Encouraging you to make this a truly worshipful season. While we will not be having our own Maundy Thursday service or Good Friday service, it is not because these are not important time of worship and remembrance.  So, I want to provide some information and maybe a little inspiration as you prepare your hearts to celebrate Easter and Resurrection Sunday.

Maundy comes from ‘mandatum novum’ the Latin for commandment.  The three themes that typically mark a Maundy Thursday remembrance are: The events in the Upper room, where Jesus celebrates the last Passover with His disciples, and institutes the Lord’s Supper in his name; The washing of the disciples’’ feet; and Jesus’ new command to his disciples to love one another.  The commandment reference originates in Jesus’ words to his disciples in John 13, where after the Passover he says “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you.”? Last Sunday in addition to considering the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem we also looked at these three main ‘maundy’ themes.  Let me encourage you to look at the story again tonight and take time to be thankful for Christ’s servant expression of love and grace.  Remember tonight that He has commanded us to remember.

Good Friday has a rich tradition in the church and is a time of remembering the crucifixion and death of Christ. While it is often observed that, “it seems strange to refer to such a tragic event as good,” we must never forget that this day and event is a remembrance of not just a good thing, but a best thing.  Were it not for the death of Jesus, fulfilling the promises of God since the garden, we would be hopeless and lost.  Christ’s willingly giving His life as our substitute and paying our debt for sin is indeed a glorious reality.  Without His death, we have no life.  I want to suggest that you take time tomorrow to remember the scandalous glory of Christ’s death. Say thank you to Him. Rejoice that your debt has been paid and that, in Christ, you are no an object of wrath, but a display of God’s glory.

Even without the traditional services we are a people called to worship. So, take time by yourself, with your family or even a small gathering of friends to celebrate together the sadness and joy of these special days and events.  Then, having prepared your heart, come join us Sunday at 6pm as we celebrate the rescue or redemption of Resurrection Day! Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.