about what communion is. A Love Feast gets us beyond all of that. We can gather with Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians and even Baptist based on love and not the body of Christ. If you are inviting other denominations to dinner, then you should call it an Agape Meal and not John Wesley’s Love Feast. It cuts down on the arguments and misconceptions. You can even have a love feast with another Methodist denomination. 4. We like to have Seder Meals in honor of Jesus life. I love the seder meal, it is one of my favorite ceremonies of the year. But Jews don’t encourage us to have seder meals, because it is an important part of their heritage that we don’t always understand. The Jewish religion was established after Jesus crucifixion, so that was not the exact meal that he ate. An Agape meal is a Christian meal, we are not borrowing it from anyone. And it can be served at any time. Before we have our love feast and eat our meal I just want to point out the elements on the table. In honor of Jesus’ heritage, we have an Elijah cup filled with juice, and a Miriam Cup filled with water. When I left Englewood church, My friend John Ellis gave me a Wesleyan tea pot that would have been present at a John Wesley love feast. There is a tea cup that would have had two or three handles on it to symbolize unity. This is the cup that you would pass around and drink from. We wont be passing it around. The bread is cut up in cubes, so that we can pass it to one another. Water and towel to symbolically wash our hands. A Blessing Over the Water: This is the living water that flows through the ages. It is the water of the Red Sea, which split to save the Israelites from plight, and it is the water of the River Jordan, in which Christ was baptized. All the waters of the world are connected; now let us be connected and cleansed with this water. Let us pray: O cleansing and righteous God, it is you who can see all, both the filth of sin and the purity of love. You are the only one who can liberate us from the power of sin! Let us connect with this water you have given to us; and let us be cleansed from our sins. It was you who in humility washed your disciples’ feet. But it is we who in humility wash our hands in search of forgiveness from our sins. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. Please submerge hands in your bowl of water. The Feast: Here before us, you will find some water and bread. It is important to know that this feast is not a Eucharistic feast, but one of love and fellowship. First time doing it, wanted to make sure that you had the explanation. In the future we will do both meals. Prayer over the elements. The Feast: Here before us, you will find some water and bread. It is important to know that this feast is not a Eucharistic feast, but one of love and fellowship. You are the Beloved Community. As you eat this bread, let us commemorate our unity through Christ and feast on the spirit of love who is Christ. Let us eat together. We know that water sustains our lives, and we know that you, O Lord, are the Living Water. Let us drink together. The Lord’s Prayer: (in the language closest to your heart) Pass them to one another Grace Be present at our table, Lord Be here and everywhere adored; Thy creatures bless, and grant that we May feast in paradise with Thee (John Cenick) There will be a little bit of closing – but say goodbye to those joining us on Facebook – Table Fellowship During the regular Love Feast, should take up an offering for the poor, and have testimonies. Scripture1 Corinthians 11:23-29 Song Were you There? Dismissal with no blessing

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)

Maundy Thursday

Recently I was listening to someone explain how to teach the meaning of communion to children. She said that man children will not understand the concept of eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood. That doesn't sound very appealing. Well when you think about it, many of us adults do not understand what it means to each the flesh and blood of another human being. As a matter of fact, our culture tells us that to eat other human beings is not only distasteful, it is wrong. There is a book about a a group of people who were involved in an airplane crash some years ago. The airplane crashed in some remote in the mountains of latin america. Many of the people on the plane were killed, but there were also some who survived. They had no radio to call for help, and the only food that was in the plane were snacks that passengers had brought with them. and in order to survive, they did the unthinkable. They eat the body parts of the other passengers. They had crashed in the snow, so they were able to keep the flesh cold until they needed to eat it. By eating their fellow passengers, they were able to survive for a month until they were finally rescued. Can you imagine being stuck with such a choice? On the one hand you are traumatized, being in a plane crash. People who you once greeted, got to know, talked with in casual conversation, have been killed right before your eyes. For some reason God chose you to survive, to live to go on. But you have to eat in order to live and there is nothing around for you to eat. Do you live within the common understandings of what your culture has always told you, and die from starvation. Or do you look beyond that and choose to live, by eating the flesh of someone who you know, who you had a relationship with? Who you may have even grown to love? You know, when you think about it, this is also the choice that Christ has given to each of us as his disciples. When he offered us his flesh and blood. We can either live within the common understanding of our culture and die of spiritual starvation, or do we choose to survive for an eternity and eat his flesh and blood? The most fascinating thing about the story of the people of the airplane crash, was that their decision to live was never quite accepted by those who heard the story. The taboo of cannibalism is so taboo in our world, that they were always branded as making a bad decision. Yet for me, I think that the title of the book says all that needs to be said about their decision - the title is alive! they choose to stay alive. Today, Maundy Thursday, as we enter into the time of trial and death for our lord jesus Christ, we too can make that choice to stay alive. Jesus came to understand that all that this world has to offer toany of us is death. Death of our dreams, death of our hopes, death of our understandings, deaths of our trust in others, death eventually of our own flesh and blood. Christ tells us that howver, that his broken flesh and his cup of blood carries with it the promise of life. They contin the presence of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the hope of resurrection, the joy of christ coming again. Eating flesh and blood of our loved ones, may still be very taboo in our culture. Yet eating the flesh and blood of Christ is important to what it means to be a Christian. Because once your have eaten the body of Christ, then you become a part of Christ. You are what you eat. The presence of Christ becomes a part of you a part of who you are. You become the body of Christ so that the world may know that in the midst of death, we can all stay alive. In the midst of the sorrow of death, we can have peace, love, joy and salvation. This is the body and blood of Christ, take eat and drink, and live. traumatized 4/20/00