Corinthians
‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial.
01/Apr/2010 22:24 Filed in: Inspiration
April 1, 2010 -- Maundy Thursday
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things build up. 24Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others. 25Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, 26for ‘the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.’
Reflection:
I don’t receive commandments very well. I tend to be a do-it-my-own-way sort of gal who wants to know the reason for something before I obey an order.
But this day is about commandment. Maundy Thursday, from the Latin mandatum, “command.” Jesus commands us to remember what he did and who he was and how he was among us. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Paul reminds us what we know.
So I’ll go to church today and participate in the liturgy of Maundy Thursday. There will be prayers, scripture readings, preaching, foot washing, Holy Communion … and then the stripping away of the accoutrements of our worship.
At the end of the service, everything that we can carry will be removed from front of the sanctuary. And the bare altar will be washed and oiled in semi-darkness. Then I’ll walk out silently on my clean, bare feet – a powerful stop to an important liturgy.
Maundy Thursday is the start of the Triduum, the three days of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The stripping of the altar is our liturgical way of acknowledging the emptiness in which Jesus made his sacrifice.
It calls me up short, this stark halt in the liturgy. It gets my attention. By God’s grace, the richness and starkness of the Maundy Thursday liturgy invite me to ponder the depth to which I must reach if I am to obey the commandment to love. I must empty myself of everything and trust in the sufficiency of God.
O Jesus, I want to follow your commandment to love… Humble and strengthen me. Amen.
Helen McPeak, struggler
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things build up. 24Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others. 25Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, 26for ‘the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.’
Reflection:
I don’t receive commandments very well. I tend to be a do-it-my-own-way sort of gal who wants to know the reason for something before I obey an order.
But this day is about commandment. Maundy Thursday, from the Latin mandatum, “command.” Jesus commands us to remember what he did and who he was and how he was among us. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Paul reminds us what we know.
So I’ll go to church today and participate in the liturgy of Maundy Thursday. There will be prayers, scripture readings, preaching, foot washing, Holy Communion … and then the stripping away of the accoutrements of our worship.
At the end of the service, everything that we can carry will be removed from front of the sanctuary. And the bare altar will be washed and oiled in semi-darkness. Then I’ll walk out silently on my clean, bare feet – a powerful stop to an important liturgy.
Maundy Thursday is the start of the Triduum, the three days of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The stripping of the altar is our liturgical way of acknowledging the emptiness in which Jesus made his sacrifice.
It calls me up short, this stark halt in the liturgy. It gets my attention. By God’s grace, the richness and starkness of the Maundy Thursday liturgy invite me to ponder the depth to which I must reach if I am to obey the commandment to love. I must empty myself of everything and trust in the sufficiency of God.
O Jesus, I want to follow your commandment to love… Humble and strengthen me. Amen.
Helen McPeak, struggler
0 Comments
The deadline for the Lenten devotional submissions is approaching
28/Jan/2010 21:22 Filed in: Inspiration
I know you are struggling. The deadline for the Lenten devotional submissions is approaching and some of you have not yet found the words. It is hard to come up with something reflective of God, worthy of your audience, and concise. Yes. Read More...