Yes, I have been quiet for a while but it has culminated in the 'greatest' worship this Thursday. First it was to finish my Methodism assignment which I have since handed in. Then the issue of work has just been cleared.
Today or at least 9th April is Maundy Thursday.
Do you know - The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French 'mandé', from the Latin 'mandatum' ie command. It is the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ie. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you", the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John Ch 13:34 (wikipeida).
So technically Maundy Thursday is not just significant for Jesus's washing of feet. I think we should have more Maundy Thursday services throughout the year! If for nothing else but to remind us of the 'new commandment'.
Needless to say something else has been bothering me! In one of the reflections I state that we should not discard our United Methodist hymnals. It does not help that having moved on to the book 'Deuteronomy' by Thomas Mann, and only three pages into the Introduction, the passage that jumps out at me is Deut 8:11 - 'take care that you do not forget'. This apparently is an exhortation that pervades the entire book of Deuteronomy. Mann's take on this is - 'Communal illness is a terminal illness. When a people forgets its past, it is unable to understand its present or rightly to enter its future'.
Hence, it is great that this Maundy Thursday service was totally expressed in hymns. Charles and John Wesley would have been mightly pleased. Yes, we sung eight hymns; each one of them reflecting the events of this Holy Thursday! Yes, the congregation sung heartily! Needless to say we are all middle-aged! Sigh!
A double sigh! for my colleague in her early thirties, a first generaton Christian! When I asked her - are you going for Maundy Thursday service tonight? She went 'ah.. what's that?'.
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