Maundy Thursday Devotional and Fellowship Meal

Topic: Maundy Thursday Devotional and Fellowship Meal

Time: Apr 1, 2021 07:30 PM Dublin

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The service leaflet is available here: Maundy Thursday Devotional and Fellowship Meal 2021

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MAUNDY THURSDAY DEVOTIONAL AND FELLOWSHIP MEAL

The early Christians used to regularly share meals together. In Acts 2 vs 46 and 47 we read: “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

The current coronavirus crisis prevents us from gathering in our church communities  as we normally would to mark the events of Holy Week. However, it does not stop us praying in our homes, giving thanks, and preparing spiritually for the great celebration of Easter.

Tonight’s devotional takes place in the context of a  meal shared  ‘virtually’  at  a  distance  between  households. A candle is lit.

The Gathering of God’s People

Greeting

The Lord be with you

and also with you.

God of our days and years, we set this time a part for you.

Form us in the likeness of Christ so that our lives may glorify you. Amen.

Tonight we  recall  Jesus’  final  meal   with  his  disciples  before his  arrest and   crucifixion.  As  we  do  this,  we also recall and honour  the  roots  of our  Christian faith in the  history  of the people  of Israel. Jesus gathered with his friends  to celebrate the Passover, the festival which marked the deliverance of God’s people from  slavery in Egypt.

The Collect for Purity

Almighty God,

to whom all hearts are open, all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name;

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Penitence

Lord God,

you sent your Son to reconcile us to yourself and to one another.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus,

you heal the wounds of sin and division.

Christ, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit,

through you we put to death the sins of the body – and live.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day

Almighty God,

at the Last Supper your Son Jesus Christ washed the disciples’ feet

and commanded them to love one another.

Give us humility and obedience to be servants of others as he was the servant of all;

who gave up his life and died for us,

yet is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Hymn: CH525 “Let there be love shared among us” (sung twice)

Let there be love shared among us, let there be love in our eyes,

may now your love sweep this nation, cause us, O Lord, to arise;

give us a fresh understanding

of brotherly love that is real,

let there be love shared among us, let there be love.

David Mowbray (b. 1938)

Listening to God’s Word

Exodus 12:1-14, 17, The story of the first Passover

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month  shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month  of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that  on  the  tenth  of this month they  are to  take a lamb  for  each family, a lamb  for  each household.  If  a  household  is  too  small  for  a  whole lamb,  it  shall join  its closest neighbour  in obtaining  one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion  to the number of  people  who  eat of  it. Your lamb shall be without  blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from  the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth  day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts  and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.

You shall let none of it remain until  the morning;  anything that remains until  the morning  you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly.  It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the  land  of  Egypt that  night,  and  I  will  strike down  every firstborn  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance  for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord;  throughout   your generations  you  shall observe  it  as a perpetual   ordinance…  You  shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought  your companies out of the  land  of  Egypt: you  shall  observe  this  day  throughout your  generations  as a  perpetual ordinance.

 

The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and  I will  praise him, my father’s  God, and  I will  exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)

Exodus 14:13-20, Crossing the Red Sea

…Moses  said  to  the   people,  ‘Do  not   be  afraid,  stand firm, and   see   the   deliverance  that   the  Lord  will accomplish for  you today; for  the  Egyptians whom  you see today you shall never see again.  The Lord will fight for you, and  you have  only to keep  still.’

Then  the  Lord said  to Moses,  ‘Why  do  you  cry out  to  me?  Tell the  Israelites  to  go forward.  But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and  his chariot drivers.’

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind  them; and  the  pillar  of  cloud moved from  in front  of them  and took  its place behind  them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

 

The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and  I will  praise him, my father’s  God, and  I will  exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)

Bible Responsory, Deuteronomy  6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie

down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

 

At the  time  of Jesus’  baptism,  his  cousin  John,  a  prophet,  declared  Jesus  to be the Lamb of God who  takes away  the  sin  of the  world  (John 1:29).  Jesus’  identity  as  the  ‘Lamb  of God’  takes   on  a special meaning  in the  context  of  the  Passover festival. Even as they  gather  to  celebrate  the festival, Jesus is aware that the time has come to complete his work of sacrifice and salvation.

