Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, is the Thursday of Holy Week. “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “command.” It stems from Christ’s words in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you.” This is the command or mandate to “love one another as I have loved you.” A lot of tradition is attributed to this day. It commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Ordination.
Three of the four Gospels (Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22) tell us that Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples called the Last Supper on the night before he was crucified. They state that the meal that was shared was a Passover meal and the institution of the Holy Eucharist occurred during this meal. Passover, a Jewish tradition which commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, is recorded in the book of Exodus. Jews also celebrate the birth of the Jewish nation after being freed by God from captivity. In the Jewish tradition three events are incorporated into the 8 day Passover celebration beginning with a meal known as a Seder: freedom through God’s intervention and deliverance, Hag HaMatzah or the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Yom HaBikkurim or First fruits, all mentioned in Leviticus 23.
The Gospel of John (starting in chapter 13) deviates from the other gospel accounts and suggests that Jesus was crucified before Passover. It begins the first of the three days known as the “Paschal Triduum” which lasts from the Vigil on Holy Thursday until the Vigil of Easter. John’s version has Jesus having the last meal a day before the beginning of Passover and has him being crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover meal. It is on this day that the sacrificial lambs are slaughtered and symbolically it makes Jesus the Lamb of God.
John focuses on Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, demonstrating how Christians should love one another through humble service. This event is traditionally celebrated on Maundy Thursday as well. Occasionally on Maundy Thursday the events of the foot washing and the Last Supper or Passover meal are often celebrated in conjunction to incorporate all four gospel accounts. The meal is called an Agape Meal. An Agape Meal is a Christian fellowship meal that recalls the meals Jesus shared with his disciples during his ministry and is associated with the Last Supper. It is the original potluck supper. After a common meal, it is then that Jesus gave the disciples the bread and the wine, the Lord’s Supper.
During the Last Supper, Jesus commands his disciples to love with humility by serving one another and to remember his sacrifice. When Jesus shared the final meal with the 12 apostles before going to the cross, he told them one of them would betray him. Even so, He then shared with them the first Eucharist , the blessing of the bread and wine and offering these as symbols for the remembrance of his body and blood. After the meal, Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden at Gethsemane. Each of the Gospel writers describe the events of that night with slight variations so reading the four accounts (Matthew 26:36-56, Mark 14:32-52, Luke 22:40-53 and John 18:1-11) will complete the picture. It is here, after spending some time in agony, thinking about what is to become of him, Jesus is arrested. Judas identifies Jesus with a kiss and he is taken away. Of course this is not the end of the story. On Good Friday Jesus is crucified, he rests in the tomb on Holy Saturday and on Easter Sunday, the Resurrection!
Joan Shisler
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sonnet for Maundy Thursday
They gathered in that room yet one last time
Not knowing then how precious time might be
Until the hour had come to name the crime
And sentence You to die upon the tree.
And tell us now again what was so Good
That Friday when You left for kingdom come,
When crown of thorns and throne of splintered wood
Were hardly signs Your Father's will be done?
The Time for Your return seems overdue
While hopeless souls lose will to be set free.
So be our guest and tell us what to do,
While Faith remains in us who did not see.
But how can Heaven send that One who died
But Who, once risen, never left our side?
OK, your turn. The link for Sonnets for Dummies is still calling your name (See "Holy Sonnets for Holy Week"). I actually had to use the link for Special Dummies, but I'm sure you won't.
Bob Stephenson
Not knowing then how precious time might be
Until the hour had come to name the crime
And sentence You to die upon the tree.
And tell us now again what was so Good
That Friday when You left for kingdom come,
When crown of thorns and throne of splintered wood
Were hardly signs Your Father's will be done?
The Time for Your return seems overdue
While hopeless souls lose will to be set free.
So be our guest and tell us what to do,
While Faith remains in us who did not see.
But how can Heaven send that One who died
But Who, once risen, never left our side?
OK, your turn. The link for Sonnets for Dummies is still calling your name (See "Holy Sonnets for Holy Week"). I actually had to use the link for Special Dummies, but I'm sure you won't.
