April 13, 2017 - Holy Week Triduum: Maundy Thursday - The Terrible Weight, The Infinite Grace

Blessing the Bread, the Cup
Let us bless the bread that gives itself to us
with its terrible weight, its infinite grace.
...

Let us bless the cup poured out for us
with a love that makes us anew.
Let us gather around these gifts
simply given and deeply blessed.
And let us go bearing the bread, carrying the cup,
laying the table within a hungering world.

Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace.

My wife remarked the term Triduum, that Creator used to announce the three-in-one services of Holy Week, was new to her as it was to me.

We reach summit of the Liturgical Year with Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. Chronologically, while this takes place over three days, these three services are liturgically one that unfolds the story of Christ's Paschal Mystery. The celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lent, and focuses our attention to Easter.

There are portions of these service that stay the same becoming traditions and portions that change each year. I came in with no expectations. Chris and Susie greeted me at the door tonight. There were few gathered and the worship time was almost upon us.

I had heard a story over the radio from home to church about how frightened the Coptic Christians were to attend Holy Week services since the 40 Christians were killed during Palm Sunday worship only a few days ago. Not a thought I wanted to dwell on but one going through my mind. I wondered how I, or if I, would participate in Holy Week services under those  circumstances.

The centerpiece of Pastor Michelle's sermon was sharing the story called “Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye. The joys of living in a shared world were extolled through what she recounts. In the end everyone is covered with the powdered sugar from cookies that were passed out by a Palestinian woman who needed to be consoled when she didn't understand English well enough to comprehend a flight attendant's announcement of a flight delay, and thought instead the flight was cancelled.

There was another story I read earlier today about a sign on a Charlotte church that led to a beautiful Maundy Thursday gathering. Stories of people making community in the wider world.

These dichotomies and inspiring tensions became the heart of the service for me tonight. How should we live in truth? Should the focus be on our hopes, the practical problems of the world, both or neither.

Another tension was thinking about Judas. This memorializes the night where we demonize him and believe we are better than that wretched excuse for a human being who betrayed our Lord.

Adam Erickson wrote a 2016 article that contemplated a larger betrayal than just Judas:

Yes, Judas betrayed Jesus, but so did the other disciples, including Peter. They all betrayed and abandoned Jesus to his Passion, to his death. During the Last Supper, as Jesus symbolized his death by breaking bread and pouring wine for his disciples, Jesus told them, “The one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed.” The disciples were confused and “began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.”

Here’s the question: Why didn’t the disciples just look to see whose hands were on the table? They would have known right away that Judas was the culprit! I think the reason that none of them looked is because they all had their hands on the table. By looking at the table they would realize that none of their hands were clean. They each knew the answer to the question “Who would do this?” They all would.

Peter's tears are uncomfortably real tonight.

After the service many of us prepared the sanctuary for the Good Friday service. Toni painted a banner that would be used only this Holy Week for Maundy Thursday and it was taken down immediately after the service.

There is so much detail and individual contributions to worship that become so easy to overlook even in our tight knit community. We currently have a gratitude in the narthex to recognize what God gives us through each other's work and identities.

The foot washing tonight was a reminder of how we are to serve others, not just those we choose to serve. Jesus' commandment to "Love one another as I have loved you" may feel easier with those within our midst. Moving out our serving, beyond those who are already dear to us, is the implicit challenge Jesus gave us with those words.