MAUNDY Thursday

Holy week continues and now gets to the serious, familiar, celebrated portions of the week.
What do you call the Thursday of Holy Week?
My Catholic friends refer to it as "Holy Thursday."  For all of my growing up years and adulthood, I learned and in turn responded by referring to the Thursday of Holy Week as "Maundy Thursday." As one tends to do, I just always called it that and honestly had no idea why or what the word "maundy" meant.

Maundy is the shortened version of the Latin word maundatum and means commandment. I prefer the term being commissioned.
My first clergy appointment was at Bakerstown UMC where a major part of my ministry was to lead the youth program.  Every summer, the Senior High Youth would go on a week long mission trip to West Virginina.  This was serious Appalachian, back country WVA --- it was the kind of place where the roads were marked "Old Country Road 37" and if one listened extra close one heard banjo music (I always thought we should've made the youth watch 'DELIVERANCE" prior to the trip). The mission trips were always incredible opportunities and every year two very important things happened: active ministry and building community.
The Sunday before leaving for the Mission Trip the group was always commissioned duirng the morning worship service.  The team stood in the front of the sanctuary.  Prayers were offered and the Mission Team made promises to be in service as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus. It was an inhale moment of this is serious stuff we are about to do.

The commissioning of Maundy Thursday is "to love one another as Christ has loved you." Gulp.
To remind congregants of this promise, I would wash the feet of others. I've heard some clergy instead have persons wash the hands of one another (imagine that in these days and times) yet I always found that a total "wuss move;" to capture the intention, the humbling of one's self as a servant, get down on your knees and wash some feet!

So, I would be in the back of the sanctuary with a basin, several pitchers of water and several towels. Those desiring to have their feet washed would remove their shoes and socks and sit on the chair while I knelt and poured water over and rubbed and washed their feet and looked into their eyes and affirmed them.

For me this was one of my most impactful ministry moments. I recall washing the feet of a mom and the feet of her infant daughter.  I remember the foot washing of a woman whose feet were gnarled and turned inward by her having had a stroke.  As I was washing her feet and gentlly massaging them, she reached down, placed my face in her hands, lifted up my head so she was looking into my eyes and said, "Well done, good and faithfull servant."
Ministry provides so many WOW moments. NOTE: We each are called to ministry....some of us somehow managed to have several groups of persons say we could have the title of Reverend.... yet, for each of us is the commission to go and do likewise.  No needed time like the present, my friends.