MAUNDY THURSDAY OF HOLY WEEK | 3-28-24
03-28-2024 7:00PM “Hybrid” Worship
A Narrative Liturgy
A Brief Introduction
Opening Song: “Go Down, Moses” Tan #543
Narrator # 1 Three of the Gospels say that it was the first day of Passover, and that Jesus and his disciples had gathered for a full Passover meal – with all its historical remembrance, its religious significance, its special foods and carefully ordered rituals. Israel had been commanded to remember and celebrate how they were delivered out of slavery in Egypt through the blood of a lamb when God “passed over” their homes with a cloud of death upon the Egyptians. This event was so significant that God said that the month in which the Passover deliverance event took place would be, from now on, the beginning of the calendar year for the Israelites. Let us hear again the Old Testament scripture of how the blood delivered from slavery to freedom and from death to life… how the people were instructed to eat in haste and readiness.
Roland Thompson
Exodus 12:1-14 Regina Carter
12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
12:2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
12:3 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.
12:4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.
12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
12:6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.
12:7 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.
12:8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12:9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.
12:10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
12:11 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.
12:12 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 judgments: I am the LORD.
12:13 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.
12:14 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.
Song Verse:
“The blood that Jesus shed for me, way back on Calvary,
the blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power.
IT REACHES TO THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, IT FLOWS TO THE LOWEST VALLEY!
THE BLOOD THAT GIVES ME STRENGTH FROM DAY TO DAY, IT WILL NEVER LOSE ITS POWER!
It soothes my doubts and calms my fears, and it dries all my tears;
the blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power.
IT REACHES TO…”
Narrator #2 Many centuries later, an upper room in a building in the city of Jerusalem had been borrowed for Jesus and his followers either for or just before the festival of Passover. All twelve disciples were present with Jesus. Only the Gospel of John tells us how Jesus surprised them all when he unexpectedly rose up from the meal, stripped down, humbled down, knelt down, and washed his disciples’ feet. He went from one to the other like a nameless slave, like a lowly servant. Then he added words to explain what he had done and gave them a new commandment, urging them to love one another as he loved them. Let us listen to the New Testament account of this remarkable, powerful symbolic action… and his words.
Carol Lee
John 13:1-17, 34-38 Shelvia Samuel
13:1 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.
13:2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper
13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,
13:4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.
13:5 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.
13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
13:7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”
13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
13:10 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.”
13:11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
13:12 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?
13:13 You call me Teacher and Lord–and you are right, for that is what I am.
13:14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
13:15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
13:16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.
13:17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
13:31b When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.
13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Narrator #3 The footwashing is a powerful symbol of the love that Jesus Christ showed… and the love that he commands us to practice. We invite those who wish to have their feet washed to come forward. Christians ought to understand and commit to this new social reality that Jesus inaugurated, allowing themselves to be transformed into a new way of living shaped by changed attitude and compassionate action… a new way of living that offers self in humble servant love for one another and for the world, especially the poor and unloved. Pastor Gwen
Footwashing
Footwashing Songs: Tan #228 Tan #463 Tan #522 Tan #308
Narrator #4 Now that the dust of the street was washed away, they all took their places at the meal again. If someone was looking carefully, they might have noticed that Jesus seemed somber, maybe even unusually shaken on this particular evening. If someone was reflecting on it all, they might have sensed that there was something different about this particular meal, whether or not it was a Passover celebration. Jesus said quietly, without anger and without malice, “One of you will betray me.” Can you imagine the suddenness of those words, how they shattered the evening, and the deadening silence they created? Only one had an idea of what he was talking about. The others were stunned. They all asked, “Is it I, Lord?”