Bob Stephenson
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Good News Will Make You Crazy
In Common Prayer, a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, authors Shane Clarborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro have compiled a variety of devotional resources.
Their prayers for Monday of Holy Week are based upon the story in Mark 14:3-9, of the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus - a radical act of devotion. They include these words of Emmanuel Katongole, a contemporary Ugandan theologian.
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you, wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors.
Father Showers
Their prayers for Monday of Holy Week are based upon the story in Mark 14:3-9, of the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus - a radical act of devotion. They include these words of Emmanuel Katongole, a contemporary Ugandan theologian.
Mary represents the ‘rebel consciousness’ that is essential to Jesus’ gospel. Wherever the gospel is preached, we must remember that its good news will make you crazy. Jesus will put you at odds with the economic and political systems of our world. This gospel will force you to act, interrupting the world as it is in ways that make even pious people indignant.They close with this prayer:
While we sat in darkness, Lord Jesus Christ, you interrupted us with your life. Make us, your people, a holy interruption so that by your Spirit's power we may live as a light to the nations, even as we stumble through this world’s dark night. Amen.In closing, I leave you with this blessing for Holy Week:
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you, wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors.
Father Showers
Holy Sonnets for Holy Week?
Joan's inviting blog on writing in the Haiku form for Lent stirred me to try it, which I found to be a spiritual exercise worthy of serious consideration. Go back and check it out and try it this week if you haven't already done so.
Then, last week, when I was looking back at John Donne's sonnets on death, etc., in anticipation of Passion Sunday, it occurred to me that maybe the sonnet would also work as a spiritual exercise - a bit longer with more rules to follow, but hey, it's Holy Week! Time to do penance for all those lapses in your good intentions since Ash Wednesday (Am I the only one who had lapses? God, I hope not!).
A dream last night came surging back just now
With full force when I read the sacred word.
This Holy Week one knows not why or how,
But some thing deep within the soul is stirred:
If grain falls in the earth and time is ripe
A death brings forth its fruit in full array.
To contemplate one's life in just such light
May blunt those fears so often faced each day.
But breaking faith with ancient bonds within
Can be the work of more than just a dream.
So long did fear to know the way pretend
One knows not how to ford a different stream.
But God alone is who the soul knows best,
But only God puts all souls fear to rest.
Here is a link if you want to give it a try: www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-a-sonnet.html
Bob Stephenson
Then, last week, when I was looking back at John Donne's sonnets on death, etc., in anticipation of Passion Sunday, it occurred to me that maybe the sonnet would also work as a spiritual exercise - a bit longer with more rules to follow, but hey, it's Holy Week! Time to do penance for all those lapses in your good intentions since Ash Wednesday (Am I the only one who had lapses? God, I hope not!).
A dream last night came surging back just now
With full force when I read the sacred word.
This Holy Week one knows not why or how,
But some thing deep within the soul is stirred:
If grain falls in the earth and time is ripe
A death brings forth its fruit in full array.
To contemplate one's life in just such light
May blunt those fears so often faced each day.
But breaking faith with ancient bonds within
Can be the work of more than just a dream.
So long did fear to know the way pretend
One knows not how to ford a different stream.
But God alone is who the soul knows best,
But only God puts all souls fear to rest.
Here is a link if you want to give it a try: www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-a-sonnet.html
Bob Stephenson
Monday, April 18, 2011
Availability and Vulnerability
There are two simple words at the center of the Rule of Life for the Northumbria Community – availability and vulnerability. Since discovering that Rule several years ago, I have tried to live my own life with availability and vulnerability.
