April 2, 2026 Maundy Thursday
MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE
Prelude: “Herzliebster Jesu” Mary McDonald
OPENING
In the past God spoke through the prophets at
many times and in various ways,
but in the last days he has spoken to us by his
Son, whom he appointed heir of all things,
and through whom he made the universe.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-
— the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Praise the Lord!
*Hymn No. 634 “To God Be The Glory”
1 To God be the glory;
great things he has done!
So loved he the world
that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life
an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate
that all may go in.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord;
let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord;
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father
through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory:
great things he has done!
2 Great things he has taught us;
great things he has done,
and great our rejoicing
through Jesus the Son;
but purer and higher
and greater will be
our wonder, our transport,
when Jesus we see.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord;
let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord;
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father
through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory:
great things he has done!
SERVICE OF THE WORD
First Reading: Exodus 12:1-14, 29-42
2 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn with fire.
11 This is how you shall eat it: 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. 12 I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord, as you said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And ask a blessing for me, too!”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites had acted according to the word of Moses; they had asked the Egyptians for jewelry of silver and gold and for clothing, 36 and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And so they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides little ones. 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds. 39 They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 That was for the Lord a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That same night is a vigil to be kept for the Lord by all the Israelites throughout their generations.
*Hymn No. 52
“When Israel Fled from Egypt Land”
1 When Israel was in Egypt’s land,
let my people go;
oppressed so hard they could not stand,
let my people go!
Refrain:
Go down, Moses,
way down in Egypt’s land;
tell old Pharaoh:
let my people go!
2 “Thus saith the Lord,” bold Moses said,
“Let my people go!
If not, I’ll smite your firstborn dead.
Let my people go!”
Refrain:
Go down, Moses,
way down in Egypt’s land;
tell old Pharaoh:
let my people go!
3 “No more shall they in bondage toil:
let my people go!
Let them come out with Egypt’s spoil:
let my people go!”
Refrain:
Go down, Moses,
way down in Egypt’s land;
tell old Pharaoh:
let my people go!
4 O let us all from bondage flee;
let my people go!
And let us all in Christ be free:
let my people go!
Refrain:
Go down, Moses,
way down in Egypt’s land;
tell old Pharaoh:
let my people go!
Second Reading: Exodus 19:1-6, 24:3-8
19 On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”
3 Moses went and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.5 He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”8 Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “Here is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
*Hymn No. 202
“An Upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare”
1 An upper room did our Lord prepare
for those he loved until the end:
and his disciples still gather there
to celebrate their risen friend.
2 A lasting gift Jesus gave his own:
to share his bread, his loving cup.
Whatever burdens may bow us down,
he by his cross shall lift us up.
3 And after supper he washed their feet,
for service, too, is sacrament.
In Christ our joy shall be made complete:
sent out to serve, as he was sent.
4 No end there is! We depart in peace.
He loves beyond our uttermost:
in every room in our Father’s house
Christ will be there, as Lord and Host.
Third Reading: John 13:1-17;
13 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already decided[a] that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet,[b] but is entirely clean. And you[c] are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.16 Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers[d] greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Hymn No. 220 “Go to Dark Gethsemane”
1 Go to dark Gethsemane,
all who feel the tempter’s power;
your Redeemer’s conflict see;
watch with him one bitter hour;
turn not from his griefs away;
learn from Jesus Christ to pray.
2 Follow to the judgment hall;
view the Lord of life arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall!
O the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
learn from him to bear the cross.
3 Calvary’s mournful mountain climb;
there, adoring at his feet,
mark that miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete;
“It is finished!” hear him cry;
learn from Jesus Christ to die.
4 Early hasten to the tomb
where they laid his breathless clay:
all is solitude and gloom.
Who has taken him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes.
Savior, teach us so to rise.
Fourth Reading: Mark 15:22-32;
22 Then they brought Jesus[a] to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two rebels, one on his right and one on his left.[b] 29 Those who passed by derided[c] him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Messiah,[d] the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
Prayer
Holy God,
We are caught in the tension of
light and shadow, death and resurrection.
You spoke the world into being,
you illuminated the universe by your very speech,
then filled the void with life.
Indeed, you have filled the void
of darkness and death,
the empty promises of the abyss,
with new life and new creation.
We look to you in the space between the world and the Kingdom,
longing for the fulfillment of your word
in the work of the Holy Spirit
and the reign of Christ, our Creator and King.
