Created, saved and gifted by god, we seek, serve and share Jesus Christ.

Maundy Thursday
April 1, 2021 – 7:00 PM

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
901 East Stroop Road
Kettering, OH 45429-4688
(937) 298-0136

Introduction

This evening our Lenten observance comes to an end, and we gather with Christians around the world to celebrate the Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Tonight we remember Christ’s last meal with his disciples, but the central focus is his commandment that we live out the promise embodied in this meal. As Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, so we are called to give and receive love in humble service to one another. Formed into a new body in Christ through this holy meal, we are transformed by the mercy we have received and carry it into the world. Departing worship in solemn silence, we anticipate the coming days.
Loving Vulnerably
For many North American churchgoers Maundy Thursday is one of the most physically vulnerable occasions in the church year. Whereas other cultures view bare feet as an everyday facet of hu- man life, North Americans tend to be a bit more squeamish when it comes to letting others see, let alone touch or wash, our feet. Feet come in many forms, shaped by the rhythm and circumstances of their own journeys. Feet are intimate, unique, and completely personal. The feet that enter our churches on this day may be cracked, frail, broken, or scarred.
The mere prospect of an encounter with any of these feet as a ritual component to Maundy Thursday worship can feel overwhelming and off-putting to some. It is no accident, though, that a command to love comes coupled with a moment of vulnerability. On the very night that Jesus commands us to love one another, we find him down at the feet of his protesting disciples, enacting a most vulnerable form of love: washing away the dust, dirt, and grime.
It would be one thing if this command to love only extended to people who look, act, and think like us, yet there is no hint in our gospel text that Judas’s feet were excluded from Jesus’ footwashing. This is a risky and difficult love, extended to those who betray us and hurt us, those whom we would rather call “enemy” than “friend.” This kind of love is just as up-close and personal as an intimate encounter with broken, worried, tired, and worn-out feet. Living this kind of love can feel precarious, even dangerous.
If on this Maundy Thursday the thought of having your feet washed or of washing someone else’s feet feels vulnerable to you, don’t push away the feeling. Notice it. Perhaps you are closer than ever to understanding the radical nature of Jesus’ command to love one another.

GATHERING

The Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God.

PRELUDE

WELCOME

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Friends in Christ, in this Lenten season we have heard our Lord’s call to struggle against sin, death, and the devil — all that keeps us from loving God and each other. This is the struggle to which we were called at baptism.

Within the community of the church, God never wearies of forgiving sin and giving the peace of reconciliation. On this night, let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor and enter the celebration of the great Three Days, reconciled with God and with one another.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

GATHERING HYMN – “Let Us Break Bread Together”

Let us break bread together on our knees;
let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us drink wine together on our knees;
let us drink wine together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us praise God together on our knees;
let us praise God together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

GREETING

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Holy God,
source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new command- ment, to love one another as he loves us. Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

WORD

God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching, and song.

FIRST READING Exodus 12:1-4 ,11-14

Israel remembered its deliverance from slavery in Egypt by celebrating the festival of Passover. This festival featured the Passover lamb, whose blood was used as a sign to protect God’s people from the threat of death. The early church described the Lord’s supper using imagery from the Passover, especially in portraying Jesus as the lamb who delivers God’s people from sin and death.

A reading from the book of Exodus.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congrega- tion of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.
This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judg- ments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.

SECOND READING 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

A reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Let your steadfast love come to us, O Lord.
Save us as you promised; we will trust your word.
Save us as you promised; we will trust your word.

GOSPEL READING John 13:1-17, 31b-35

The story of the last supper in John’s gospel recalls a remarkable event not mentioned else- where: Jesus performs the duty of a slave, washing the feet of his disciples and urging them to do the same for one another.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
“Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.

MESSAGE – Pr. Jamie Vannoy

HYMN OF THE DAY “Will You Let Me Be Your Servant?”

Will you let me be your servant,
let me be as Christ to you?
Pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey,
we are trav’lers on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
in the nighttime of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping;
when you laugh I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
till we’ve seen this journey through.

