Our Maundy Thursday observance

Maundy Thursday is one of the most important days in the Church calendar, for two reasons: one, because we remember the Last Supper when Jesus commanded the disciples to "Do this in remembrance of me," and two, because we remember how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and gave the command to serve others.

This year we observed Maundy Thursday in a slightly different manner than usual. Father Bob Bethea led us in an informal Eucharist in our modular building. There were five tables set up, with a basket of bread, a cruet of wine and small bowls of grapes, olives, cheese, and salt on each table. Each table had a small cruet with a little wine in it. 

Fr. Bob explained that the food on the tables was symbolic of the kind of meal that might be eaten in a typical Palestinian home in Jesus’ time. We sang “Shalom Chaverim” as a round and it was fun to hear the Jewish sound of the music. Fr. Bob said an extemporaneous prayer to consecrate the bread and wine, and we shared the bread and wine at each table. Fr. Bob, a retired priest, has a kind and gentle way about him, and he made the event very meaningful.

Then we went into the church, which was set up in a half circle with two chairs in the middle, and we did the foot washing. I washed Bob's feet, and then most of the people present came up for foot washing. There's something about having someone touch your feet that is intimate and very soothing. It's a powerful action.

Then we had the stripping of the altar, and the members of the altar guild removed all the adornments of the church while we watched. All the hangings, flags, cushions, banners, everything. And we left the church bare and empty, remembering how Jesus was taken away after the Last Supper to be crucified.