At his last meal, Jesus got up from the table, grabbed a towel, filled a bowl with water, and knelt to wash the trail-weary, dirt-encrusted feet of his followers and fellow pilgrims. Peter is uncomfortable with this until Jesus tells him that it’s the only Way: “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” It’s not easy to allow Jesus to clean our dusty pilgrim feet and to free us to do the same for others. It’s not easy to sit still while Jesus scrubs the grime from our toes, dabs at today’s blisters and last week’s callouses.
Anabaptists have always treated this footwashing story as an emblem of Jesus’ call to servant-like love.
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15)
All who follow after Jesus are invited to become servants. After cleaning their feet and serving them his own last meal, Jesus summarizes all of it:
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)
Today is Maundy Thursday. Maundy probably originates with the Latin word mandatum, “commandment,” referring to Jesus’ commandment of love. While we cannot eat together and wash each other’s feet to express this love, I am encouraged by so many loving connections, cards, calls, and prayers of support that are binding FMC together in the Spirit of Christ.
Today, every FMC household is encouraged to follow a self-guided, at-home Maundy Thursday service, perhaps at dinner. The service includes simple prayers, candle-lighting, reflection questions, and an audio recording of our very own Andrea Welty Peachey. There is also an invitation to put into practice Christ’s commandment to servant-like love by giving to the New American Welcome Center’s Immigrant Relief Fund (for more information, view the Maundy Thursday service, or the “Helping the community…” section in the Weekly Vine email).
In the Garden of Gethsemane, shortly after his last meal, Jesus urgently commands his disciples to “Wait with me.” It is urgent because Jesus is at risk; the Way of Jesus is about to reveal the fragile truth of his disciples’ (our) vulnerabilities and his society’s (our) injustices. During these weeks, we are also learning the hard way about what, and who, our society deems “essential,” and those rendered “expendable” by our way of life. Economic inequities are exposed and heightened. Immigrant communities face enormous income loss. Incarceration and detention is more deadly than usual. Black and brown people are sick and dying at much higher rates than white people due to restricted healthcare access, inaccurate information, and barriers to public resources.
This year, our Holy Week waiting – from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday to Good Friday (4/10 at 12:15pm on Zoom) to Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday (4/12 at 10am on Zoom and Youtube) – holds within it some of the urgency and the grief that Jesus must have felt. We are called to wait with the same vigilance, to acknowledge the same grief of loss and uncertainty, to hope for restoration. The waiting is a renewed opportunity to serve and be served. Like Peter, we can choose once again to accept Christ’s offer of love, and to embrace Christ’s command to “love one another” in the same way.
Where do you see God’s love given and received?
In your experience, where is God’s love most needed today?
You will find these reflection questions embedded in today’s Maundy Thursday service. I hope you will sit down at dinner this evening with these questions on your mind and heart, ready to serve and be served.
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Reminder about Holy Week Services:
At-home Maundy Thursday service (self-guided):
- Access the self-guided service on our website.
- Children’s Maundy Thursday activity pages (including one in Spanish) can be downloaded and printed.
- There is an opportunity to contribute a special offering for the Immigrant Relief Fund in response to acute local community needs during the COVID-19 crisis. Details can be found in the service guide and above in the “Helping the Community” section of the weekly Vine.
Good Friday online service at 12:15 pm (via Zoom only):
- From 12:15-12:45 pm.
- You may wish to gather 5 candles to use during the service.
- Follow along with the order of service.
- Join the service via Zoom at this link: https://zoom.us/j/480137879?pwd=TmRIRVZKYTdKTVBkdEM4ejFRcTVFdz09
- To call in to Zoom worship with any phone (audio only):
Dial (312) 626-6799
When prompted for meeting ID, enter: 480 137 879
Then, enter the password: 071723
Easter Sunday online service at 10 am:
- The service begins at 10 am
- We will have virtual communion together. Any bread/cracker and drink can be used as communion elements.
- Scripture: Matthew 28:1-15
- Pastor Michael is preaching
- Read more details about this Sunday’s service.
- Children’s Easter activity pages & teen/adult Easter doodle pages are available to download and print.
- Join the service via our FMC YouTube channel or Zoom. Details for the Zoom link and phone-in audio only options will be sent to you in an email on Saturday.
- There will be an opportunity for online break-out fellowship groups following the service for those who wish to participate.