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Join us on Youtube or Facebook for a live streamed Maundy Thursday service at 8:00 pm. A worship resource is available for you here.
The word “Maundy” comes to us as an Anglo-French word derived from the Latin “mandatum,” which means “commandment.” It refers to when Jesus, in the Upper Room during the Last Super, said to the disciples: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Jesus then enacts this commandment by washing the feet of his disciples and by offering himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The custom of stripping the altar is the church’s liturgical portrayal of Jesus’ own humiliation. The meals you enjoy at your family’s table are akin to the Eucharistic meal we celebrate at Good Shepherd’s altar table, which is a foretaste of the Lamb’s great high feast to which we all hope by God’s grace to attain.
To prepare at home before the 8PM service, collect a bowl of water, soap, and towels to wash your family’s feet.
After the service, strip your own family table at home, close with this prayer:
Eternal God, in the sharing of a meal, your son established a new covenant for all people, and in the washing of feet he showed us the dignity of service. Grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit these signs of our life in faith may speak again to our hearts, feed our spirits, refresh our bodies, and ignite our desire to greet the risen Jesus on Easter Day. Amen.