Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Maundy Thursday – 6 April 2023 – 7pm or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship.
Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
We will share Communion during this service so you may like to have the elements ready.
Introit: “He became poor” – (Click this link and skip the ads – TIS words below)
Candle Lighting:
In lighting the Christ candle this evening
we remember that Christ came to be the light of the world,
and that no matter how hard the darkness tries,
it is never able to extinguish the light.
Acknowledgement of Country:
As we gather in God’s presence tonight,
I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land,
the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People of the Kulin nations.
I pay my respects to their elders, past and present,
and acknowledge all generations to come.
May each one of us honour
and share more deeply in the wisdom of all,
while walking in paths of justice,
reconciliation and renewal.
Call to Worship:
In the remembrance of many,
longer than any memory
is an ancient story
of an even more ancient God.
It is as old as history itself,
if not older,
one of the first tales of the world
and one we retell tonight.
Of a people gathered on the edge of possibility
ready for a journey that has not yet stopped,
loins girded, coats at the ready,
a lamb slaughtered and bread not given time to rise.
And as the darkness gathers around them
their homes become scared places
where death passes over
as they eat the Passover lamb.
This is the last supper in Egypt,
bitter wine is left in goblets
and crumbs strewn.
And the people of God
steal out into the shadows
with a daring hope of freedom
and a God who has chosen them
for a new covenant.
Yet all is not as it seems
for still we travel this road to freedom,
still we gather around this story of hope,
still we share this bread and wine
in a Saviour’s reimagining of the Passover
through the words of the one
who invites us here
for one more last supper.
But this one invites fear,
betrayal,
confusion
and brokenness.
Prayer Of Adoration and Confession:
God of extravagant love,
you bore the cost of misguided wisdom
that puts success and selfish ambition
above concern for others.
You bore the cost
of our systems of government and big business,
that promise wealth and opportunity,
but which forget the principles of equality.
You bore the cost of the wars we engage in,
and acts of violence perpetrated on others.
You bore the cost of our inadequate attention
to the detail of creation,
and our failure to show responsible stewardship.
You bore the cost of our human tendency
to segregate based on race, gender,
sexual orientation and religion,
with the result we are responsible for a divided world
where many suffer mistreatment and sometimes abuse.
Merciful God,
you bore the cost of all of this.
You saw it in history,
you observed it in all present times,
and you even predicted it
within humanity’s own future.
And so, you put up with the terrible pain
of coming to the human story in Jesus,
and enduring the emotion of loss.
Not to substitute Yourself for us –
but to reveal the unconditional love of your nature;
a love that does not count the cost,
but is prepared to do anything for the welfare
of the human family you love.
Let us be led this night,
to a true understanding of our place in your heart,
and let the example of extravagant love
in this ancient story of hospitality,
inspire us to such a love for you,
that is as fully generous as it was then.
Amen.
Bible Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6 – Wisdom’s Feast
1 Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her animals;
she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her female servants; she calls
from the highest places in the town,
4 “You who are simple, turn in here!”
To those without sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Lay aside immaturity and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
We Reflect:
Across the world, on this night, the ‘Table is Set’, and the constituent parts of the Holy Meal are laid out, the bread and the wine. The Holy One extends the invitation, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed’. The intimacy of the sacrament of Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday is a special one, and the costliness of Jesus’ journey to the cross, and his submission to the outcome, reminds us of God’s extravagant love for each one of us.
The description of Wisdom’s Feast paints a picture of a feast in a lavish, possibly even sacred, setting. Wisdom has built her own house of substantial size and quality (emphasised by the ‘seven pillars’) which are needed to support a house that is so large. Sometimes these pillars are thought to suggest either the foundational pillars of the earth, or the pillars of a temple, the whole earth being God’s temple.
This meal and the invitations indicate the open nature of the feast … this is more than an average meal … and Wisdom’s servants have been sent to issue invitations where all can hear. This is a feast to which all are invited.
Partaking in this feast leads to life, and accepting Wisdom’s invitation is to embrace the life that God has designed for us. May we accept the invitation to share in the feast that is offered to us.
Bible Reading: Mark 14:1-9 – The Plot to Kill Jesus
1 It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”
The Anointing at Bethany
3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
We Sing: “A prophet-woman broke a jar” – (Click on this link and skip the ads – TiS words below)
We Reflect:
This story from Mark’s Gospel is commonly associated with extravagant and costly love. We are witness to a scene of intimate fellowship, friendship, love, and presence. We see a woman whose act of generous love towards Jesus is an indication of the extravagant love required of all of Jesus’ followers in the world today. This love is costly, and while some of those present criticise it as being a waste of what could have been directed towards the poor and needy, the response Jesus gives calls us to understand that what is in this woman’s heart is not lavish at all. Rather, it what we are all called to show in our faith and attention to God, and this woman shows it to Jesus.
In pouring the ointment over Jesus’ head, this woman suggests a royal anointing, as well as the preparation of a body for burial. And while this woman never speaks, she is engaged in a prophetic act. Jesus has been predicting his own death, but his disciples have not understood. However, this woman knows what is to come.
This love that she shows Jesus, a costly love, is often displayed most visibly in acts of goodness and kindness towards one’s fellow humanity. It is the type of love that Jesus calls us to. Jesus takes on the position of servant as he washes the feet of his disciples. We see this when people care for those who are vulnerable, provide food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless.
