Easter 2002: Maundy Thursday Worship (2002)

 

 

SEEKERS CHURCH

A Christian Community

In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour

Maundy Thursday Worship (2002)

WELCOME AND INVITATION

 

Welcome to this service of remembrance.  Tonight we will be together with each other, as Jesus was with the disciples on their last night.  We will begin with the servant ritual of foot washing that Jesus offered the disciples, and continue with a simple meal.

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:      Welcome to you who call upon the name of Christ.  We gather tonight to recall the story

of the night Jesus was betrayed. 

Are you prepared

to come to the feast of Jesus, the Christ,

whose life was poured out for you?

 

People:      By the grace of God, we are.

 

Leader:      Are you able

to watch with Jesus at prayer in the garden —

indeed, to struggle yourselves to be in unity

with God's will for you?

 

People:      By the grace of God, we are.

 

Leader:      Then let us praise God, even in this hour of darkness!

 

Unison:      God of all grace and steadfast love,

greatly is your name to be praised in all the earth.  Bring us to this feast of remembrance

with open hearts!

 

PRAYER

CONFESSION

Leader:      As we prepare for these sacred acts,

let us remember who we are.

 

Unison:      O Christ, in your presence we discover who we are.

You wash our feet,

and we learn how reluctant we are

to serve one another and the world around us. 

 

We are so like your disciples,

who looked to their own self-centered interests

even as you prepared to give yourself

for the sake of the whole world. 

 

Our love scarcely suffices for those closest to us,

and yet you invite us to join all creation at your feast.

Forgive us,

and help us treasure your presence more deeply,

that we may find this night

a celebration of overflowing joy.

 

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

ASSURANCE

Leader:      God reaches out to heal,

and to reveal again the love that will not let us go. 

Know that you are forgiven,

to answer God's love

with your praise, devotion and service.

 

FOOT WASHING

Gospel readings:  (John 13:1-9, 12-15)

     (Matthew 26:36-46)

 

(When your feet have been washed, take the bowl and towel, and wash the feet of someone else, as an act of love and service.)

 

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Unison:      Almighty God, ruler of the universe,

we thank you for your mighty acts of deliverance. 

 

You enable us to cross over from despair to hope, from brokenness to wholeness, from death to life. 

 

We thank you for the deep love of Jesus,

which moved him to give himself

for the redemption of all creation. 

 

We thank you for the grace we experience

in receiving these symbols

of the life Christ gave for others, and for us.  Amen.

 

HYMN

 

COMMUNION

WORDS OF INSTITUTION

 

Leader:      On the night of his arrest Jesus took bread,

and after giving thanks to God, broke it and said,

"This is my body which is for you;

do this remembering me."

 

After supper Jesus took the cup and said,

"This is the cup of the new covenant;

whenever you drink it, do so remembering me."

 

 

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Unison:      Creator God,

we thank you for the nourishment you give us —

for bread, and fruit of the vine. 

 

God of freedom,

we thank you that you do not leave us in bondage,

but act in power to liberate us from all oppression. 

 

We thank you that Christ,

acting in courage and faith,

has won for us the victory over sin and death. 

 

May the bread and wine

be signs of your renewed covenant with us,

and may we be ever faithful,

until the coming of your final Shalom.  Amen.

 

SHARING THE ELEMENTS

 

PRAYER

Leader:      Let us join Christ in the garden of prayer.

 

People:      Let us join Christ in passion and victory.

 

HYMN

 

BENEDICTION

Leader:      Go into the world in peace,

knowing that God has made the ultimate sacrifice through Jesus, who is the Christ. 

 

Love one another, as Christ loves you,

now and forever.  Amen.

 

KISS OF PEACE

 

DEPART IN SILENCE 

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Additional Prayers during Maundy Thursday Worship, 2002

Prayers by Deborah Sokolove-Yakushiji, Liturgist

 

Invitation

Holy One, Holy Three, Holy Incarnate, Transcendent, Spirit,

we give you thanks for the many wonders of life in you.

We ask you to open the eyes of our hearts, that we may know you,

Discerner of every spirit, God of all that is.

 

We ask you also to remember the people present here, and those who are absent.

Preserve our households in peace and harmony;

nourish the infants, instruct the children,

console the elders.

Comfort those whose minds are troubled,

collect the scattered, bring back the wandering,

and unite them to your holy Body.

 

Free those who are captive, sail with those at sea,

travel with the traveler,

defend the widows, shield the orphans,

preserve the prisoners, heal the sick.

Remember, O God, those who stand before tribunals,

and those in exile

and in all kinds of tribulations and accidents,

and all who need your great mercy;

those who love us and those who hate  us,

and those who have begged us

to remember them in our prayers.

 

Preserve, O Great Mystery, this city

and every city and country place

from plague, famine, earthquake, flood,

fire, war, battle, invasion, and riot.

 

Hear, now, our prayers of thanksgiving and intercession,

aloud or in the silence of our hearts.

 

Closing

In your great mercy, O Holy One, Holy Three,

remember all your peoples,

for you are the helper of the helpless,

the hope of the desperate,

the savior of the hopeless.

We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