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Holy Week has been alternately beautiful, laughable and miserable. In the end, it's Holy Week. I preached on Maundy Thursday. Thing is, I'm used to a certain lectionary for that day, sometimes called the Maundy John (which, to me, sounds like a slightly depressed guy named John). For those who know, it's the story of Christ washing the feet of his disciples and giving them the new commandment. (Mandatum novum in Latin...the English, being English, shortened mandatum to Maundy. Go figure.) The new commandment was to "Love one another as I have loved you." So I started out thinking that that was going to be the gospel. Nope. The BCP lectionary has a different reading for that day...the Passion according to Luke. O.K., so we can tie this in. Maundy, mandatum, commandment, love one another as I have loved you, look how amazingly much Christ loved us even when we were being such turds to him. Great. It's as good as written...it's as good as Dickens. But no. The morning of Maundy Thursday I find out that St. Bart's, for whatever reason, uses a different reading...the talk about bread of heaven from John. "I am the bread of life." You see, in addition to the mandatum novum, Maundy Thursday is a celebration of the day when Christ instituted the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper. O...K...I can get there. Christ loved us completely, gave himself utterly, and gave us the commandment (mandatum, Maundy) to do likewise for one another. The BCP liturgy says that Christ "instituted and did command us to continue" the Eucharist. There's another commandment (mandatum) and one that, through communion, unites us to Christ. That entirely changes the idea of obeying Christ's commandment. We aren't just supposed to follow the example of a really great guy, we're called to live into our Lord's sacrifice as members of his body. It's a total, all-encompassing love that we're supposed to have for one another. Phew. It went pretty well, considering I was prepared to preach extempore from my mother wit. Nothing written, nothing to correct, that's what I always say. At least I do now. I'd love to tell you about the Good Friday liturgy and, especially, the Easter Vigil this evening...but I have to be back at St. Bart's tomorrow for the 7:45am Matins and Mass, followed by Easter Sunday. I need some shleep. |
