Maundy Thursday

Tenebrae Service

Download here: Order of Service
This is a full Order of Service including equipment and instructions. This service is a beautiful candle-lit prayerful time, including a hand-washing, Holy Communion, and the Litany of the Shadows.

This Tenebrae service, from 2018, centres on Psalm 89, reading it as a prophecy of the crucifixion. It includes a full reading from the Psalm, with congregation participation.

Litany of the Shadows
This simple but exceedingly powerful liturgy requires a 'menorah' of 7 candles, plus an 8th 'Christ candle'. At Cashmere we do this at the end of our Maundy Thursday service. The church lights are turned off, then a short scripture reading is read for each of the 'Shadows'., and one by one all the candles are extinguished.
Download:
The Litany of the Shadows - Mark readings
The Litany of the Shadows - Matthew readings

Communion

Services of Holy Communion have a different flavour on Maundy Thursday.

Informal Communion Liturgy for Maundy Thursday

This night, this Maundy Thursday, is a pause in the Easter drama, an intimate moment, an Upper Room space where Jesus and his closest friends sit together at table
and eat and drink and talk
as they have done so many times before
but this night, this Maundy Thursday is cut through with the strongest emotions. It unfolds with words and actions that shock and challenge every expectation … of friendship, of service, of leadership. It is a night of great love and great pain.
At the centre is a meal, a holy feast, which has continued through the centuries as a central experience of grace
In the midst of fear and betrayal, it is a celebration of covenant.
In the breaking of bread and the pouring of wine God speaks of promise
I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have established my servant in my promise.
and the people reply: We will sing of the Lord’s great love forever. Your faithfulness endures to all generations.
Old covenant, broken by betrayal. New covenant, forged in brokenness.

This night, this Maundy Thursday, come sit at this table of covenant promise
not because you have any right to, but because Jesus is the Lord of this table
and he calls you
he welcomes you
he offers you his very self
in the washing of feet and in the breaking of bread
that you might be formed in the heart of God.

(add in your own words of institution/memorial ... "on the night before he died ... etc")

"The Tangled Mess"
A simple Communion Litany

Here we are, Lord
Here we are as friends and strangers, here to be your body.
We are here because we know we are not alone;
in our loneliness we seek your companionship.
Grace is here, more than enough to gather up
the tangled mess of our lives,
the broken pieces held together in the hands of Jesus breaking bread pouring wine
pouring out his very life blood in passion for us
Spirit is here, infusing these tangible things
mingling breath with our breath -
Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus!
Take and eat, friends of God
and your empty hands will be filled with mercy
your hungry hearts will flow with kindness
Power is here, surrendered and made whole.

Passover Meal

I have written a simplified liturgy for an all-age Passovery celebration. This is for a full meal, including roast lamb, and symbolic foods such as the salt and egg and herbs. It's also nice to have some song sheets and a guitar for some singing.
Download HERE

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem
Photos from the 2,000-old olive trees

Sermon: The Prayer of the Garden of Gethsemane

The Garden of Gethsemane is never somewhere we choose to be. To end up in Gethsemane involves us losing several battles, being hit back, cut down, shaken up.
The prayer of Gethsemane is a struggle. It is a fight. No, Lord! we cry! This is not right. I should not be here! Get me out of here. Anything but this!
We’re all too aware of everything everyone else has done to me. It’s not fair! It’s not my fault. Take this cup away from me!
But God brings us to Gethsemane and there under your ancient tree you have nowhere else to go and no one else to blame and there is only one prayer left to pray.
That prayer is the prayer of surrender. Not my will, but yours.

Assorted prayers for worship on Maundy Thursday

Call to worship
God invites us, arms extended
Here we are, Lord.
God invites us on the journey, step by step with Jesus Christ
Here we are, Lord.
God lights our way on our walk toward the cross
You are with us. Halleluia!

Welcome
May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, with all whom you love, and all whom you pray for, here in the quietness of this Holy night.
May the grace and hope of God sustain us through the dark.
Ma te Atua koutou e manaaki. Kororia ki to matou kaiwhakaora, Ihu Karaiti.
All glory be to our saviour Jesus Christ.

Dedication of the offering
Lord of all, we pray, bring us joy and save us from pain
Yet not my will, but yours be done.
Bring us plenty and save us from poverty
Yet not my will, but yours be done.
Lead us to safety and save us from distress
Yet not my will, but yours be done.
Bless your people, your church, your servants in every corner of the world,
we pray, and bless these gifts for your service and your mission.
For we pray:
not our will, but yours, be done. Amen.

Prayer of confession: 'We come to you'
To the words: “We come to you,”
our response is: “For you alone can make us whole.”

Here we are, Lord, wrapped up in our troubles
Here are our fears, for ourselves, for those we love
and for our world
…
in our anxiety and worry
We come to you -
For you alone can make us whole

Here we are, Lord, frustrated by the wrongness of things
annoyed with people who should know better
disappointed, hurt, even betrayed
…
in our judgment and criticism
We come to you -
For you alone can make us whole

Here we are, Lord, empty inside
Here we name what we have lost
the people we miss and all that will never be.
…
in our sadness and grief
We come to you -
For you alone can make us whole

Here we are, Lord, cross with ourselves
for we have heard the cock crow and seen our own failure
…
in our guilt and shame
We come to you -
For you alone can make us whole

We come to you because you came to us
in Jesus Christ, our teacher, our friend
He reached into our pain and made us whole
Through his suffering and surrender he has brought us to you,
and we rest in your peace, Lord of all. Amen.

Poem: Is this a time to grieve?
Written by Barbara Sampson

Is this a time to grieve
or a time to grow?
To curl up like a foetus
or stretch out like a gymnast?
In the punctuation of death is this a comma
or an exclamation mark?
Is this garment wrapped so tightly around me
a shroud or a cocoon?
Is this the stench of death I can smell
or the fragrance of spring blossom?
Is this a moment for lying still
letting death lull me to sleep
or for laughter and longing and leaping tall?
Is this a cold darkness without ending
or the slender shadow that welcomes a glorious new dawn?
Is this the final act
or the start of a new play?
Is this a goodbye or a hello
a farewell or a welcome?
Is this a time for dying
or a time to be born?

Call to Worship
We come tonight knowing that at the heart of all truth, all suffering and all redemption is the cross.
We come seeking to know God more, and to be known more fully.
The cross reveals a God who pours out his own life for his people.
There is nothing God will not face for our sake.
The cross also reveals the dark truth of the human soul, that turns away from the light, and falls into betrayal and bitterness.
, will not endure at the hands of his own people.
The cross reveals the face of God.
The cross shows us ourselves for who we are.
As we retell this story of all stories, as allow ourselves to be washed, and as we share in bread and wine, may we participate more deeply in the servanthood and sacrifice of Jesus our Lord.
Be with us, O Christ. Inhabit the darkness.
Fill the silence with yourself.
Amen.