Maundy Thursday
When feet are washed and Eucharist is shared… what is next?
We had returned to our seats after receiving Eucharist. Sitting next to a friend and her eight-year-old daughter, I settled into a moment of quiet prayer.
It was Maundy Thursday at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Greenville, NC. There had been a lot of conversation between the three of us about what would be happening that evening during service. The young girl was inquisitive and wanted to understand more details than I was accustomed to sharing with someone that age.
In the tradition of Maundy Thursday, feet were washed, and Christ’s body and blood were shared. As is tradition on this holy night at the end of the Eucharist not only was the altar cleared, but the whole sanctuary was cleared of everything. All of the linens, silver and brass, candlesticks, and even the numbers representing the hymns we had just sung, were carefully removed and taken into a sacristy (a small room to the side of the sanctuary)
One cross was left on the altar and over it was hung a black veil. A symbol of grieving and death.
We sat in a sanctuary, stripped of all its beauty. One of the final things done before turning out the lights and closing the sacristy door was washing the altar. As white linens that had been laid across the altar are neatly folded and taken away, a bowl of water was brought out with a very large palm. The priest soaked the palm in the water and began washing the altar. Visually you could see water falling away from the palm branch and dropping onto the altar as it waved back and forth. A white cloth was used to dry the barren altar.
In the silence, we watched these actions in awe. We could feel the gravity of this night in our bones.
John 13: 31b-35
“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.”
This gospel story was part of the service readings. I heard a delicate sense of compassion and empathy in the words spoken by Jesus. On this one night, when they are all together safe and secure (they thought), he sees the disciples’ potential and he knows that they will only wake to this potential after experiencing a great loss.
I heard a sniffle during the altar cleaning. I turned to find the young girl crying. What we were watching was emotional! Watching everything familiar stripped away in preparation for actions taken on Good Friday brought a sense of reality that affected her deeply.
Through her tears, she heralded the coming of a tragic and sad event.
It was time to wait and watch with Jesus.
