Maundy Thursday 2023

Maundy Thursday 2023 April 6, 2023 “Miranda works the late night counter A little joint called Betty's Diner Chrome and checkered tablecloths One steamy windowpane She got the job that shaky fall And after hours she'll write till dawn With a nod and smile she serves them all” It’s the opening lines of one of my all time favorite songs titled Betty’s Diner by Carrie Newcomer, and the song looks through Miranda’s kindly and strangely-knowing eyes to tell us about the regulars who frequent Betty’s diner in the late-night hours. She gently names some of their past sins or hardships and tenderly paints a picture of this gathering of souls in need of communion, which she emphasizes over and over again with the chorus: Here we are all in one place The wants and wounds of the human race Despair and hope sit face to face When you come in from the cold Let her fill your cup with something kind Eggs and toast like bread and wine She's heard it all so she don't mind I’ve loved this song for years, and I think it’s because it reminds me of the best of what the church has to offer. At our very best, we are the gathering of the friends and followers of Jesus, each bearing the burdens and joys of our own humanity, who come together to find the comfort and the challenge that Jesus offers us in the awareness that this way is too hard, too burdensome to walk alone. And this night, as we begin this journey through the next three days, we remember especially Jesus’s invitation as he kneels before his friends and disciples. The invitation is to walk this path with our hearts wide open and undefended—open and undefended before God, and even open and undefended for each other. It’s why we wash each other’s feet, sharing this strange and startling intimacy with each other; it’s to remind ourselves that this awkward openness is how Jesus invites us to move through this life and how even with all its risk, it enriches and fills our lives with more meaning than we could ever ask for or imagine. It’s why we’ll pray our prayers and kneel side by side at the altar rail tonight, holding our own wants and wounds in our open hands to be received by Jesus and replaced, our hands filled with the gift of his very self, the gift of God who gently names our past sins and hardships, God who tenderly names our wants and our wounds, God who embodies hope in the face of our despair, God who grants forgiveness, who continues to sit with us, and who invites us to live and walk and dwell within his love and service, which is so much larger than our very small selves. Here we are all in one place The wants and wounds of the human race Despair and hope sit face to face When you come in from the cold Let her fill your cup with something kind Eggs and toast like bread and wine She's heard it all so she don't mind