Maundy Thursday: Remembering, Sharing, and Serving

Earlier this week I attended a reception at Brown University for a former chaplain colleague, Rabbi Alan Flam.  Alan was the Hillel Chaplain prior to moving across campus to work for the Swearer Center for Public Service.  He served the Brown community for 34 years.

The reception featured a panel of recent graduates who talked about their experiences at Brown and how they were led into community service.  One of the speakers has been working in South Africa helping forgotten people to understand their oral history; another has been working in urban education; and another has focused on feeding those who are homeless and malnourished. Following their presentation. Alan spoke about his own commitment to community service and what it meant to have been in relationship with these and other former students.

In his remarks one of the things he wished for was that the gates surrounding Brown’s campus would be kept open to foster a continuing reciprocal relationship between the city and the university.

Brown’s principal gates, the Van Wickle Gates, open only twice a year – once to let students in as they begin their four years of study, and once in the spring as they graduate and move into the greater world of their future. The panel and Alan’s remarks illustrated the importance of being open and building relationships that make a difference in all our lives.

The graduates and Alan focused on remembered formative events, sharing food with those in need, and the service they gave to others. Remembering, sharing and serving are normative acts in family and community life.

The scripture readings we heard this evening are about remembering how God delivered the Israelites from bondage, sharing as Paul instructed in breaking bread and sharing the common cup,  and serving those in need. 

In the biblical account of the Passover, God instructed Moses and Aaron about the religious  practice of remembering.  The sacred Passover meal is to occur in the springtime. Selecting an unblemished lamb and its sacrifice reflected a careful liturgical formula.  The liturgy is to be performed in the home rather than in a public place.  The description of the blood on the doorposts echoed a very ancient rite used as a sign to ward off evil in the family dwelling.  In addition, the liturgical act provided life for the first born of the Israelites.  In this context the term, “Passover” denotes protection and freedom.

The Israelites were instructed to roast the Passover lamb “over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”  It was the custom to use unleavened bread and wild plants of the desert to flavor the meat.  God commanded that they eat this meal with “your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly.  It is the Passover of the Lord,” a time for remembering freedom as the Israelites made their exodus from Egypt. 

The account of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John occurred during a time of preparation “before the festival of the Passover.”  John focused on washing feet and the importance of service that the followers of Jesus were to learn from it.  For us today it is about entering into relationship with Jesus and experiencing and sharing his loving service for those in need.  By sharing a meal and by serving those in need we learn to give and to love as Jesus loves.

Every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist we invoke God’s blessing on the bread and wine recalling Jesus' words at the Last Supper:  "This is my Body, which is given for you.  Do this for the remembrance of me."  "This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you,… Do this for the remembrance of me."  The origin of remembrance is in the Passover meal.

St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Church at Corinth that the first Eucharist took place on the “night when [Jesus] was betrayed.”  The sacred formula of taking the bread and then the wine, giving thanks, breaking the bread and offering the cup, doing these acts “in remembrance of me,” suggests that the Eucharist occurs as a unified and communal thanksgiving to God. Offering thanksgiving to God as a community unites us in God’s love.

The Eucharist, a visible sign of a spiritual grace, represents the love that belongs to everyone because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”  The death of Jesus is a complete and selfless act of love for his followers.  As the early Christians did, and as all Christians throughout the centuries since Jesus’ death have done, we remember his self-giving love in the action of celebrating the Eucharist.  Tonight, as we wait for Christ's coming again in glory, we vow  to treat one another and everyone with selfless and compassionate love.  Amen.