Let me backtrack. Many years ago, David found a prayer book developed by the Northumbria Community in England. The Northumbria Community is a geographically dispersed community that has its home on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. It is shaped by a spirituality based in the history and experience of the Celts. What holds that community together is their Rule of Life, summarized by the values of availability and vulnerability. As Richard Foster states in the introduction of Celtic Daily Prayer:
Holy Week was a time when Jesus was fully available to those who needed him, while becoming totally vulnerable to the fear and cruelty of those who controlled the religious and government institutions. In his acts of availability, such as washing the disciple’s feet, Jesus turns around the expectations of his friends by caring for them. In his interactions with those in power, he refuses to return violence for violence, hatred for hatred. During this week, we recall his betrayal by one of his disciples, beatings by soldiers, abandonment by his friends, crucifixion by an oppressive state, and death.
So, in continuing on my Lenten discipline of what if it’s all true, what can I hope to learn from Jesus tragic, and ultimately triumphant, journey? I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But if I can find a way to stay available and vulnerable to reliving his story, I hope to be able embrace those values more fully in the power of resurrection and Easter.
Let me backtrack. Many years ago, David found a prayer book developed by the Northumbria Community in England. The Northumbria Community is a geographically dispersed community that has its home on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. It is shaped by a spirituality based in the history and experience of the Celts. What holds that community together is their Rule of Life, summarized by the values of availability and vulnerability. As Richard Foster states in the introduction of Celtic Daily Prayer:
These are vows that extend both vertically and horizontally: available to God, available to others; vulnerable to God, vulnerable to others.While I make no claim to be a member of the community, nor have I ever visited there, I have tried to adopt those values into my life, with their challenge and hope. I continually find myself returning to them over and over again, because they seem to be at the core of my struggles to live a life centered on God. This year, I will consciously bring those challenges of availability and vulnerability into this week between Palm Sunday and Easter.
Holy Week was a time when Jesus was fully available to those who needed him, while becoming totally vulnerable to the fear and cruelty of those who controlled the religious and government institutions. In his acts of availability, such as washing the disciple’s feet, Jesus turns around the expectations of his friends by caring for them. In his interactions with those in power, he refuses to return violence for violence, hatred for hatred. During this week, we recall his betrayal by one of his disciples, beatings by soldiers, abandonment by his friends, crucifixion by an oppressive state, and death.
So, in continuing on my Lenten discipline of what if it’s all true, what can I hope to learn from Jesus tragic, and ultimately triumphant, journey? I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But if I can find a way to stay available and vulnerable to reliving his story, I hope to be able embrace those values more fully in the power of resurrection and Easter.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
A Rule of Life
As we approach the end of Lent, and the beginning of Holy Week, a question may rise in your mind, “What next?” Whether you have given up some food item or bad habit, or taken on additional activities such as prayer, Bible reading, or service as part of your Lenten journey, how do you feel about all of that ending on Easter?
Like a trellis that supports a rose or a grape vine, your Rule of Life can help you become more intentional about how you shape your time and your relationships. Because you write a Rule to address the specific circumstances and issues in your life, it provides a way to stay on track and to remember what is important. When your life changes, you change your rule to reflect the new situation.
In How do I create a Rule of Life? The Rev. Jay Rozendaal, provides a place to start. He notes that there are many things that you already do that would be a part of your Rule of Life, such as regular times for prayer and worship, community service projects, family activities or workouts at the gym. Starting with what you already do may be surprising and encouraging. When considering what else to add, he notes:
Not everyone is interested or in a life situation that supports this kind of commitment. But for some, it is a useful tool.
I invite you to take a moment, pray to God for guidance, then be quiet for a minute or two. Close the silence by saying aloud “Amen.”
Whether you want to commit to a Rule of Life may not happen right away. Nothing may happen in the time of silence. Whether or not something happens really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have set aside some time to open yourself to God. At root, that is what any Rule of Life is about; for those who have adopted a Rule of Life, it is one way to continually open themselves to God.
Bruce Calvin
- Relief – “now I can eat what I want!”
- Satisfaction – “This has been a good time: I am glad to have done it and I am glad it is coming to an end.”
- Guilt – “Another year when I have failed to live up to my resolutions.”
- Hope – “This has been a great experience, and I want to keep doing something, maybe more or maybe less, to build upon what I have done. Perhaps I can start doing this regularly?