Matthew 26:17-19, 26-29, Jesus and his Disciples Celebrate the Passover Meal

On  the   first   day  of  Unleavened  Bread  the  disciples  came  to  Jesus,   saying,

‘Where   do   you   want    us   to   make    the    preparations   for  you  to  eat   the Passover?’  He said,  ‘Go  into  the  city  to  a certain  man,  and   say  to  him,  “The Teacher  says,  My time  is  near;  I  will  keep  the  Passover at  your  house with my  disciples.”   ’          So  the    disciples   did   as  Jesus  had directed  them,  and they prepared the  Passover meal…

While they were eating,  Jesus  took  a loaf of bread,  and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the  disciples, and  said, ‘Take, eat;  this is my body.’ Then  he  took  a cup,  and   after   giving  thanks  he  gave  it  to  them,  saying,  ‘Drink from  it, all of you; for this is my blood  of the covenant, which is poured  out  for  many for  the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit  of the vine until that day when  I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’

Worthy is the Lamb,

to receive honour and glory and blessing. (cf Revelation 5:12)

John 13:1-17, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet

Now before the festival of the Passover,  Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world  and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world,  he loved them  to the end. The devil had already put  it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all

things into his hands, and that he had come from  God and was going to God,  got up from  the table, took  off his outer  robe,  and tied  a towel  around  himself. Then he poured water   into  a  basin  and   began to  wash   the disciples’ feet and to  wipe them  with  the towel that  was tied around  him. He came to  Simon  Peter, who said  to him,  ‘Lord,  are   you  going  to  wash  my feet?’  Jesus  answered,  ‘You  do  not  know  now  what  I am doing, but later  you  will understand.’  Peter  said  to  him, ‘You  will never  wash  my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have  no share with me.’ Simon Peter  said  to him, ‘Lord, not  my feet  only but  also my hands and  my head!’ Jesus said  to him, ‘One who has  bathed does not need to wash,  except for the  feet, but  is entirely clean. And you are  clean, though not  all of you.’ For he  knew who was to betray  him; for this reason he  said, ‘Not all of you are  clean.’

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned  to the table, he said to  them,  ‘Do  you  know what   I  have   done to  you?  You  call  me  Teacher  and   Lord—and  you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to  wash  one  another’s feet.  For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to  you. Very truly,  I tell  you, servants are  not  greater  than  their master,  nor  are  messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.’

Worthy is the Lamb,

to receive honour and glory and blessing. (cf Revelation 5:12)

Hymn: CH530 “Ubi caritas et amor” (vs 1,3 and 6)

1Ubi caritas et amor, Ubi caritas Deus ibi est.

Your love, O Jesus Christ, has gathered us together. Let us love one another as God has loved us.

The love of Jesus Christ will never have an end.

Taizé Community

Reflection

Affirmation of Faith

We have  listened  again  this  night  to  the  story  of God’s  love  for his people and his gift to us in Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God,  who takes away the sins of the world,  and so we re-affirm  our faith:

Do you believe and trust in God the Father, who made the world?

I believe and trust in him.

Do you believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed mankind?

I believe and trust in him.

Do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit who gives life to the people of God?

I believe and trust in him.

This is the faith of the Church.

This is our faith.

We believe and trust in One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

1 Translation: Where charity (i.e., ‘loving-kindness’) and love are found, God himself is there.

Prayers

Loving Father, we give you thanks, for you are our rescuer.

Blessed be God for ever.

We give thanks for the gift of Christ, whose body was given for us and whose blood was shed for us.

Blessed be God for ever.

We give thanks that we may know the empowering presence of the Spirit this night and always.

Blessed be God for ever.

We give thanks for the example of Christ as servant and who leads us in the way of servanthood.

Blessed be God for ever.

In silence or aloud we offer prayers for the needs of the world, for our community  and our loved ones…

The Lord’s Prayer

Gathering our prayers and praises into one, we are bold to pray:

 

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 trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. Amen.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever.        Amen.

God of compassion,

through your Son Jesus Christ

you have reconciled your people to yourself.

As we follow his example, may we obey you with willing hearts and serve one another in holy love,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fellowship Meal

Hymn: CH428 “Let us break bread together”

Let us break bread together, we are one;

let us break bread together, we are one.

We are one as we stand

with our face to the rising Son, O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us drink wine together, we are one;

let us drink wine together, we are one.

Let us praise God together, we are one;

let us praise God together, we are one.

based on a North American traditional folk hymn

Grace

Generous God, we give you thanks for the gifts of food and fellowship we are about to share.

Blessed be God for ever. Amen.