Amen
Meditation “Loved, so that we might Love”
When we hear the words: Hospice Care, our minds typically focus upon the end of someone’s life. This form of medical care is focused upon comfort of the patient. Hospice is medical care for people who are expected to live six months or less. It is provided primarily where a person lives — at home or in a nursing home or community living arrangement — so the patient can be near family, friends, pets, and valued possessions. We have had many members that received hospice care in their final months, weeks and days. It was helpful as the Oehler Family dealt with my father’s Alzheimer’s. We didn’t know when his final day would be on earth, but the comfort that he received from the Hospice community made me and my family loved as we dealt with the unknown of death.
This day, though, is not about my father. His death was a good death because he was surrounded by his family. This day is about Jesus. I told you that personal story because it helped me get in touch with what was happening for Jesus and the disciples on that day. Jesus had become very clear that he was about to die. “His hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.” And then John’s Gospel continues, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
He loved them to the end; he knew he would die. And he took advantage of the moment to pass on to them something he wanted them to remember beyond the suffering, beyond the loss, beyond the bewilderment. What he was about to do he did out of love beyond measure. I want us to remember what he did on that day and why he did it, what he said and why he said it, and that those actions and those words came out of a deep, deep love for those disciples but also for each one of you and for me.
So, he stood and got up from the table, and he took off his outer robe and then tied a towel around himself.
I would love to have seen the looks on the disciples’ faces at this point. No rabbi, no teacher, no master, no person in any kind of leadership role would ever do this, because taking off an outer robe and putting a towel around one’s self were the actions of a servant. Jesus was turning the disciples’ world upside down, topsy-turvy. After taking off the robe and wrapping himself with the towel, Jesus got ready to wash their feet. Their dirty, dirt-covered, scabby, rough, and ungroomed feet. Again, no rabbi would do this for his disciples. No master would do this for his servants. This was a class-bound society. The disciples could not fathom what was going on.
The message in that act was love one another. We know it. We’ve heard it. But there’s more. Love one another as I have loved you. In other words, take off our outer robes of pretense of position or whatever we think is owed to us or however too busy we think we are or whatever we believe makes us better than someone else. Instead wrap ourselves up with the towel of humility and service, compassion and connection, so that we can serve one another. It’s a topsy-turvy thing to do. And it’s hard, because we are all so surrounded with messages that tell us to clamor after more and protect ourselves, to win rather than to risk losing, to stay on top, to believe that nothing can be done. Even if we don’t act any of this out overtly, we’ve got those messages speaking to us all the time in our hearts. That’s the Judas piece of us.
Love one another as I have loved you. Throughout all of the suffering to come, I hope we’ll remember the action—that Jesus stooped to wash their feet—land his words—love one another as I have loved you—and the reason for all of it: that he loved them and us so much that he needed to leave us with the core of his life’s work and purpose.
Peter is so uncomfortable with all of it. Jesus’ actions mess with who Peter thinks Jesus should be, but Peter is also narcissistic like the rest of us. It is difficult for him to accept Jesus’ love and care and concern. None of us likes feeling vulnerable. It puts us in a one-down position. But all of our discomfort and self-consciousness is just another form of narcissism, as if it’s all about us. “Oh no,” Peter says to Jesus, “don’t wash my feet. I don’t need you to serve me.”
Jesus says, “If you don’t let me love you, serve you, help you, you will have no share with me.” I wonder how we keep Jesus at arm’s length. I wonder how we keep one another at arm’s length, too.
This moment today with Jesus and his disciples is filled with emotion: impending doom, an anxiety about the future, a knowledge that something big is going to happen, that the world will be turned upside down, and a sense that we won’t know what to do or won’t do enough. What Jesus wanted his disciples to hold onto after all of the trauma and suffering was past was how much he loved them, how very much he loved them, so much that he became their servant and kneeled before them. So much that he wanted them to be able to do the same for one another. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Amen.
*Hymn No. 653, 1, 3 & 6
“Give Thanks to God Who Hears Our Cries”
1 Give thanks to God who hears our cries
and saves in troubled days
with wondrous works to humankind
that call for highest praise.
Let all who know God’s saving love
sing grateful songs always.
3 If you have ever lived inside
the prison of your gloom
and cried to God, who broke your bonds
and raised you from your tomb,
then praise the One who sets you free,
who makes dry places bloom.
6 So praise the One whose love is great,
whose kindness is well-known.