Will you let me be your servant,
let me be as Christ to you?
Pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant, too.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

United by the servant love of God in Christ, we pray this holy night for the needs of the world.

A brief silence.
Each intercession concludes:
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.

Hear these and all our prayers, O God, in the name of the one who loves us to the end, Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Amen.

MEAL

God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ.

OFFERING PRAYER

Faithful God,
you walk beside us in desert places, and you meet us in our hunger with bread from heaven. Accompany us in this meal, that we may pass over from death to life with Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

GREAT THANKSGIVING

Lift up your heads;
we lift them up to God.
Lift up your voices;
we lift them up to God.
Lift up your hearts;
we lift them up to God.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION

And so we gather at the table. We come from many different places in life. And as we come together around the table we discover that our differences are not something we just tolerate, but that our differences are indeed a blessing. So come, children of God, just as you are. Wherever you are on this journey of life and faith, you are welcome here – here in this place, here in this community, here at this table. Come, children of God, come and remember.
Remember the stories that Jesus’ friends tell: Stories of bread broken and shared to feed a multitude; stories of gathering both enemy and friend together around a common table; stories of unlikely guests revealing the face of the sacred.
On a night of both celebration and betrayal Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it; gave it to his disciples and said, “Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.” Then Jesus took the cup, blessed it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”
And so we pray: Lord, bless this bread and bless this fruit of the vine. Bless all of us in our eating and drinking that our eyes might be open, and that we might recognize the risen Christ in our midst, indeed in one another.

LORD’S PRAYER

Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

INVITATION TO COMMUNION

Jesus draws the whole world to himself. Come to this meal and be fed.
Amen.

HOLY COMMUNION – Receiving the Lord’s tangible presence.

The body of Christ, given for you.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
Each person may respond: Amen.

TABLE BLESSING

The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.
Amen.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Lord Jesus,
in a wonderful sacrament you strengthen us with the saving power of your suffering, death, and resurrection. May this sacrament of your body and blood so work in us that the fruits of your redemption will show forth in the way we live, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

STRIPPING OF THE ALTAR

This service of the Lord’s last supper concludes with the stripping of the altar. Ministers will ready the sanctuary for Good Friday by removing paraments, vessels, and other liturgical items. During this time, members of the assembled community may join in singing the hymn, reflect in prayer, or leave silently.

HYMN – “Stay with Me”

Stay with me,
remain with me,
watch and pray.
watch and pray.

“W + 2” = Worship Plus Two
Make a commitment to not only worship each week but also try to find a way
to serve in the congregation and seek out a way to serve our community.

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE MISSION FIELD

Upcoming Commemorations

Benedict the African, confessor, died 1589
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Born a slave on the island of Sicily, Benedict lived as a hermit until the pope ordered all hermits to attach themselves to a monastery, at which time Benedict joined the Franciscans. Though illiterate, he was highly respected as a confessor and later superior of his community.

Albrecht Dürer, died 1528;
Matthias Grünewald, died 1529;
Lucas Cranach, died 1553; artists
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
These great artists revealed through their work the mystery of salvation and the wonder of creation. Dürer’s work reflected the apocalyptic spirit of his time. Though he remained a Roman Catholic, he was sympathetic to Martin Luther’s reforming work. Grünewald’s paintings are known for their dramatic forms, vivid colors, and depiction of light. Cranach’s work includes many fine religious examples and several portraits of Martin Luther. Cranach was also widely known for his woodcuts.

NOTES:

“Perfect Charity”
Text: inspired by a prayer from St. Francis of Assisi; David Haas Music: David Haas
© 1997, GIA Publications, Inc.
Reprinted under OneLicense.net # A-723735

“The Name of God”
Text: Psalm 116; David Haas
Music: David Haas
© 1987, GIA Publications, Inc.
Reprinted under OneLicense.net # A-723735

“The Upper Room”
Text: Don Besig and Nancy Price
Music: Don Besig
© 1999, Laurel Press
Reprinted under OneLicense.net # A-723735

From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2014 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #22920.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.