Our Maundy Thursday Service

On Thursday evening, April 18, we welcome you to join us from 7:30pm–8:45pm for our Maundy Thursday service.

What is Maundy Thursday?

Maundy Thursday is a day of darkness. A day of betrayal and disappointment, shock and fear, death and dying. 

Officially, it is the day in the liturgical year that marks Jesus’s Last Supper with his disciples, their time in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denials, and Jesus’s arrest. It is a day of remembering that these events really happened; that Jesus, the Son of God, lived and — even more shockingly — died.

Maundy Thursday is one of the most dramatic days in the most dramatic week of all time — a powerful drama that has forever changed the world. 

Why Do We Have a Maundy Thursday Service?

Drama shapes us. The stories we tell, embody, and believe make us who we are as they form our conceptions of God, ourselves, and the world we inhabit. We believe that by entering into the events of Maundy Thursday by recalling them, experiencing their gloom and weightiness, and participating in them through song, prayer, and communion, the Spirit of God will expand our heart’s capacity to adore, worship, and love Jesus, our Savior and Lord. We hope that through this service Jesus — his life, his words, his actions, and his death — will become more real to us. 

Furthermore, we don’t participate in this service merely to remember events from two-thousand years ago; we recognize that in a mysterious sense we too were there. We see ourselves in the disciples: in their confusion, their betrayal, their denials. We hear our voices among the crowds demanding Jesus’s crucifixion. We realize afresh that Jesus died for us. And not just for us, but because of us. Because of me. Because of you. 

Maundy Thursday helps us see our sin for what it is: damning. 

Maundy Thursday helps us see who Jesus for who he is: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by becoming cursed in our place.

It’s dark. It’s ugly. And yet, it’s gloriously hope-filled. 

What to Expect at this Service

Just as Maundy Thursday was a solemn and somber day, so our service will feel unusually dark and weighty.  The lights will be low, the music will be contemplative, and we will enter the sanctuary quietly and depart in silence. The service will include Scripture readings, congregational singing, a brief homily, and sharing in communion. We welcome everyone to join us. We are unable to provide childcare, but encourage children to participate at their parent’s discretion. 

I look forward to beholding Jesus — the one who loves us and gave himself for us.