Maundy Thursday (edited from last year)
This year, 2021, may prove to be the year we are released from a long ‘time-out’. The church is still one: One Body, One People, One in Christ. Just like the COVID-19 pandemic is global, the church is global. The unity of the church doesn’t come from being in the same room at the same time and sharing the same bread and fruit of the vine. The unity of the global, universal, timeless, church does come from Jesus Christ. He is our bread, the bread that unifies. Jesus Christ is our foundation, our all-in-all. That is true whether we are able to meet together, or are distancing physically.
- The following paragraphs are reprinted from last year’s Maundy Thursday (2020).
What a difference a year makes. In 2019, Cathy and I celebrated Maundy Thursday in the crowded Hudson Room on the Zaandam. As the ship traveled between the Panama Canal and Aruba, forty-five people from a few different continents assembled to break bread and sing and pray and share the Word of God. We were strangers in the same family, joining as one body to commemorate the death and burial of Jesus.
And this year, 2020, we have all been sent to our rooms for Maundy Thursday. We have given up much for Lent this year, even if we didn’t intend to set things aside. Our lives have been turned inside-out and upside-down. No gatherings! Physical Distancing! Personal nearness with one another is not an option this year.
And yet, one thing that hasn’t changed is that over two-thousand years ago, in a land far away, our Lord laid down his life, out of love for us. Because of that sacrifice, we might still celebrate communion in our hearts. We have unity of spirit; we are one body, one family, one church. We may well experience togetherness even while separated.