Like a trellis that supports a rose or a grape vine, your Rule of Life can help you become more intentional about how you shape your time and your relationships. Because you write a Rule to address the specific circumstances and issues in your life, it provides a way to stay on track and to remember what is important. When your life changes, you change your rule to reflect the new situation.
In How do I create a Rule of Life? The Rev. Jay Rozendaal, provides a place to start. He notes that there are many things that you already do that would be a part of your Rule of Life, such as regular times for prayer and worship, community service projects, family activities or workouts at the gym. Starting with what you already do may be surprising and encouraging. When considering what else to add, he notes:
It should be do-able (do not set yourself up to fail) but not superficial (do not just take an easy way out); it should be a commitment but not a straitjacket.If you are intrigued by the Benedictine perspective, I recommend the workbook Creating a Rule of Life by the Community of Reconciliation at the National Cathedral. It includes a series of areas to consider, several sample Rules, and additional resources. Since that particular community is based in Washington, DC, you could also attend their weekly, monthly or special events. If you want to read a book, At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us by Margaret Guenther is excellent.
Not everyone is interested or in a life situation that supports this kind of commitment. But for some, it is a useful tool.
I invite you to take a moment, pray to God for guidance, then be quiet for a minute or two. Close the silence by saying aloud “Amen.”
Whether you want to commit to a Rule of Life may not happen right away. Nothing may happen in the time of silence. Whether or not something happens really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have set aside some time to open yourself to God. At root, that is what any Rule of Life is about; for those who have adopted a Rule of Life, it is one way to continually open themselves to God.
Bruce Calvin
more than words
The recent deaths of three high school students in our community challenge us to a deeper contemplation of our common humanity. At a time when so much global and domestic suffering threatens to overwhelm our senses and drive us in search of those safe diversions that leave us comfortably numb, a local tragedy that impacts people we know, people our children know, calls us up short.
Such an immediate threat to the sanctity of our own families or our friends' families, forces us to look more deeply into those reservoirs of truth that we have been filling since childhood with the Wisdom of the Ages: .... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. At what age did we first hear and perhaps commit to memory those familiar verses from John Donne, not foreseeing then just how they might prove valuable, yet instinctively knowing that they would?
Our religious formation provided us with similar words early on: ....though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff - they comfort me.. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Yet there is always the risk that things learned in our precritical youth are not our first choices as adults when crises threaten too close to home. We may well have learned everything we needed to know in Sunday School, but what is the likelihood that we will return to the story of Noah's Ark when storms threaten our coast as they do this weekend? NOAA would be a more obvious choice.
And as powerful as the story of Holy Week may be at its core with its language and imagery of God-in-our-midst as suffering servant who washes our feet and calls us to an unconditional love for one another, Lenten observances notwithstanding, we may still opt to look elsewhere for that hedge against our fears and uncertainties regarding death when it happens so close to home.
However, Holy Week can teach us much about ourselves and the choices we make, when what we treasure most is at stake. Five weeks ago the invitation to a Holy Lenten observance during the Ash Wednesday liturgy included Holy Week. But Holy Week is like that last mile in a marathon, or anything else in life that tests the limits of endurance. And too often we end our Lenten observance after Passion Sunday, or even before, because the details of Jesus' last week with his disciples can leave us feeling awkward and uncomfortable at best.
Unlike finishing a race, Holy Week does not show us "what we are made of." Ash Wednesday reminded us of that: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Going through Holy Week ultimately shows us Easter and By Whom we are made - shows us that for every death we encounter there is the resurrection hope: life is changed, not ended. But Holy Week also shows us how fragile and frail our humanity can be when facing the realities of death.
The language we use to express our sorrow for someone's loss is often awkward, if not clumsy, because we seek to remove the pain of grief too soon. Grief is pain that ultimately heals, leaving behind the scars that are permanent signs that we have loved. Offering to share that pain is the best we can offer anyone in such a place. But even then we must take care to know our limits in making such an offer.
