Central Presbyterian Church

Please select a Mobi Menu from the Menu Locations tab in order to make your header display as intended.

Central Presbyterian Church
  • Home
  • Welcome
    • Vision Statement
    • Transitional Pastor
    • Accessibility
  • Worship
    • Worship Space
    • Music & Instruments
    • Faith & Sacraments
  • Work and Witness
    • Pantry & Clothes Closet
    • Garden
    • Environmental Justice
    • LGBTQ Inclusion & Advocacy
    • Mission Partners
    • Outreach and Grant Request
  • Ways to Give
  • About Us
    • Our Staff
    • Contact us
    • Newsletters

Fear, Faith & Love – Day 23

cpc
April 9, 2020
Lent
Maundy Thursday

While we shelter in place, many church meetings are happening via the live tele-video application called “Zoom.” A meeting participant’s computer screen might look like this, with the faces of everyone in attendance displayed from wherever they are, in small frames along the top, and whoever is speaking, front and center. This Zoom version of the Last Supper illustrates the difficulty in trying to celebrate Maundy Thursday worship ‘virtually’. The gospel stories of the Last Supper combine to present a highly tactile, sensual event. The participants were not separated from one another. In fact, they were so close they would have felt the warmth of each other’s bodies as they sat together around one table. The smell of herbs, wine, fresh bread would have pervaded that upper room. Eating and drinking, tasting a shared meal, they probably jostled each other at the dish, perhaps spilling on themselves or the floor. Their voices, familiar to one another, would have filled the air, talking over each other, reminiscing about their adventures with Jesus, while Jesus looked around at each beloved face, knowing what they all seemed slow to understand—that his time with them would soon be over.Already close, the way Jesus purposefully chose to enact his love for his disciples that night drew them physically, even closer: the sensation of water as he washed their feet, one by one; the intimate touch of his hands on their flesh; the rub of the towel on their callouses. Then the tearing of bread and the instruction to eat, paired with the image he offered of his own body, broken. The wine poured into a cup from which he told them all to drink, even as the taste of it must have soured in their mouths at the thought of his blood spilling out. Surely, he had their attention for in no case, in the Jewish world, was blood to be eaten.

Earlier, Jesus had said to them, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6.53) The disciples responded, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” (John 6.60). ‘Difficult’ is understatement. ‘Shocking’ may come closer to what the disciples felt. There is shock value in Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper. He is about to give up his life, and he wants that to be remembered. His body will be broken and his blood will be shed, and he wants that to be remembered.

In worship we usually celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion as a sign of peace, unity, love. It’s ‘breaking bread’ together. Participation in this meal is a joy, a blessing, a sign of abundant life into which we all are invited. But we miss something important if we don’t also understand it as a risk. Later, as the disciples came to understand themselves, collectively, as the body of Christ in the world, they knew that they were at risk, bodily, in the same way that Jesus was. Anyone who eats the bread and drinks the cup, who seeks to follow the way of Jesus, assumes a risk. It is indeed a difficult teaching; one that is completely real, and not really virtual.

~ Heidi Peterson
Previous Story
Fear, Faith & Love – Day 22
Next Story
May 2020 Newsletter

Recent News

  • Lent 2023 Friday, 17, Feb
  • January/February 2023 Thursday, 5, Jan
  • November/December 2022 Wednesday, 14, Dec
  • September 2022 Thursday, 8, Sep

Contact Us

Want to get in touch with us?

We'd love to hear from you.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • September 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
Copyright © 2023 Central Presbyterian Church. All Rights Reserved
SearchPostsLogin
Friday, 17, Feb
Lent 2023
Thursday, 5, Jan
January/February 2023
Wednesday, 14, Dec
November/December 2022
Thursday, 8, Sep
September 2022
Thursday, 8, Sep
June 2022
Friday, 29, Apr
May 2022

Welcome back,

Central Presbyterian Church
  • Home
  • Welcome
    • Vision Statement
    • Transitional Pastor
    • Accessibility
  • Worship
    • Worship Space
    • Music & Instruments
    • Faith & Sacraments
  • Work and Witness
    • Pantry & Clothes Closet
    • Garden
    • Environmental Justice
    • LGBTQ Inclusion & Advocacy
    • Mission Partners
    • Outreach and Grant Request
  • Ways to Give
  • About Us
    • Our Staff
    • Contact us
    • Newsletters
Exclamation Triangle Check code