Tuesdays with Morris

Tonight was our Maundy Thursday service. Due to my duties as an Associate Pastor, I’m expected to attend our special services. This evening, I didn’t exactly feel motivated to fulfill this expectation. Sometimes I feel like when we get to periods of the year (like Advent and Lent) we simply go through the motions. We have Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter…and sometimes I get caught up in going through my religious duties rather than savoring the whole experience. And, sometimes I don’t like being around because I feel like I should have a more active role than sitting in the congregation. Four services this week and I’m sitting on the sidelines for all of them. So, I guess you could say I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder.

So, I found myself sitting in the sanctuary, somewhat reluctant to fully connect and participate in the service. Instead of thinking about what Maundy Thursday is about, instead of focusing on my relationship with Christ, I was spending my time thinking about all the other things I could be doing. Even as the service started, I was longing to be elsewhere…my heart and my mind just weren’t in it.

As our pastor led us through the Scripture, I found myself thinking about what I would have shared on a night like this…So, I continued to do my best to not engage in the experience at hand. Why? I’m not really sure…The scene was set…the sanctuary looked great (low lights, candles, the way I’d like to see it more often)…yet, I was doing all I could to distance myself from the experience. I was focusing on pointing out all the things I would have done differently. I just wasn’t “feeling” it. Does that make sense?

Well, it came time to take communion. There was a table set in the front of the sanctuary for 12 people to participate at a time. One chair was empty with a white linen placed over it, representing Christ’s seat at the table. Another chair was empty with a black linen placed over it, representing Judas’ seat. We sat, served one another, prayed, and returned to our seats.

As I sat down, I said a simple prayer, “Lord, meet me here.” When I received the bread in my hand, I suddenly realized what this was all about. The evening wasn’t about what else I could be doing…it wasn’t about whether or not I thought things were “right”…it was about spending time with a friend…Jesus! With the touch and taste of the bread, the reality of Maundy Thursday and what it brings became clear. I found myself a full participant in what God was trying to do in that moment. He was trying to let me know He loves me and that I need to stop worrying about what I would do or if I’m being overlooked and to stop being so dang judgmental about every thing and just participate in what He is doing in the world today.

As I left the church this evening, I was thankful I had participated in our Maundy Thursday service.

There’s great power in the story of the Last Supper. It’s the passage that was shared at our service this evening. It reads like this,

Mark 14:12-26: [12] On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed), Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover supper?” [13] So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. “As you go into the city,” he told them, “a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. [14] At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ [15] He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place; go ahead and prepare our supper there.” [16] So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there. [17] In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. [18] As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, “The truth is, one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me.” [19] Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, “I’m not the one, am I?” [20] He replied, “It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with me now. [21] For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!” [22] As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” [23] And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. [24] And he said to them, “This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people. [25] I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” [26] Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.