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?