17th April Maundy Thursday

 Maundy Thursday is without question  my favourite service to lead during the Church year. There  in just something about the event of that day which  sends me on an  emotional rollercoaster. 

The idea of celebrating a Passover meal, one that brings the past into  the present  but which  also looks forward to the future. The radical act of Jesus washing the disciples feet in John's gospel and then  commanding them to go and do the same. Or if you're reading the version in Matthew, Mark or Luke you  would find the institution of the eucharist or communions it is more  commonly known.

Then of course things turn decidedly dark with betrayal by Judas, the arrest in the garden  of Gethsemane, and the hastily arranged 'illegal' trial by the religious authorities.

This year I did something I haven't done for years, or indeed perhaps not at all during my time as a minister, and that is to sing during the  service. In fact the liturgy took us from the temptation in the wilderness right through to the moment of Jesus's arrest, using many of the songs we had looked at during Lent.

But in keeping with tradition, or my tradition at least, the service concluded with one of my favourite pieces of music written by Nick Cave and Warren  Ellis. This is the wonderfully evocative and atmospheric 'Song for Bob'.



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