Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Five years ago, as many have reflected, we were at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with all its fears and frustrations. By Maundy Thursday on 9th April, we had started a simple on-line act of worship for friends from surrounding churches and beyond. It was very basic but for a while it met a need. As it turned out, ‘Thoughts and Prayers at Home’ continued until October that year, 2020.
As Easter approached, I wondered how to cope with Maundy Thursday. Remembering many Maundy Thursday services I had led at Saxmundham URC we shared communion from our dining room and people joined in from their homes. We broke all manner of traditions and a lot more church rules but my only aim that day was to make sure that this particular service went ahead somehow and despite all the human worries and panic we did not forget to pass on what we received from the Lord.
Today, be thankful that once again we can meet in our churches to remember what we have received and pass it on – that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, broke bread for us. He told us that the cup represented his blood, shed for us.
I have no desire to remember more of Covid lockdown than that, but I do want to remember what Jesus sacrificed as he gave everything for me. You?
A Prayer
God of Sacrifice and love beyond understanding, thank you that you have always been beside us, even in our strangest circumstances when we are confused and uncomfortable. Thank you that on night when you were betrayed by us you gave us something by which to remember you always. Help us not to forget, for Jesus’s sake. Amen.