Maundy Thursday, 2014
17/04/14 05:21
Maundy Thursday is the day of Holy Week that is most recognizable to most of the members of our congregation. The tradition of observing Maundy Thursday with a communion service is longer-standing and more deeply entrenched in our congregation’s life. This is my 19th Maundy Thursday with the congregation and over the years we have had simple observances with the reading of scripture, the sharing of communion and some form of tenebrae, where candles are extinguished. Some years we have had actors portray the roles of the disciples as we acted out the last supper remembrance. Some years we have offered the practice of foot washing. We have had years when the choir sang and years when they did not. There have been a lot of different shapes to our services over the years.
Over the course of the history of the church the day has had several different names: Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday and Thursday of Mysteries among others. A strong emphasis on the serving of Holy Communion is the focus of the service.
Here in the Black Hills, we have a strong tradition of a passion play. The Black Hills Passion play was performed every summer from 1932 until its last performances in 2008. The nearly 70-year run of the play provided dramatic and musical training for a large number of people throughout the hills. Over the years a large percentage of the people of the hills were among the millions who saw the play presented. Seventh-generation passion player Josef Meier, who founded the Black Hills Passion Play, said that the production was directly rooted in the Lunen Passion Play that has been in production since 1242.
We have tried to present a partial passion play as part of our Maundy Thursday services. One year we commissioned a new musical drama that was presented in our summer Music, Arts, Dance and Drama camp and then produced for Maundy Thursday at our church with a troop of actors from the congregation. The weeks of rehearsals were challenging and although the production was well received, we haven’t found the energy to produce such a program every year.
Although music and drama are key elements in worship, the heart of Maundy Thursday remains the celebration of communion. The sacrament transcends all of the other elements with which we surround it.
Since adding a third minister to our staff in 2010, Rev. Kathleen Batchelder has assumed the central lead in planning and conducting the service. I am very comfortable to just worship with the congregation but often am assigned a minor leadership role in the celebration.
A congregation like ours is very diverse in the traditions of the people. With a significant portion of members who have belonged for 10 years or less combining with members who have belonged for 50 years or more and all sorts of others in between, the expectations for how we observe Holy Week are many and varied.In more traditional German congregations, it was the practice to make a very special occasion of first communion. Children were not served communion until after they had been confirmed. In many congregations the tradition of confirming on Palm Sunday so that the new congregants could have their first communion on Maundy Thursday was observed. Some of our members remember that tradition from their upbringing. Even though we practice open communion, serve all ages when we celebrate, and usually have confirmation on Pentecost, Maundy Thursday brings special memories to those who grew up in the tradition of the day as a time of first communion.
Like many words and names, the term “Maundy” probably took an obscure route through the languages of Europe in the middle ages, starting with the Latin “Mandatum” to become the name we apply to the day. After using the term “Holy Thursday” as the primary designation of the day, I have returned to the practice of calling the day “Maundy Thursday.” Two years of high school Latin hardly make me an expert, but I love the connection with Jesus instructions to his disciples: "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another as I have loved you.”)
A day named for the reminder that we love one another seems most appropriate for all congregations. Like any other human institution, we are capable of discovering differences and allowing our emotions to run strong. In the heat of disagreement we have been known to say things that were less than kind of one another. That is why we building the passing of the peace into each of our worship services. We acknowledge that we are dependent upon God for the power to share peace. Peace is not our invention, but God’s intention for us as a way to live together. We need to be reminded of Jesus’ instruction to love one another over and over again.
In our congregation we serve communion in several different ways. We have a long tradition of receiving communion in the pews and own specialized communion ware to facilitate the delivery of bread and small cups of juice to worshipers where they sit. But we also practice communion by intinction and invite worshipers to come forward for communion. Tonight worshipers will be invited to come forward in groups, to be seated at the table, and to be served as they sit.
