(**I tried to finish this last night but got home too late from church)
There are a TON of holidays on our calendars. Some I understand, some I definitely do not. We celebrate everything from Christmas and Thanksgiving to Arbor Day and Flad Day. Holidays like Earth Day, April Fool's Day, Groundhog Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day...heck, even Administrative Assistant's and the United Nations get a day! So it strikes me as strange that Holy Thursday isn't a "holiday." Most Christians don't even know what Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday is.
For me personally, today is second most important Christian holiday, behind Easter. (Yes, I am aware that I am not including Christmas in the top two.) Easter and Holy Thursday are my top 2 for one specific reason- they are the reasons we live in God's merciful peace and forgiveness. Holy Thursday is the day we remember Jesus dying on the cross. Can you imagine God coming to you and asking you to give up your child? Can you imagine God not only coming to you and asking you to give up your child but that your child would be ridiculed, tormented, beaten, spat upon, abused, and mercilessly put to death? God gave us his only child to die for the sins He we had committed yet. That's some pretty powerful stuff.
The Maundy Thursday service focuses on the events surrounding the last hours in Jesus' life. The word "Maundy" was derived from the Latin word "mandare" (to command), and Maundy Thursday stems from the commandment Jesus gave His disciples after washing their feet that night before His crucifixion: "A new commendment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you."
The service, also known as Tenebrae or Service of Shadows, is one of the oldest in the history of the Church. The service slows fades to darkness as we recount the events that led the darkness that fell over the earth on that first Good Friday when Christ was crucified on the cross. It is a truly powerful service to attend and one I would encourage you to, at the very least, try once and see how you feel about it. I mean, let's think about this realistically...we honor the death of Presidents, Martin Luther King, Jr., and don't even get me started on how we view the deaths of celebrities. But we only recognize Christ's resurrection? How is it that we are failing to honor and teach our children what had to happen for Christ to be born again? How are we overlooking the horror, the tragedy, the painful steps that Christ had to endure for each one of us?
One of the anthems sung last night had the following verses: "Alas! And did my SAvior bkeed, and did my Savior die? Would He devote that sacred head for sinners such as I? Was it for sins that I have done he groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! Grace unknown! And love beyond degree! Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut its glories in, when Christ, the great Redeemer, died for human creatures' sin, thus might I hide my blushing face while His dear cross appears, dissolve my heart in thankfulness and melt my eyes to tear. But tears of grief cannot repay the debt of love I owe."
While the service is sad and emotionally draining, you leave with a humbling reassurance that God loved you so much that He chose this path for His only Son. He chose to do these things for you out of love. There is the hope that Easter morning will come and Christ will rise again. But the real message of my blog about this incredible and powerful Maundy Thursday? What would life be like without the joyous Easter message??
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