So I am thinking about the possibility of several stations for the Maundy Thursday dinner/service. We generally have dinner in the Fellowship Hall, and the service (incl. communion but not footwashing) simply takes place there as well, with people still seated around tables.
I'm thinking about a journey theme and wondering if there's a way to incorporate that theme along with, say, three table stations (where there would also be different food--sort of an around-the-world food idea) for worship...then we need to have communion and we need to go on a more physical journey to the sanctuary in order to finish the service at the cross (where we have a candle-extinguishing ritual going on at each Lent/Holy Week service).
I need some ideas for these stations--and also an idea for what text I should use. I could use John 13. I could use the Last-Supper-Garden-of-Gethsemane text from Matthew. I could use something totally different. I'm having trouble brainstorming this....help! The storm in my brain is less teapot-tempest and more surprisingly-sunny-day-for-February (unlike outside).
Leave your ideas in the comments...
thanks!
I wonder if you might consider settong up the tables at the station in a cross - perhaps with white cloths on them? Or gather around a cross arrangement of tables, with candles down the centers, for the Lord's Supper?
ReplyDeletesarah--I like the idea; alas, all our tables are round, so making them into a cross would take up a lot of room.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of maybe exploring characters in the story--maybe use Barrie Shepherd's Faces at the Cross, one character at each station...and then when we get upstairs to the sanctuary we will explore Peter, the last to run off/deny?
At my previous church, we did a meditations-during-dinner - 2-3 things on the events of the Last Supper - the footwashing, the giving of the new commandment, the sharing of food. That was followed by communion (at the dinner tables), then we went into the courtyard and had a dramatic reading of Jesus' arrest, then we went into the sanctuary, and did the stripping of the altar. It was a nice combo of scripture and reflection.
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