From: HOMILIES BY EMAIL Sermon Starters Holy Thursday April 8, 2004 RCL Readings: Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14 Ps 116:1-4, 12-19 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 #1 Topic: Look Who's Coming to the Lord's Supper? Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 If you have a picture of the Lord's Supper, perhaps the one by DA Vinci or some other, use it to help introduce each disciple and/or to tell something about each one of them and where they are, what they are doing, etc. I have such a picture from a wax museum of the life of Christ in Natural Bridge. If you had it on a slide that would be even better. Then I mention that we, too, are coming to this supper, this sacred meal...for we all are invited, and that perhaps there is a little of each of the disciples in us too... This could be an effective way to introduce this story and the fateful events of that night. #2 Topic: Servants Text: The Gospel Reading One of the most effective Maundy Thursday services I have had is letting someone read the story from John 13 (someone who reads very well) and then read the poem below which contrasts pride with humility, the same way Jesus was that night when he washed his disciples feet. THE MAKERS by Dorothy L. Sayers The Architect stood forth and said: "I am the master of the art: I have a thought within my head, I have a dream within my heart. "Come now, good craftsman, ply your trade With tool and stone obediently; Behold the plan that I have made-- I am the master; serve you me." The Craftsman answered: "Sir, I will, Yet look to it that this your draft Be of a sort to serve my skill-- You are not master of the craft. "It is by me the towers grow tall, I lay the course, I shape and hew; You make a little inky scrawl, And that is all that you can do. "Account me, then, the master man, Laying my rigid rule upon The plan, and that which serves the plan-- The uncomplaining, helpless stone." The Stone made answer: "Masters mine, Know this: that I can bless or damn The thing that both of you design By being but the thing I am; "For I am granite and not gold, For I am marble and not clay, You may not hammer me nor mould-- (British spelling) I am the master of the way. "Yet once that mastery bestowed Then I will suffer patiently The cleaving steel, the crushing load, That make a Calvary of me; "And you may carve me with your hand To arch and buttress, roof and wall, Until the dream rise up and stand-- Serve but the stone, the stone serves all. "Let each do well what each knows best, Nothing refuse and nothing shirk, Since none is master of the rest, But all are servants of the work-- "The work no master may subject Save He to whom the whole is known, Being Himself the Architect, The Craftsman and the Corner-stone. "Then, when the greatest and the least Have finished all their labouring And sit together at the feast, You shall behold a wonder thing: "The Maker of the men that make Will stoop between the cherubim, The towel and the basin take, And serve the servants who serve Him." The Architect and Craftsman both Agreed, the Stone had spoken well; Bound them to service by an oath And each to his own labour fell. #3 Topic: And He Washed Their Feet Text: Gospel Reading Another simple but effective way to present this story is to have someone read it slowly while two to four persons then act out each act as it is described, that is, literally wash one another's feet. You will need basins with water and towels. I did this one service and it was very moving, especially when I invited others to come up and have their feet washed or bring someone whose feet they wished to wash (especially if it was someone with whom they had not been on the best of terms with recently). #4 Topic: The Eleventh Commandment Text: John 13:31b-35 Most of know that there are Ten Commandments, even if we can't name them all. But did you know that there is an eleventh commandment? In fact, this night of Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, is really centered on it, as "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatae," which means "commandment." So Maundy Thursday is Commandment Thursday. What is this commandment? It is found in John 13:34-35: Love one another as I have loved you. This very night Jesus demonstrated that love by... Sharing the meal we now call the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion which shows us through the bread and the cup his love for us (especially as he would leave the meal that night and give up body and blood for us) Washing the feet of his disciples, giving them yet one more example of who he was and who he called them and us all to be. Love one another shows itself in practical ways, especially in humbling ourselves to serve one another. I remember a man in a church I pastored. This man worked hard everyday. But do you know what he did when he got home? He went over to a neighbor's house, an elderly man who couldn't care for himself. Everyday he brought this man supper. Everyday he bathed and shaved this man. And he did this for others in the community. This is what it means to love one another. #5 Topic: Memorable Meals Texts: Exodus 12:1-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26 I recall a speaker once asking us what stood out in our memories from our childhood. As I thought back, my mind came often to the many meals we had as a family and extended family. Those were some of the best times - gathered aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, grandparents around grandmother's table...those delicious homemade biscuits...and always there were stories, table talk about other times together, about members of the family long gone who I only knew through those meals and the memories shared. It was almost as if they came to sit with us there. There's also something about meals that stimulate memory, that cause us to pause and reflect, remember things, person, events we seldom do at other times. When my family meets and eats now, we almost always talk about the past, often things that made us more a family, that made us laugh, even cry as we remember ones who are no longer with us at the table but still are in a very real sense. Meals and memory go together. What are the most memorable meals for you? I remember the first meal I had when I began dating my wife. Never will forget it, how nervous I was, how pretty she was, how just being with her made even the food taste better... There are two memorable meals in our readings for tonight... The Passover (read Exodus 12)...it was a "day of remembrance"... and The Lord's Supper (read 1 Cor 12:23-26 and perhaps one of the Gospel accounts of it)... "This Do In remembrance of Me" are the words found on many Communion tables...for this is a most memorable meal, a way of reminding ourselves of what Christ did for us; a way of continuing to partake of the benefits of his life and love. #6 Topic: The Lord's Supper Looks... Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 The Lord's Supper looks... BACK...as we remember that night in the Upper Room when Jesus began this meal (tell the story)... AT THE PRESENT, the here and now, as that very same Christ is as present for us now, here, in this place, through this sacred meal as with those first dsiciples. This is the "Holy Communion," our continued "communion" with the living Lord... AT THE FUTURE...as through it we are proclaiming "the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 12:26b)...it is, in a way, the appetizer for the banquet to come in heavenly places...when we all are gathered around the Lord's table forever... <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< Bass Mitchell, Hot Springs, VA HOMILIES & BIBLE STUDIES BY E-MAIL Check out my web site at www.homiliesbyemail.com bass.mitchell@homiliesbyemail.com