Holy Week gives us poignant reminders of how promises to stand by one in their grief or in their dying, can fall short. Peter's denial that he would deny knowing Jesus, followed by his subsequent denials, provides us with a contemplative tool as we consider how we have been there for others in the past in their grief or in their dying, and how we might do it differently in those times that are ahead of us.
Our past inadequacies in the face of death puts us in good company with Jesus' closest friends in the days before his death. The words which best expressed this in John's Gospel, ...and they remembered that he had told them this after he was raised from the dead, hint that we too may only see clearly in hindsight.
But God blesses our frailty in the presence of death and the dying, and infuses those occasions with grace in ways that we may know only in hindsight or perhaps never know. Yet in each year that we are willing to walk through this solemn season to its conclusion, there is always the promise of having our eyes opened in new ways. There is the promise of knowing beyond doubt that, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God..
Or, if you prefer the language of the poet, Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful....Death, thou shalt die.
Bob Stephenson
Such an immediate threat to the sanctity of our own families or our friends' families, forces us to look more deeply into those reservoirs of truth that we have been filling since childhood with the Wisdom of the Ages: .... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. At what age did we first hear and perhaps commit to memory those familiar verses from John Donne, not foreseeing then just how they might prove valuable, yet instinctively knowing that they would?
Our religious formation provided us with similar words early on: ....though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff - they comfort me.. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Yet there is always the risk that things learned in our precritical youth are not our first choices as adults when crises threaten too close to home. We may well have learned everything we needed to know in Sunday School, but what is the likelihood that we will return to the story of Noah's Ark when storms threaten our coast as they do this weekend? NOAA would be a more obvious choice.
And as powerful as the story of Holy Week may be at its core with its language and imagery of God-in-our-midst as suffering servant who washes our feet and calls us to an unconditional love for one another, Lenten observances notwithstanding, we may still opt to look elsewhere for that hedge against our fears and uncertainties regarding death when it happens so close to home.
However, Holy Week can teach us much about ourselves and the choices we make, when what we treasure most is at stake. Five weeks ago the invitation to a Holy Lenten observance during the Ash Wednesday liturgy included Holy Week. But Holy Week is like that last mile in a marathon, or anything else in life that tests the limits of endurance. And too often we end our Lenten observance after Passion Sunday, or even before, because the details of Jesus' last week with his disciples can leave us feeling awkward and uncomfortable at best.
Unlike finishing a race, Holy Week does not show us "what we are made of." Ash Wednesday reminded us of that: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Going through Holy Week ultimately shows us Easter and By Whom we are made - shows us that for every death we encounter there is the resurrection hope: life is changed, not ended. But Holy Week also shows us how fragile and frail our humanity can be when facing the realities of death.
The language we use to express our sorrow for someone's loss is often awkward, if not clumsy, because we seek to remove the pain of grief too soon. Grief is pain that ultimately heals, leaving behind the scars that are permanent signs that we have loved. Offering to share that pain is the best we can offer anyone in such a place. But even then we must take care to know our limits in making such an offer.
Holy Week gives us poignant reminders of how promises to stand by one in their grief or in their dying, can fall short. Peter's denial that he would deny knowing Jesus, followed by his subsequent denials, provides us with a contemplative tool as we consider how we have been there for others in the past in their grief or in their dying, and how we might do it differently in those times that are ahead of us.
Our past inadequacies in the face of death puts us in good company with Jesus' closest friends in the days before his death. The words which best expressed this in John's Gospel, ...and they remembered that he had told them this after he was raised from the dead, hint that we too may only see clearly in hindsight.
But God blesses our frailty in the presence of death and the dying, and infuses those occasions with grace in ways that we may know only in hindsight or perhaps never know. Yet in each year that we are willing to walk through this solemn season to its conclusion, there is always the promise of having our eyes opened in new ways. There is the promise of knowing beyond doubt that, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God..
Or, if you prefer the language of the poet, Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful....Death, thou shalt die.
Bob Stephenson
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