No matter how we serve, the act of serving gives me the opportunity to look at and think about the lives of the people who participate in our services. There are so many different stories that we gather together in any worship service. There are those who are grieving, those who struggle with disease, those who live with disability, and those who suffer from emotional and mental illnesses. There are worshipers who are facing major life challenges, those who face bankruptcy, those who stubble to make ends meet, and those who are in the midst of moving their household from one place to another. There are folk who come to share the meal who are struggling just to make it through one more day. These and others are the people we are invited to love.
It is good to be reminded of the invitation.
Over the course of the history of the church the day has had several different names: Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday and Thursday of Mysteries among others. A strong emphasis on the serving of Holy Communion is the focus of the service.
Here in the Black Hills, we have a strong tradition of a passion play. The Black Hills Passion play was performed every summer from 1932 until its last performances in 2008. The nearly 70-year run of the play provided dramatic and musical training for a large number of people throughout the hills. Over the years a large percentage of the people of the hills were among the millions who saw the play presented. Seventh-generation passion player Josef Meier, who founded the Black Hills Passion Play, said that the production was directly rooted in the Lunen Passion Play that has been in production since 1242.
We have tried to present a partial passion play as part of our Maundy Thursday services. One year we commissioned a new musical drama that was presented in our summer Music, Arts, Dance and Drama camp and then produced for Maundy Thursday at our church with a troop of actors from the congregation. The weeks of rehearsals were challenging and although the production was well received, we haven’t found the energy to produce such a program every year.
Although music and drama are key elements in worship, the heart of Maundy Thursday remains the celebration of communion. The sacrament transcends all of the other elements with which we surround it.
Since adding a third minister to our staff in 2010, Rev. Kathleen Batchelder has assumed the central lead in planning and conducting the service. I am very comfortable to just worship with the congregation but often am assigned a minor leadership role in the celebration.
A congregation like ours is very diverse in the traditions of the people. With a significant portion of members who have belonged for 10 years or less combining with members who have belonged for 50 years or more and all sorts of others in between, the expectations for how we observe Holy Week are many and varied.In more traditional German congregations, it was the practice to make a very special occasion of first communion. Children were not served communion until after they had been confirmed. In many congregations the tradition of confirming on Palm Sunday so that the new congregants could have their first communion on Maundy Thursday was observed. Some of our members remember that tradition from their upbringing. Even though we practice open communion, serve all ages when we celebrate, and usually have confirmation on Pentecost, Maundy Thursday brings special memories to those who grew up in the tradition of the day as a time of first communion.
Like many words and names, the term “Maundy” probably took an obscure route through the languages of Europe in the middle ages, starting with the Latin “Mandatum” to become the name we apply to the day. After using the term “Holy Thursday” as the primary designation of the day, I have returned to the practice of calling the day “Maundy Thursday.” Two years of high school Latin hardly make me an expert, but I love the connection with Jesus instructions to his disciples: "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another as I have loved you.”)
A day named for the reminder that we love one another seems most appropriate for all congregations. Like any other human institution, we are capable of discovering differences and allowing our emotions to run strong. In the heat of disagreement we have been known to say things that were less than kind of one another. That is why we building the passing of the peace into each of our worship services. We acknowledge that we are dependent upon God for the power to share peace. Peace is not our invention, but God’s intention for us as a way to live together. We need to be reminded of Jesus’ instruction to love one another over and over again.
In our congregation we serve communion in several different ways. We have a long tradition of receiving communion in the pews and own specialized communion ware to facilitate the delivery of bread and small cups of juice to worshipers where they sit. But we also practice communion by intinction and invite worshipers to come forward for communion. Tonight worshipers will be invited to come forward in groups, to be seated at the table, and to be served as they sit.
No matter how we serve, the act of serving gives me the opportunity to look at and think about the lives of the people who participate in our services. There are so many different stories that we gather together in any worship service. There are those who are grieving, those who struggle with disease, those who live with disability, and those who suffer from emotional and mental illnesses. There are worshipers who are facing major life challenges, those who face bankruptcy, those who stubble to make ends meet, and those who are in the midst of moving their household from one place to another. There are folk who come to share the meal who are struggling just to make it through one more day. These and others are the people we are invited to love.
It is good to be reminded of the invitation.