Dear Caldwell,
On Palm Sunday we recalled how the crowds gathered with shouts of “Hosanna in the Highest.”
Tonight, we gather to recall what followed a few days later – shouts of “Crucify him!”
And so begin the final stages of Holy Week as we worship tonight at 7 p.m. We will read the passion narrative, break bread and offer optional foot washing – all things Christ did on his last night with his friends. We will be joined by our friends at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, as we continue to build and deepen relationships with another intersectional congregation. After we “strip” the sanctuary, to signify the starkness of the hour, and hang the black drape on the cross, to signify Christ in the tomb, we begin a 24-hour prayer vigil in the 24/7 Prayer space in the Price Building.
We call it Maundy Thursday because the word “maundy” comes from the same root as our modern word “mandate,” remembering Christ’s mandate to his disciples on this night, after he washed their feet, to love one another always. It is a mandate that we work to fulfill for our entire lives.
An update on David Nance, Nancy’s husband, who was run over by a golf cart accidentally: After a night in the hospital, he is due to return home today with a deep wound in his right knee, two herniated discs and other bumps and bruises. He and Nancy appreciate your prayers.
I hope to see you tonight as we host St. Luke and consider the depths to which our Lord went for us.
In Christ,
John