MAUNDY THURSDAY OF HOLY WEEK
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
MAUNDY THURSDAY OF HOLY WEEK – Coronavirus
04-14-2022 7:00PM Worship
A Narrative Liturgy
Opening Song: “Go Down, Moses”
Narrator # 1
EXODUS 12:1-14 [Old Testament account of the Passover deliverance event and the command to remember it.]
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…”
Narrator #2
JOHN 13:1-17, 34-35 [New Testament account of Jesus washing feet and giving the command to love.]
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.”
Footwashing
Narrator #3
A Song:
“Oh, how He loves you and me. Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more can He give?
OH, HOW HE LOVES YOU; OH, HOW HE LOVES ME;
OH, HOW HE LOVES YOU AND ME!
Jesus to Calv’ry did go, His love for this world to show.
What He did there brought hope from despair…”
Narrator #4
Narrator #5
Confession and Forgiveness:
C 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. Amen.
A Song: “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian”
The Lord’s Supper:
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. On this night – and whenever we share the bread and the wine of Holy Communion – we remember Jesus’ sacrifice of his life, his body, his blood. And we proclaim what we have come to believe and to treasure:
C CHRIST HAS DIED. CHRIST IS RISEN. CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN.
Music Selection: “Let Us Break Bread Together”
Narrator #6
Stripping the Altar
Narrator #7
PSALM 22 [The psalmist’s present intense distress is contrasted with God’s past mercy. When Christians read this psalm they cannot help but remember and reflect on Christ’s suffering and death on the cross – his passionate cry to God; the mocking, ridicule, and condemnation of the crowd; his thirst and pain; the death of an innocent man; even the gambling for his robe. The New Testament contains 15 quotations or allusions to this psalm. Note the change in mood that begins at verse 22. In spite of a bleak outlook… in the midst of desperation… and at the edge of despair… yet there is praise for God’s faithfulness, celebrated by the worshiping community in verses 22-26 and also by the whole world in verses 27-31.
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.