Post No. 12 - Maundy Thursday 9th April

The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci

Posts here every Tuesday and Thursday by 12 noon and by 10.30am on Sundays (Please note that Internet service disruption can cause delay.) This week there will be an extra worship post on Good Friday by 12 noon. For the diocesan website, visit www.downanddromore.org.

From the Rector

DEVOTIONAL

Maundy Thursday is the day when we recall the events in the Upper Room, where the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Communion took place, and when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.

This year, we will not be able to come together to share that Holy Communion as we always do both on Maundy Thursday and at Easter itself. But, God willing, we will return one day to our services in church and in the meantime it is good to take time to reflect on all that our worship really means to us.

Sometimes it is only when something is no longer there for us that we really begin to appreciate it. The Holy Communion is a sacred time when Christ comes to us and when all that he has done for us becomes real in sacred and mysterious way.

But Maundy Thursday is also about the washing of the disciples' feet. That action is a call to Christian service.

It is one of the really heartening things in these disturbing and distressing days that people are reaching out to one another in new ways, helping others, serving others.

So many healthcare professionals and carers are putting themselves in harm's way by tending the coronavirus sick and that is surely a real inspiration and a call for all of us to be ready to serve our neighbours, showing genuine Christian care and compassion.

It may only be a small gesture, but every good deed brings blessing to those who reach out to others.

This is a time for reflection on the solemn events of Holy Week. Tomorrow we will come to the final act in its unfolding events, the Cross itself.

Pause for reflection

Prayer – The Collect of Maundy Thursday: Almighty God, at the Last Supper your Son Jesus Christ washed the disciples’ feet and commanded them to love one another. Give us humility and obedience to be servants of others as he was the servant of all; who gave up his life and died for us, yet is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Hymn 399: ‘An Upper Room did our Lord prepare’

Next Post: Good Friday, by 12 noon