Consider well the healing hand
and help you have been shown,
and tell the world what God has done.
Praise God and God alone!
THE LORD’S SUPPER
Invitation
Like us, the disciples were ordinary people living in an extraordinary time. As they gathered in that Upper Room, they knew something was about to happen, sensed that their lives would were changing in ways they only guess at. Some were anxious, some were angry, some were at peace. And Jesus fed them all- the ones who would fall asleep, the ones who would run away, even the one who would betray him; because his love bridged every barrier. So, it is for us; there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. As we gather in this moment, as the church has always done – we are united in this holy meal with all who have ever shared it in Christ’s name.
The Thanksgiving
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right for us to give thanks.
It is our joy and our peace at all times and in all places to give thanks to you,
Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God, through Christ our Lord.
It is indeed right and good to glorify you, at all times and in all places, and to offer you our thanksgiving, O Lord. Through your living Word you created all things and pronounced them good. You made human beings in your own image, to share your life and reflect your glory. In the fullness of time you gave Christ to us as the way, the truth, and the life. In the upper room Christ gave us this supper, that we should celebrate the memorial of the cross and resurrection, by which he became the source of salvation for all who put their trust in him. Therefore with the whole company of saints in heaven and on earth, with all creation in all time, we sing a hymn to your glory:
Response No. 564 “Holy, Holy, Holy”
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power, God of might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest,
hosanna in the highest.
The Institution
We give thanks to God the Father that our Savior, Jesus Christ, before he suffered, gave us this memorial of his sacrifice, until his coming again. For the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
The Memorial
We shall do as our Lord commands. We proclaim that our Lord Jesus was sent hy the Father into the world, that he took upon himself our flesh and blood, and bore the wrath of God against our sin. We confess that he was condemned to die that we might be pardoned, and suffered death that we might live. We proclaim that he is risen to make us right with God, and that he shall come again in glory to his new creation. We do this now, and until he comes’ again.
Prayer of Consecration
O Father, send down your Spirit upon us, your people, and upon this bread and wine, that to us they may be Christ’s body and blood, and that in partaking we may be one single body and one single spirit in Christ, a living sacrifice to the praise of your glory.
Preparation of the Elements
The bread which we break
is a sharing in the body of Christ.
We who are many are one body,
for we all share the same loaf.
The cup for which we give thanks
is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
The cup which we drink
is our participation in the blood of Christ.
Hymn No. 518 “Your Only Son”
1 Your only Son, no sin to hide,
but you have sent him from your side
to walk upon this guilty sod,
and to become the Lamb of God.
Refrain:
O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,
I love the holy Lamb of God!
O wash me in his precious blood,
my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
2 Your gift of love, we crucified;
we laughed and scorned him as he died;
the humble King we named a fraud
and sacrificed the Lamb of God.
Refrain:
O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,
I love the holy Lamb of God!
O wash me in his precious blood,
my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
3 I was so lost, I should have died,
but you have brought me to your side
to be led by your staff and rod,
and to be called a lamb of God.
Refrain:
O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,
I love the holy Lamb of God!
O wash me in his precious blood,
my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
Invitation and Dedication
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast.
Hosanna in the highest!
The gifts of God for the people of God.
The Communion
Take, eat, remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was given for a complete remission of all our sins.
Take, drink, remember and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed for a complete remission of all our sins.
Conclusion
Our Lord suffered, died, and was buried.
But on the third day he arose again.
Behold, O God, your family: your son Jesus did not hesitate for its sake to give himself into the hands of wicked people and to suffer agony on the cross—your Son who now lives and reigns with you, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
*Hymn No. 213 “In the Cross of Christ I Glory”
1 In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.
2 When the woes of life o’er-take me,
hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
never shall the cross forsake me;
lo, it glows with peace and joy.
3 When the sun of bliss is beaming
light and love upon my way,
from the cross the radiance streaming
adds more luster to the day.
4 Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
by the cross are sanctified;
peace is there that knows no measure,
joys that through all time abide.
5 In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.
Benediction
So may the blessing of the God who calls the people out of Egypt
call us out from our comfort and our safety
to embrace a journey of challenge and risk
May the blessing of the Son who kneels and washes our feet
call us out from our comfort and our safety
to embrace and serve those we meet on the journey
May the blessing of the Spirit who weaves dreams of a new community
call us out from our comfort and our safety
to provide welcome and hospitality to strangers as well as friends.