What Exactly is a Maundy?
April 5, 2009
Last week I gave reasons for why Holy Week, culminating with Resurrection Sunday, should be the highest celebration of our year as a church. In an effort to increase our celebration of Jesus’ final week before his death and resurrection, we are adding a Maundy Thursday service to our usual celebration of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday.
What is a Maundy Thursday service? First it would be helpful to know that the word Maundy originally comes from the Latin word mandatum which means “mandate” or “commandment.” On the night when Jesus shared his last supper with the disciples, he gave them a command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). Thus our service will have a number of components to it, including Scripture readings related to the Last Supper, a meditation from God’s word on Jesus’ command to love one another, and a celebration of the Lord’s supper.
Since this is a special service, we will take the bread and the cup in a different way than usual. Instead of passing the elements, we will set up stations where we can come and partake in the bread and cup in smaller groups. Our hope is that this will give another angle of what it was like for Jesus’ disciples to eat of this holy meal in the intimacy of the upper room. As others are sharing in this meal, we will encourage you to pray for one another in small groups, and the elders will be available to pray with you as well. This is one way that we can “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” that he gave on this evening (Galatians 6:2).
Those who have been part of the Whitton Avenue family for the last few years will be more familiar with our Good Friday service. In my experience, this is one of the most meaningful services of the year, as we walk through the drama of the final hours before Jesus’ death through readings from the gospels accompanied by artwork depicting the events. It is a solemn service that ends in silence, with the intent to bring us closer to the disciples’ experience of this history-shaking day.
Please plan to attend both of these special services as we seek to hold fast to the gospel, the good news of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished for us.
Pastor Chris