The gospels tell us a lot about the last week of Jesus’ life. On Thursday of that week he gathered with his closest friends to share the Passover meal, and after the meal he washed the disciples’ feet. This action stirred anxiety in his friends—it made no sense to them, since they considered Jesus not only their Rabbi, but also their Messiah.
Join us on Thursday night April 6 at 7 PM as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and recall that event of foot-washing, and what it meant to Jesus. Join us in our beautiful sanctuary, or right here online. If you join us remotely, be sure to bring bread and the fruit of the vine, so that we might break bread together. You are invited!
Maundy Thursday: “The Washing of Feet”
1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31-35; Isaiah 53:1-11
April 6, 2023
Liturgist: Doug Moore Preacher: Rev. Patricia J. Raube
Union Presbyterian Church, Endicott, NY
Prelude Chris Bartlette
“Behold the Lamb of God,” Lani Smith
©2011, Lorenz Publishing Co., All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Call to Worship Doug Moore
Jesus said: I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as Christ has loved us,
let us love one another.
Prayer of the Day Rev. Pat Raube
Hymn #257 W & R “What Wondrous Love Is This” (Public Domain)
Call to Wholeness Doug Moore
Prayer for Wholeness and Peace
Eternal God, whose covenant is never broken, we confess that we fail to fulfill your will. Though you have bound yourself to us, we will not bind ourselves to you. In Jesus Christ you serve us freely, but we refuse your love and withhold ourselves from others. We do not love you fully, or love one another as you command. In your mercy, forgive and heal us. Lead us once again to your table and unite us to Christ who is the bread of life and the vine from which we grow in grace. We pray in your holy name. Amen.
Assurance of God’s Love
The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ,
you are forgiven, healed, and claimed in love.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sharing of the Peace
The peace of God be with you this night:
And also with you.
Let us share a sign of peace.
Scripture 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube
Music: "I Come With Joy a Child of God," Brian Wren, Austin Lovelace
©1998, Alfred Publishing, Inc., All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Scripture John 13:1-17, 31-35
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Sermon “The Washing of Feet”
Anthem Choir
“Now the Table is Set”, Jay Althouse
©1998, Alfred Publishing, Inc., All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Let the bread, in breaking, partaking,
Be our theme of God’s own making.
Now before us the table is set.
Now the table is set.
Let the wine, lifegiving, living,
Be our theme of glad thanksgiving.
Now before us the table is set.
Now the table is set.
Lord, be now with us as we share Your blessings:
Your blood and body, just as You have said.
And give to us Your grace in this, Your holy place,
For by Your grace our souls are fed.
As the Lord abided, provided,
For the twelve divinely guided:
At the holy table they met.
At the table they met.
Now the table is set.
The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Rev. Pat Raube
Invitation
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God:
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Sanctus “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,” Joseph Roff
©1980, GIA Publications, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is He who comes
In the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna in the highest.
Words of Institution
Memorial Acclamation
Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith:
When we eat this bread and drink the cup,
we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
The Gift of the Spirit
Prayers of the People
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
The Communion
The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?
The gifts of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Music during Communion: #697 W & R
“Eat This Bread,” Jacques Berthier
©1984, Les Presses de Taizé, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Eat this bread, drink this cup,
Come to me and never be hungry.
Eat this bread, drink this cup,
Trust in me and you will not thirst.
Prayer After Communion
God of grace, we give you thanks for the feast of redemption we have shared in the holy communion with Christ and with one another. As you have nourished us with love, let our lives proclaim your great love for the world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Stripping of the Church
Scripture Isaiah 53:1-11
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Departure The congregation departs in silence.