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  • Maundy Thursday thoughts...

    I posted this on social media then decided it might work here too!

    Thursday of Holy Week aka Maundy Thursday aka Holy Thursday

    Today a cathedral full of perfectly scrubbed up, repsectable pensioners will be handed soft purses of shiny coins by an earnest, elderly monarch. It's an odd tradition that has emerged and changed from its inception when the then king handed out sums of real value to grubby peasants - the nosegay being the last surviving reminder of the stench that must once have filled the air.

    In other cathedrals, Roman and Anglican priests will be handed out silver boxes, blessed by the bishop and containing the holy chrism - oil for anointing those who are sick or dying or undertaking special service.

    It's come a long way from a few blokes meeting in a borrowed room and their recongised leader stripping off his clothes, wrapping a towel round his waist and washing the day's dust from their feet - something the host would usually get a servant to do. Somewhere all the pomp and circumstance, ritual and repetition has obscured the message.

    Tonight we will share a simple communion service using a new Iona liturgy "Deniers, Doubters, Betrayers All" and I hope that somewhere in the midst of all of that we will hear afresh and understand a little better the mandatum, the mandate, the command "as I have done for you, so you must do for others"

    I wonder who I can serve today?
    And I wonder who I will betray, who I will deny and what I will doubt?

  • Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy or Holy Thursday)

    I learned something new yesterday - that the Wednesday of Holy Week is called, in some traditions 'Spy Wednesday' and focusses on Judas' betrayal of Jesus.  Last night's service used a poem I'd not come across before, and which I found thoughtful, though maybe others did not.  Authorship is debated, so I cannot properly credit it:

    Judas, if true love never ceases
    how could you, my friend, have come to this:
    To sell me for thirty silver pieces
    and betray me with a kiss?
    Judas, remember what I taught you,
    do not despair while hanging on the rope.
    It's because you sinned that I have sought you;
    I came to give you hope.
    Judas, let us pray and hang together,
    you on your halter, I upon my hill.
    Dear friend, even if you loved me never,
    you know I love you still.

     

    Whilst searching 'google' for the above, I also found this one by Ruth Etchells:

     


    In Hell there grew a Judas Tree
    Where Judas hanged and died
    Because he could not bear to see
    His master crucified
    Our Lord descended into Hell
    And found his Judas there
    For ever haning on the tree
    Grown from his own despair
    So Jesus cut his Judas down
    And took him in his arms
    "It was for this I came" he said
    "And not to do you harm
    My Father gave me twelve good men
    And all of them I kept
    Though one betrayed and one denied
    Some fled and others slept
    In three days' time I must return
    To make the others glad
    But first I had to come to Hell
    And share the death you had
    My tree will grow in place of yours
    Its roots lie here as well
    There is no final victory
    Without this soul from Hell"
    So when we all condemned him
    As of every traitor worst
    Remember that of all his men
    Our Lord forgave him first

    D. Ruth Etchells

    It's no secret that I have a soft spot for Judas, a 'there but for the grace of God...' sense about it all.  i think in these poems I find hints of allies in this 'heresy'!