Remembering the Last Supper

On Thursday night we gathered to share the Lord's supper. Each year we try to do something a little different on Maundy Thursday. Some years we have had a short dramatic re-enactment with twelve men playing the disciples. Other years we've used different people to give voice to the scripture readings to provide some drama to the service. Back in the mid eighties, we had a pot-luck dinner followed by a service of Tenebrae.


This year we used a service I found on-line from a Lutheran church in Illinois. It combined a short communion service with the readings of the Tenebrae. We began in the upper room and read the account of that night from John's Gospel. Then we entered the picture and shared the Lord's supper. We listened as Shawn Rucker sang "Lord, Most Holy" and began to ponder what Jesus did that night.


As the worship service progressed we read the seven passages of the Tenebrae service that outline the events that followed the supper. After each reading we sang a hymn and a candle was extinguished and one of the bank of lights was turned off.

With only the Christ candle remaining lit, we hard the words of John 1:1-5 which says,

• "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through hi, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light has come into the world, but people love the shadows rather than the light."

With that said, the Christ candle was extinguished leaving us in darkness for a minute or two as the service came to its end. Then we left in silence to ponder what we had heard.

It was a very moving service that set us up for the weekend.

Cal