Thursday in holy week 2012...

Here's a portion of what I sent to my congregation earlier today - part of our weekly update - with an emphasis on the Triduum.

Tonight we begin the Triduum - the Holy Three days that are at the heart of the Christian faith - in a series of worship gatherings we know better as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  Each day (and the worship set aside for that day) offers us an encounter with what it means to live into the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  And at the risk of being overly pedantic just before Easter, let me share a few theological thoughts with you about our worship in the hopes that it will enrich and even deepen your experience.  For, you see, theology is the careful exploration of what we can know about God - and the liturgies of the Triduum offer important insights:

Maundy Thursday (begins @ 7pm tonight) - Rowan Williams, the soon to be retired Archbishop of Canterbury, once observed that in our history most Western churches "have at times settled for celebrating the Eucharist as if Easter had nothing to do with it - indeed, as if Easter had never happened." What he means is that we have sometimes practiced a Maundy Thursday spirituality that remains trapped in the Upper Room before the Resurrection.  Consequently, this trains believers to only know Holy Communion - and by implication the fullness of Christian community - only in its most sorrowful form.  Thankfully, this sad practice has been changed over the past 50 years in the Reformed tradition.

Tonight, therefore, we all enter the Sanctuary quietly as penitents - those seeking forgiveness - and enter three acts of commitment.  First, we will reflect together on what St. John taught us about Holy Communion.  Richard Rohr has written that only John puts this Thursday feast in perspective by telling us about the way Jesus knelt and washed the feet of his disciples. He writes:

Perhaps John realized  that after seventy years the other Gospels had been read. He wanted to give a  theology of the Eucharist that revealed the  meaning behind the breaking of the bread. He made it into an active ritual of  servanthood and solidarity, instead of the priestly cult that it has largely  become.  Peter symbolizes all  of us as he protests, "You will never wash my feet!" (John 13:8). But  Jesus answers, "If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with  me." That is strong!  We all find it hard to receive undeserved love from another. For some reason it is very  humiliating to the ego. We all want to think we have earned any love that we get by our  worthiness or attractiveness. So Jesus has to insist on being the servant  lover. Thank God, Peter surrenders, but it probably takes him  the rest of his life to understand.

After our conversation about the Scripture, two of this year's confirmands will come forward to have their feet washed.  Then, in the spirit of a servanthood made even more clear on Easter, we enter into Holy Communion and serve one another.  We will also keep alert to the presence the Cross knowing that it leads beyond the deep sorrow of this night. After stripping the communion table so that no more celebrations take place until after Easter, we will share a series of readings and sung responses known as Tenebrae - the Service of Shadows - before leaving in silence. 

It seems that moving some old Puritans beyond the non-Easter spirituality of Maundy Thursday has been one of my life's work - and so it goes tonight.

PS ~ there was a chance we might sit in with our jazz buds tonight after worship, but by the time we were singing, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" I was toast.  I felt like Eric Little in "Chariots of Fire" saying:  No, I'm not going to run on the Lord's Sabbath - not gonna play no jazz tonight either... ok?