A Convergence Maundy Thursday Service

This convergence Maundy Thursday service is presented for those congregations that seek to bring traditional and contemporary forms of worship together.

If a special or different style of worship service is going to take place, the front of the sanctuary could be redecorated to take on the appearance of the Upper Room. A long table with different Passover foods could be placed on the table, and all of the worship activities then would be focused on that particular arrangement. Several options are available on ways to celebrate this most important event. (1) Passover Meal. Many books and other resources with complete commentary are available for churches that desire to celebrate the meal. Members of local synagogues or Messianic congregations can be very helpful in learning some of the fine points of this feast. (2) Living Lord's Supper. Through narrative, drama, and dialogue, some churches have put on a Maundy Thursday drama of the Upper Room. As Jesus and the disciples dramatize the institution of Holy Communion, the whole congregation participates with the actors on the platform. (3) Walk through of the Stations of the Cross. For those churches who do not have the stations of the cross already depicted, graphic representations are posted throughout the church, and the people are invited to move from station to station with a guide to Scripture readings, meditations, and prayer for each one. At the end, Communion may be received. (4) Dramatized Stations of the Cross. (This is a tremendous youth project!) A group of people dramatically form each of the stations of the cross with accompanying commentary and direction for prayer and meditation. At the end, all share in Communion. (5) Come-and-Go Communion. Very popular in recent years, the church sets up for Communion, and a minister waits in the sanctuary for those who desire to commune. As each person or family enters, they receive a guide who takes them through several Scripture readings, a spiritual inventory, prayer of confession, and Communion meditation. The minister then serves them as they come to receive. (6) Maundy Thursday Communion Celebration. A full service with several special activities included. Order of Service ACTS OF ENTRANCE Processional Commentary: Any processional should be simple and low-key. The ministers and any others that are processing can come in silently or with a hymn. Words of Invitation Come, praise the Lord, for in his rich and great mercy he has prepared a feast for us. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall be continually on my lips. Come and sit with him at the table of blessing. I will open the door of my heart that I may eat with him and he with me. Come, let us praise the Lord together! Yes, let us praise the Lord! Acts of Praise and Worship Commentary: If a footwashing service is to be held later in the service, this section may be shortened and more worship offered during the time of footwashing. MINISTRY OF THE WORD Prayer All: Almighty Father, whose own Son, Jesus Christ, met with his disciples on the night of his betrayal and instituted the holy sacrament of his body and blood: Grant that we who partake of these holy emblems may receive them with thankful hearts, knowing that through his death and passion, we have been given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Readings First Reading: Exodus 12:1–14a Psalm 78:14–20, 23–25 Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 Gospel Reading: John 13:1–15 or Luke 22:14–30 Footwashing Service Commentary: Following the readings, the church may have a footwashing service for everyone or for selected representatives if the church is too large. After the washing of someone's feet, other expressions of love and support can be spontaneously offered. This part of the service needs no commentary and can either be done in silence or with singing. MINISTRY AT THE TABLE Commentary: The following prayers of thanksgiving pick up the themes of Maundy Thursday. Silence should be kept. Great Thanksgiving Leader: The Lord be with you. All: And also with you. Leader: Lift up your hearts. All: We lift them to the Lord. Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. All: It is right to give our thanks and praise. Leader: We give you thanks, O God, through your beloved Servant, Jesus Christ, who was heralded as king and welcomed into the city of his death and passion. It is he whom you have sent in these last times, becoming like us, that he might save us and redeem us, and be the messenger of your will. He is your Word, inseparable from you, through whom you made all things and in whom you take delight. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn: All: (singing) Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Leader: You sent him from heaven into the Virgin's womb, where he was conceived and took flesh. Born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin. He was revealed as your Son. Having walked in sinless obedience, he gathered his disciples on the night before his crucifixion and prepared them for his suffering and death. In fulfillment of your will. He stretched out his hands in suffering to release from suffering those who place their hope in you, and so he won for you a holy people. Of his own free choice, he was handed over to his passion in order to make an end of death and to shatter the chains of the evil one; to trample underfoot the powers of hell and to lead the righteous into light; to establish boundaries of death and to manifest the Resurrection. And so on this night in which he was betrayed he instituted a holy sacrament, which he commanded we continue until his coming again. He took bread, and after giving thanks to you, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body which is broken for you." In the same way, after supper he took the cup; after he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you. When you do this, you do it in memory of me." All: Remembering, therefore, his birth, his death and resurrection, and his coming again in glory, we offer you this bread and cup, thankful that you have counted us worthy to stand in your presence and to show you priestly service. Leader: We entreat you to send your Holy Spirit upon the offering of the holy church. Gather into one all who share in these sacred mysteries, filling them with the Holy Spirit and confirming their faith in the truth, that together we may praise you and give you glory through your Servant, Jesus Christ. And now with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray: (here the Lord's Prayer is said) All: All glory and honor is yours, Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit, in the holy church, now and forever. Amen. Prayer after Communion All: Heavenly Father, on this holy eve we thank you for the remembrance of your Son, Jesus Christ, which we have received in partaking of this bread and wine. Make this night, for us, a memorial of his death and passion, which was sealed by his resurrection. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Tenebrae, or Stripping of the Church Commentary: A Tenebrae (which means "shadows") service, or the stripping of the church, may follow Communion. Here, people are instructed in the removal of all hangings, all furnishings on the altar, and all candles. The sanctuary is left barren until the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening.