Maundy Thursday

How can I love as Christ loves?

His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, by Sarah Schwieger

Poetry

Passover: A Mirrored Epiphany

by Randall L. Hall

How many years from Bethlehem
Until the awful eloquence
Of wine and lamb
And bitter herbs
Took His breath,
Stunned Him suddenly with knowledge,

Revealing that the blood
Once painted on the lintels and the door posts
Was his own

And the slain lamb but his shadow and a mirror? 

In that moment, bitter herbs,
Dissolving slowly on his tongue,
Insinuated such enormous grief a shudder split his heart
And plumbed toward eternity

Where all night he lay in wonder
In the center of a hundred billion stars,
Tugged and beckoned by the nascent possibilities
Of love or abdication.

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Descending Theology: The Garden

by Mary Karr

We know he was a man because, once doomed,
   he begged for reprieve. See him
grieving on his rock under olive trees,
   his companions asleep
on the hard ground around him
   wrapped in old hides.
Not one stayed awake as he'd asked.
   That went through him like a sword.
He wished with all his being to stay
   but gave up
bargaining at the sky. He knew
   it was all mercy anyhow,
unearned as breath. The Father couldn't intervene,
   though that gaze was never
not rapt, a mantle around him. This
   was our doing, our death.
The dark prince had poured the vial of poison
   into the betrayer's ear,
and it was done. Around the oasis where Jesus wept,
   the cracked earth radiated out for miles.
In the green center, Jesus prayed for the pardon
   of Judas, who was approaching
with soldiers, glancing up—as Christ was—into
   the punctured sky till his neck bones
ached. Here is his tear-riven face come
   to press a kiss on his brother.

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Music

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow,
My ransomed soul He leadeth;
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me;
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill,
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spreadst a table in my sight;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And O what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days,
Thy goodness faileth never:
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

History

The words of Psalm 23 are enduring and familiar, and Henry Williams Baker drew upon them to write this hymn in the early nineteenth century.

Baker, an Anglican priest, wrote more than 300 hymns during his lifetime, including “Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven” and “The Church’s One Foundation,” but “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” is perhaps his most popular. The text was first published in 1868 in the hymnal Hymns Ancient and Modern and was set to the tune St. Columba, which is a traditional Irish melody. Over the years, however, it has been paired with a few different melodies. The lyrics themselves have been translated into many languages for churches around the world to sing.

In the hymn, Baker expresses his faith in God’s care and provision for his life. He draws on the imagery of the shepherd and the sheep to convey the sense of security and peace he feels in God’s presence. The hymn speaks of the streams of living water that God leads us beside, the verdant pastures where He feeds us, and the rod and staff that comfort us in times of trouble. As the king of love, Jesus promises that His love will follow us all the days of our lives (see Psalm 23:6).

by Michael D. Young, from Sacred Days, Sacred Songs

“Sufjan Steven’s song ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ never fails to move me. It evokes the depth of the atonement in my heart; beauty persists in death, joy bubbles and swirls amidst sorrow, and Jesus abides in life’s most confounding moments.” —Rachel Jardine

Goldenrod and the four H stone
The things I brought you
When I found out you had cancer of the bone

Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car into the Navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry

In the morning, through the window shade
When the light pressed up against your shoulder blade
I could see what you were reading
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth

Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens

I remember, at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse

In the morning, at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared
All the glory when you ran outside
With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied
And you told me not to follow you

Sunday night, when I cleaned the house
I found the card where you wrote it out
With the pictures of your mother

On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom

In the morning, when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window
In the morning, in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing

All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see his face
In the morning, in the window
All the glory when he took our place
But he took my shoulders and he shook my face
And he takes, and he takes, and he takes

Activity Ideas

Bake hot cross buns to eat at a special dinner.

Scripture

"Maundy Thursday" comes from the Latin word mandatum, or commandment, reflecting Jesus' words:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

The Gospel of John records that prior to giving this commandment,

“Jesus cried aloud: … Whoever sees me sees him who sent me. … 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.” —John 12:44-45; 13:5

Terryl Givens has said of this moment,

“We’re being told by John, watch carefully and I’ll show you God. And then God washes the feet of His disciples.” (When Faith Is Hard)

“It wasn’t until God walked among us and washed the feet of his disciples that we knew the essence of God, that we understood what John meant when he said, “God is love.” (Peaceable Things: Three Names of Christ)

What does Christ reveal to you about the nature of God?

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Additional Reading