Maundy Thursday ---- 17 April 2014

{My sermon for Maundy Thursday was delivered during a special service that included an "Agape meal" for the congregation attending. A number of members made a vegetable soup according to their favourite recipes and we combined them once they folks arrived to make a wonderfully tasty and hearty soup mixture. Bread and desserts were also available. During the meal, we celebrated the Lord's Supper.}


For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,

·        We don’t think about this all the time, but it bears some consideration. Have you ever noticed in the Gospels how often Jesus eats with others?

·        Jesus is accused of being a “glutton and a drunkard.” He’s often eats with sinners and is taken to task for that. One of his greatest deeds of power is the feeding of a great multitude with a few loaves and fish. It should be no surprise that his last meeting with his disciples before his crucifixion would be a meal and that some of his post-resurrection meetings with his disciples include eating.

·        In our own lives, meals are the basis of hospitality and family life. We all know that it is best to offer food and drink to people who come to our homes.

·        In the Old Testament, especially in the books of the prophets, meals and feasts are used as a description of God’s Kingdom.

·        In the ancient church, the congregations gathered in the context of a communal meal. During that meal, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated.

·        When we gather for a meal as a Christian congregation we are following the example of the early church and the example of Jesus.

·        To celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the midst of our own supper ties our daily lives into the life of grace.

·        When we leave here, we can make our meals different. They can become more than taking in nourishment and become a real experience of community and communion.

·        When we gather again in the place we’ve set aside for the congregation’s worship, our experience of communion with others enhances our celebration of communion with God in Jesus. When we go our own way after worship, our communion with God in Jesus can enhance our communion with all we meet… which is one of the reasons why we gather in the first place.

·        It’s no coincidence or random happenstance that Jesus speaks to his disciples at what we know as the Last Supper and washes their feet. John does not mention the usual formula for the Lord’s Supper here; he does that elsewhere. He does emphasize the love the disciples were to have for one another and in washing their feet gives an example of service and of love. Still all Jesus did was in the middle of the last meal he ate with his disciples before his crucifixion.

·        The meal is tied to Jesus’ new commandment and every time we eat the bread and drink the cup, Jesus’ new commandment comes to mind.

·        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.