We welcome you to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and to this
service, the first of the “Great Three Days” (in Latin, Triduum
sacrum), which refers to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy
Saturday, “the Great Three Days” before the Easter Vigil.

The name ‘Maundy Thursday’ comes from the Latin word
mandatum, and refers to the new commandment in John 13:34, “I
give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I
have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”

Jesus knows his hour has come and he demonstrates this ‘love for
one another’ by washing the feet of his disciples. We are to follow
the servanthood love of Jesus as we care for each other with deep
humility. Following the homily, you are invited to come forward for
the Foot Washing. This action may make us feel uncertain, as did
Peter and the disciples, but we are reminded by this story that we
too are to embrace a servanthood nature of ministry as we serve our
neighbors in the name of and the love of Christ.

Following the Eucharist, the liturgy continues with the stripping of
the High Altar and a procession to the Altar of Repose where the
Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood will remain until we will
share it on Good Friday. The liturgy concludes abruptly after the
stripping of the altar, and we may feel thrown off by this, ill at ease,
troubled in our souls as we continue to stay present to the story as it
unfolds. If we remain open to the darkness and confusion and
sorrow, we may find ourselves greatly changed and more able to
embrace the gift of what lies ahead.

You are invited to pray by the Altar of Repose in silent prayer, even
if just briefly, to offer your own soul’s response to Jesus’ question to
his disciples, “Could you not keep watch with me an hour?”

Faithfully, Deacon Dina