The woman’s story, and the story of her alabaster jar of expensive perfume, has indeed been remembered; retold and reflected upon down through the ages. Wherever and whenever an example of faith and devotion to God and Jesus is sought, this story is turned to. It is a story that brings out the importance of faithfulness and sacrifice towards the ways and priorities of God.
All are invited to the table of Wisdom, the Wisdom that is God. All are invited to the banquet of the Lord’s Table, where the extravagance of God’s love for us is matched in an
intimate display of devotion to the One whose journey across the week is slowly, yet surely, taking him to the cross. It calls for a total response on our part—as much with our heart, as with our head.
We Listen: The Woman who Anointed Jesus / Peter
Woman: It was after the meal
He was there at table
We had invited him
To a feast of thanksgiving
For Lazarus’ return
A celebration for this new life.
Peter: It was before the meal
Before we sat at table
We had gathered for Passover
A feast of remembering
For the promise of freedom
And a celebration of a new future
Woman: Martha had served
Lazarus was reclining
Jesus was sitting
And I knelt before him
And poured perfume
From the jar I was carrying
Peter: The disciples were hungry
Most of them sitting
Jesus was kneeling
I sat where he asked
And Jesus poured the water
Into the bowl before him
Woman: The atmosphere changed
As I washed his hair
With the costly nard
Too costly for Judas
Who argued about the poor
And the waste of this act
Peter: The atmosphere shifted
As he washed my feet
“Not me” I cried.
“If not you, then no one”
He replied
“My hand and head also” I said
Woman: “Leave her alone,” he said
“This was always going to happen”, he said
“At my burial
But let her do it now
Let her serve her Lord
Anoint my head tonight,” he said
Peter: “This I have to do,” he said
“This was always going to happen,” he said
“Let me serve you
Let me do now for you
What you will do for me
I wash your feet tonight,” he said
Woman: And so, I anointed the head of my Lord
With costly perfume and sacrifice
With love and hope
Before his death
For he was still alive
And still among us
Peter: And so, he washed my feet
With costly sacrifice and compassion
With love and hope
And with the words
“Love one another as I have loved you”
Invited us to do the same
Sing: “An upper room did our Lord prepare” – (Click on this link for the tune – TIS words below)
Communion:
The Peace
Jesus said:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
We are blessed,
for you, Lord of Creation,
give us a wonderful world
of which we are a part
and countless opportunities to explore.
We are blessed,
for you, Jesus, cared for, healed, and served humanity
with humbleness and costly devotion.
We are blessed,
for you, Holy Spirit, dwell in creation and in life,
and by your energy implant Wisdom in us,
allowing us to know God and know God’s will.
Now, may this sacrament
become a blessing to us in this holy season,
that we may know strength and comfort in the presence of God,
and know the nourishment of God’s love for us.
Prayer
Jesus, servant Lord,
with deep symbolism and meaning,
in your final moments with your disciples,
you presented an action of loving service.
In the memory of the images of that night,
let us come before you in this act of devotion,
ready to receive what you are prepared to offer.
In taking the bread,
you reminded those present, and remind us,
of the human connection that makes us
one body with you, our God, and with each other.
In breaking bread,
you remind us how broken we are,
and how much we need to be put back together.
Yet, in its breaking, you also reveal how the
separated grace, mercy, and love of God
is enough for all the world
when it is shared evenly from your hand to ours,
and from one human hand to another.
In taking wine,
you reminded those present, and remind us,
that we are the fruits of your vine and of your labour
to make us special, gifted people.
In offering the cup,
you promise us the thirst-quenching sustenance
of the eternal love of God, Father and Mother of us all.
In partaking, and in its sharing,
you invite us to participate
in extending the flow of love and mercy throughout our faith communities,
and into our communities of work and residency.
This night, let us have the wisdom,
to tune in to the deepest parts of this emotional experience,
that we might be changed from the inside out,
and be ready for what lies ahead.
Amen.
Invitation To The Table
On the night in which he was betrayed,
and while they were eating,
Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it,
and gave it to the disciples and said,
“Take, eat; this is my body which will be broken for justice.”
And when the supper was over,
he took the cup, gave thanks to God,
shared it with his disciples and said,
“Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood which will be shed for liberation.”
Do this, as often as you drink of it, in remembrance of me.”
And so, in remembrance of these things,
we offer ourselves to this moment of divine presence.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and those in their homes,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Let us receive what God has to offer as we
share this holy meal and remember our Lord Jesus Christ.
Distribution
The bread we take is a sharing in the body of Christ.
The wine we take is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
The bread of life – the cup of hope.
(Eat and drink)
Prayer
God of love, we give you thanks for satisfying us with this meal.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world.
Blessing:
Bread, broken—eaten.
Wine, poured—shared.
The taste, slightly bitter, lingers still
as disciples and Master move from room to garden.
Darkness closes in.
We journey with them into the night.
Thanks to all those who have assisted in preparation for this liturgy with encouragement, prayers and conversation. I have also utilised the following resources:-Spill the Beans (Issue 46) and The Women’s Lectionary: Preaching The Women Of The Bible Throughout The Year (Ashley M Wilcox) and WorkingPreacher.com.