Breaking and pouring version 4: Communion Service for Maundy Thursday (version 2)

Communion Service 

for Maundy Thursday

|Breaking and pouring version 4: for Maundy Thursday version 2|

Presider: Jesus and his disciples had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of the Passover.

The Passover was a weeklong celebration in the capital city, where they remembered the time when, through God's guidance, Moses brought them out of captivity in Egypt, the sacrificial lambs were brought to the temple, because, in the time of the Exodus, the blood of lambs was used as a marker on the doors so that the angel of death would pass over those houses. 

As part of the celebration Jesus and his disciples joined together in a traditional meal in an upper room that they had hired for the occasion; a meal of thanksgiving for their freedom.

Raising the cup the presider says;

Let us raise the cup of freedom;

We proclaim good news to the poor;

Freedom for prisoners

A vision for those who have not seen,

And a lifting of the burdens of the oppressed

And so today we raise our thanks to the father of creation;
Thanks be to God, amen.

Song: STF 410 (H&P 774) Lord Your Church on Earth is Seeking

©Hugh Sherlock (1905-1998)

Lord, your Church on earth is seeking

your renewal from above;

teach us all the art of speaking

with the accent of your love.

We would heed your great commission:

sending us to every place —

preach, baptise, fulfil my mission,

serve with love and share my grace.

Freedom give to those in bondage,

lift the burdens caused by sin.

Give new hope, new strength and courage,

grant release from fears within:

light for darkness; joy for sorrow;

love for hatred; peace for strife.

These and countless blessings follow

as the Spirit gives new life.

In the streets of every city

where the bruised and lonely dwell,

let us show the Saviour’s pity,

let us of his mercy tell.

In all lands and with all races

let us serve, and seek to bring

all the world to render praises,

Christ, to you, Redeemer, King.

Presider: But their freedom was not complete; it was temporary and rooted in earthly promises.

A new promise was to be made there in that room by Jesus. Moses, great though he was, was only a man, speaking the words of God. But Jesus was God in human form;

And here in this place, just as Jesus did there in that upper room on the night before he died, we take the bread and we break it and share it amongst his disciples...

(The bread is broken and shared around the table)

...and he asked them as he asks us today to take this bread and eat it, and to imagine that this is his body which is being broken for you.

Sing (to the tune Hanover);

Presider: Are we now the Church, The body of Christ

The body, the bread, all gathered at once?

Will we let God break us, and take us apart

Remake our true image, reform us in love?

All: Yes we are the Church, The body of Christ

The body the bread, all gathered at once

We come to be broken, and taken apart

Remade in God's image, reformed in God's love

In the breaking of this bread; we are broken;

Like the body of Christ; we are broken

As we share in his self sacrifice; So we are remade in the image of God

We share together in the meal and the bread shared out becomes part of that meal. During the meal the following readings are read by various people;

Exodus 12:1-14 (NIV), Psalm 116:13-14 (NIV), 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV), Mark 14:23-26 (NIV), John 13:3-11, 15-17, 34 (NIV)

At the end of the meal the presider says;

In the days of Leviticus when the priests made animal sacrifices, the priests would say that no one should drink the blood, because it contained the spirit of the animal. The spirit of the animal was poured out for the sins of the people. When Jesus offered himself as sacrifice on the cross, he declared an end to the sacrifice because his spirit was poured out for the forgiveness of all sins for all time. For this was not the spirit of one of God's creatures, but the spirit of God himself being poured out for all people (The wine is poured from the central cup into individual cups) and there in that upper room he poured out the wine as his spirit would be poured out to all people.

As we hand around the cups, sing (to the tune Hanover);

Presider: The spirit of God poured out to the world

An unending gift, the cup that we share

The cleansing and healing, forgiveness and life

Abundantly poured out beyond these four walls

All: The spirit of God we gladly receive

An unending gift, this cup is for all

The cleansing and healing, forgiveness and life

We share in outpouring God's love to the world

Knowing what was about to happen, at the end of the meal he took the cup gave thanks and gave it to his disciples, asking them to drink from it, as he asks us to drink from it today - and as you do, imagine that this is his blood which was about to be poured out for you, to seal the new promise which God is making with all people.

This is God's spirit poured out for all.
It is freely poured out for the forgiveness of sins. Amen

We all drink from the cups.

And Jesus told them to do this whenever they met to remember him. Do what, I wonder?

Well John tells us that after the meal Jesus washed their feet, and insisted that they washed each other's feet, a humble act of service. It is above all things our call to serve each other as Christ has served us and to serve those who have not yet known Christ, just as once we did not know Christ.

We serve each other and the world in the breaking and in the pouring.

We do this in remembrance of Jesus

We do this in remembrance of Jesus who awaits the opportunity to share this meal with us in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Song: STF 272 (CMP 162) From heaven you came

© Graham Kendrick 1983

From heaven you came, helpless babe,

Entered our world, your glory veiled;

Not to be served but to serve,

And give your life that we might live.

            This is our God, the Servant King,

            He calls us now to follow him,

            To bring our lives as a daily offering

            Of worship to the Servant King.

There in the garden of tears,

My heavy load he chose to bear;

His heart with sorrow was torn,

'Yet not my will but yours,' he said.

Come, see his hands and his feet,

The scars that speak of sacrifice,

Hands that flung stars into space

To cruel nails surrendered.

So let us learn how to serve,

 And in our lives enthrone him;

 Each other's needs to prefer,

 For it is Christ we're serving.

Presider: It may well have been customary to end such a meal with the agreement to meet again in Jerusalem next year at the Passover, but having previously told them that he was the vine and they were his branches, he simply said 'I won't have the chance to share in the fruits of this vine until I see you again in the Kingdom.'

Until we meet again, amen.

We all leave in silence