Wash, Rinse, Repeat on Maundy Thursday

         Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love,
show us how to serve
t       he neighbours we have from you.

1 Kneels at the feet of his friends,
silently washes their feet,
master who acts as a slave to them.  R

2 Neighbours are rich and poor,
varied in colour and race,
neighbours are near and far away.  R

                                Voices United 593

Pastors and priests everywhere have been scrambling to figure out how to sustain a sense of community and offer worship experiences during this strange time of social distancing and the mandated closure of church structures. Some are offering online reflections and our minister, who is also our son Isaac, has been creative and thoughtful. One local colleague inadvertently hit the filter while live-streaming a service and did the entire thing with googly eyes. She took it in stride with a sense of humour.

Isaac asked if I would write a Maundy Thursday reflection to offer a different perspective, which I did. I called it "Wash, Rinse, Repeat" and you probably all know why the theme emerged. We've all been washing our hands until they're rough and raw to kill the invisible virus which has brought our visible world to a near halt.

I noted that we begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday and the psalm, 51, in which the penitent King David pleads with God "wash me whiter than snow." Near the conclusion of this Holy Week the Roman procurator of Palestine attempts to absolve himself of responsibility for Jesus' death by washing his hands before a restive crowd. It is a powerful image.

And then there is Jesus, together with his disciples and possibly other followers at the Passover meal, washing their feet in an act of humble service. Jesus does so despite Peter's protests, and he offers the "maundatum", the source of the Maundy of this Thursday. It translates as the "commandment", the imperative, to love one another.

During these days when so many of us are "sheltered in place" there are so many who are in roles of loving service in hospitals, nursing homes, at grocery store cash registers, and as first responders. 

For the first third of my life I had no idea about Maundy Thursday in the Christian year but it became one of the most meaningful services for me, and each time we washed the feet of some who attended.  This Maundy Thursday is like no other in the living memory of any of us, and while we can't gather physically we can give thanks for faithful service and listen to Jesus, the Christ, who calls us to live our love. 

Please listen to this marvelous, hopeful arrangement of Jesu, Jesu arranged by Steven Strite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX3T5sL0pzY


3 These are the ones we should serve,
these are the ones we should love,
all are neighbours to us and you.  R

4 Kneel at the feet of our friends,
silently washing their feet,
this is the way we should live with you.  R

I watched a male cardinal feed his female mate this Maundy Thursday morning and it brought me hope. My Groundling blog 

https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-birds-of-air-on-maundy-thursday.html