Maliek Patterson
Narrator #5 Note that none of the disciples in the upper room had the courage to say, dared to say, “It isn’t me, Lord.” None of them – none of US – ought to be so certain, so sure, so proud, so arrogant, so righteous, so good, so faithful, so courageous, to believe or to say, “I know it won’t be me!” Every one of them – every one of US – must search his, search her, own heart. It isn’t just Judas – is it? – that has ever betrayed Jesus. Search your own heart as I search mine. The guilt is all around us. And it is in us. And so let us take a moment to confess… Beverly Morris
Confession: O God, I confess that I am a sinner. I have no excuses and no one or nothing else to blame. I confess that I have not have not loved you with my whole heart. I confess that I have not followed Christ’s example and Christ’s command to love others as fully or as often as I should. And I confess that I have not really loved myself in the right way. I confess that I am capable of betraying and denying and deserting my Lord with my thoughts, my words, and my actions, by what I do and by what I fail to do. On this holy night, I bow my head and my heart, pray for your mercy, and seek your grace. Amen.
L God demonstrates his love for us in this way: While we were still dead in sin, Christ died for us to make us alive. By grace you have been saved. In the name of (+) Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. God never wearies of forgiving sin and giving the peace of reconciliation. It is why he sent Jesus, and it’s why Jesus was willing to suffer and die. It is a gift, a gift to be celebrated and shared. And God’s forgiven people should always seek to be God’s forgiving people. Pastor Neil
Individual Forgiveness… God’s Peace
L As the men ate together, Jesus did something else that they would never forget… that we also continue to remember to this day. As official host of the meal, Jesus blessed and broke the bread – something he must have done many times before. But this time he said:
C “TAKE AND EAT. THIS IS MY BODY, BROKEN FOR YOU.”
L Jesus surely must have blessed and passed many cups of wine over their time together, but this time he added:
C “TAKE AND DRINK. THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHICH IS POURED OUT FOR YOU, FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF YOUIR SINS.”
L As the bread had been broken, so his body would soon be broken in his crucifixion. And his death, his blood, was establishing a solemn promise, a trustworthy agreement, a new relationship with God. Always and forever. It was an ordinary meal, everyday bread and wine transformed by his words, his actions, and what was about to happen. Tonight, at the Lord’s Table, we remember Jesus’ sacrifice of his life as we share bread and wine – his body and his blood.
Holy Communion… All believers in Christ are welcome at the Lord’s Table!
Communion Songs: Tan #686 Tan #345
Narrator #6 After the meal, the disciples stood up and sang a traditional psalm of joyful praise to God. Then they left that upper room and stepped out with Jesus into the night. This night was different from the previous nights, because this night they did not return to the village of Bethany to stretch out and rest. That’s what the disciples had expected, what they were hoping to do next. But on this night they were led by Jesus to the shadowy trees of the garden in a place called Gethsemane where Jesus wanted to pray, where he wanted to prepare for the end of his life. He asked the disciples to keep watch with him while he prayed… but while he prayed they slept. The hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified. He was about to be betrayed with a kiss. Alex Harris
Narrator #7 We symbolically strip our altar and chancel as we remember Jesus stripped of his power and in the hands of his captors, abandoned by his friends and denied by Peter, condemned by the religious and political authorities, humiliated by the soldiers and mocked by everyone, utterly alone and empty of glory, about to be crucified and soon to be buried – a lifeless body lying on a stone slab, buried in deep rock. It was a life surrendered. Pastor Neil
Closing Rite:
L God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
C through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
L We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
C By your cross you have redeemed the world.
Stripping the Altar
[There is no Benediction, no Closing Song. All may leave quietly.]
A TIME OF REFLECTION AND CONFESSION (based on 1 CORINTHIANS 13):
L Love is patient, love is kind.
C Love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud.
L Love is not rude, love is not self-seeking.
C Love is not easily angered, love keeps no records of wrongs.
L Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
C Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
L Love never fails. God’s love for us has never failed us. Christ’s love for us has never failed us.
Washing his disciples’ feet and offering the sacrifice of his life in broken bread and poured wine,
Jesus clearly demonstrated his unfailing, extreme, humble love for humanity, for you and me.
His enacted example and spoken commandment on this last night of life is that we should love
one another as he has loved us. But let us be real with ourselves and confess the truth.