Maundy Thursday: Table!

Thursday, April 17, 2025
7:00 PM 8:00 PM 19:00 20:00

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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Friends are gathered around the table for the great festival of Passover: the remembrance of the night those who were enslaved by Egpyt were released by God’s power. Tonight God’s power will be revealed in vulnerability and weakness. Tonight a betrayal will be completed. And tonight Jesus will leave his friends and followers with another meal that reflects how God brings life out of death.

We invite you to share the Lord’s Supper with us on this Maundy Thursday night. Please join us for worship in our beautiful sanctuary, or online via livestream. You are invited. All are welcome.

Maundy Thursday: Table! 

Luke 22:7-23; John 13:31-35

April 17, 2025

Union Presbyterian Church, Endicott, NY

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 

Liturgist: Jim Mica Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Prelude

Chorale Prelude on “Ah, Holy Jesus,” Robert Lau

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

* Call to Worship

When the lights are on, and the house is full,

and laughter is easy and all is well,

Behold I stand at the door and knock.

When the lights are low, and the house is still,

and the talk is intense, and the air is full of wondering,

Behold I stand at the door and knock.

When the lights are off, and the house is sad,

and the voice is troubled, and nothing seems right,

Behold I stand at the door and knock.

And tonight, always tonight,

As if there were no other people, no other house, no other door,

Behold I stand at the door and knock.

Liturgist:

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest

Stay with us, for the day is ending.

Bring to our house your poverty.

For then shall we be rich.

Bring to our house your pain,

That sharing it we may also share your joy.

Bring to our house your understanding of us,

That we may be freed to learn more of you.

Bring to our house all those

Who hurry or hobble behind you,

That we may meet you as the Savior of all.

Bring to our house your Holy Spirit,

That this may be a cradle of love.

With friend, with stranger,

With neighbor, with the well-known,

Be among us tonight,

For the doors of our house we open,

And the doors of our hearts we leave ajar.

* Hymn (to the tune of #544 W & R)

“The Night You Were Arrested,” Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Used by permission.

The night you were arrested, you told us to recall
The bread, your body broken, the wine, poured out for all.
You told them, "Take and eat it," and in that time and place
You gave to all creation the wonders of God's grace.

That night you sat at table and looked around at friends;
You talked about forgiveness and how God's love extends.
You surely tried to teach them, to help them see anew,
The joy of God's salvation that comes to us, through you.

This night we come together to worship and to pray.
We hear your love's commandment; we seek to learn your Way.
May bread and cup now give us the strength we need to be
Your church, your loving body, in this community.

* Prayer for Maundy Thursday

Holy God, source of all love,

on the night of his betrayal

Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment,

to love one another as he loved them.

Write this commandment on our hearts;

give us the will to serve others

as he was the servant of all,

who gave his life and died for us,

yet is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen.

* Sharing of the Peace

Jesus told his friends that the peace he had to offer was not of this world.

But in Jesus, heaven and earth have met,

and it is the peace of God we offer to one another.

The peace of God be with you this night:

And also with you.

Let us share a sign of peace.

Scripture Luke 22:7-20

A reading from the Gospel According to Luke, beginning at chapter 22, verse 7.

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?”  “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Time for Young Disciples

Music: “They’ll Know We Are Christians,” Peter Scholtes

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.  

Scripture John 13:1, 34-35 Rev. Pat Raube

A reading from the Gospel According to John, selected verses from chapter 13.

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. 

 [Jesus said,] 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.”

Response: Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God.

Meditation

* Hymn # 275 W & R (verses 1, 2, 3)

“An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare,” Fred Pratt Green

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

An upper room did our Lord prepare

For those he loved until the end:

And his disciples still gather there

To celebrate their risen friend.

A lasting gift Jesus gave his own:

To share his bread, his loving cup.

Whatever burdens may bow us down,

He by his cross shall lift us up.

And after supper he washed their feet,
For service, too, is sacrament.
In Christ our joy shall be made complete:
Sent out to serve, as he was sent.

THE 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 Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

Invitation

The table of bread and cup is now to be made ready.

It is the table of company with Jesus,

and all who love him.

It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world,

with whom Jesus identified himself.

It is the table of communion with the earth,

in which Christ became incarnate.

So come to this table,

you who have much faith

and you who would like to have more;

you who have been here often

and you who have not been for a long time;

you who have tried to follow Jesus,

and you who have wandered away;

Come.

It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts!

We lift them up to God.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give both thanks and praise.

We offer you praise, dear God,

and hearts lifted high,

for in the communion of your love

Christ comes close to us

and we come close to Christ.

Therefore with the whole realm of nature around us,

with earth, sea and sky,

we sing to you.

With the angels of light who envelop us,

With all the host of heaven,

with all the saints before and beside us,

with our siblings, east and west and all around the world,

we sing to you.

And with our loved ones,

separate from us now,

who yet in this mystery are close to us,

we join in the song of your unending greatness.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord,

God willing to be weak, human, and vulnerable,

Heaven and earth of full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest!

THE STORY OF THE LAST SUPPER

Blessed is our brother Jesus,

who walks with us the road of our world’s suffering,

and who is known to us in the breaking of bread.

On this night, the night of his arrest,

Jesus took bread

and having blessed it

he broke the bread

and gave it to his disciples, saying,

This is my body, given to you.

In the same way he took the cup,

and having given thanks for it

he poured it out

and gave the cup to his disciples, saying,

This cup is the new relationship with God,

sealed with my blood.

Take this and share it.

I shall drink it with you next

in the coming Kingdom of God.

Prayer of Consecration

Hear us, O Christ,

and breathe your Spirit upon us

and upon this bread and cup.

May they become for us your body,

vibrant with your life,

healing, renewing and making us whole.

And as the bread and cup which we now eat and drink

are changed into us,

may we be changed again into you,

bone of your bone,

flesh of your flesh,

loving and caring in the world.

For it is through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ,

n the unity of the Holy Spirit,

that all glory and honor are yours, O God, now and forever.

Amen.

THE SHARING OF THE MEAL

Look,

the Body of Christ is broken

for the life of the world.

Here is Christ coming to us

in bread and in the fruit of the vine.

The gifts of God

for the people of God.

Music during Communion: #697 W & R

“Eat This Bread,” Jacques Berthier

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.      

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.

THE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (Unison)

God of grace,

your Son Jesus Christ

gave us this holy meal of bread and the fruit of the vine

in which we become one with him and with one another.

May we who have celebrated this sign of his great love

show in our lives the fruits of his redemption;

we pray in his holy name. Amen.

Hymn #286 W & R

“Stay With Me,” Jacques Berthier 

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

(Sing 4 times:) 

Stay with me, remain here with me. 

Watch and pray, watch and pray. 

The Stripping of the Church

Scripture Isaiah 53:1-11

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah, beginning at chapter 53, verse 1: the Song of the Suffering Servant.

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.

Sermon Image:

Swanson, John August. Last Supper (2009), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56552 [retrieved April 13, 2025]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/.

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Maundy Thursday: Table!