Maundy Thursday

Today is one of my favorite days in the Christian calendar. It's Maundy Thursday, the day that marks our mandate to "do this in remembrance of me" and to "love one another, as I have loved you."

Tonight we will go to our new church for our first Maundy Thursday communion there. It's a "drop in" communion. You go on your own schedule and are given meditations and scripture to read while you wait to be taken into the sanctuary. When it's your time, you'll go with a small group to sit around a table in the front of the church.

All are given the chance to pray out loud or silently as we contemplate the Lord's supper of bread and wine. It's quiet. Very personal. Usually there are tears. I remember sitting with a mother who had lost her 8-year-old daughter to cancer. She said, "This table is my link to Elizabeth. Because of this table, I will see her and hold her again."

For me, the table brings me closer to mysteries that are just beyond my grasp. I accept the sacrifice and love, with gratitude and puzzlement. The bread is real, and though it's a symbol, it takes on meaning as I swallow and it becomes a part of me. The blood of the grape is intense, even in a small portion, and shocks my mouth as it floods it. I swallow though it seems odd to, as though I should hold it longer, perhaps forever, and this symbol of a love so deep the creator of the universe would die for me and lives for me also becomes a part of my mortal body. The color of the remnant in my glass even calls to me. This was something alive and now lives in you, deep and intense.

There is no magic. I will most likely not have any deeper understanding, though I will once again visit the mystery and ponder on it. I'll want to explain it to Lily, to make sure she understands, but she already knows what it means and why. And how can I explain that which I don't fully understand?

I wonder if she'll feel the intense and holy presence of the Holy Spirit as we gather? I wonder what her eyes will see in the eyes of the other believers gathered around the table?

I go with great hunger. And in those small tokens of bread and wine, my soul is fed.

Thanks be to God.

Comments

[groovyoldlady]

That sounds totally groovy. I've been a Christian since 7th grade and have attended several different denominations (Southern Baptist, Christian Church, Methodist, Evangelical Free, Independent Baptist, Assembly of God, non-denominational), but I've just barely ever even heard of Maundy Thursday, much less "celebrated" it.

This is even the first year I've ever gone to a Good Friday service and that's because I'm singing in it.

Nonetheless, I like the idea. I like the focus. Maybe we'll have to do our own celebrating at home!

[Angry]

So beautifully put, Anne, and it reads to me that perhaps you have a deeper understanding than even you know.