Lent Day 38 – Lenten Devotion – Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2025
Remaining Holy Week Worship Schedule:
“Loving Hearts!”
Take and Eat This Bread
O’Brien
Take and eat this bread
Take and drink this cup
This is my body and my blood
When you eat this bread
When you drink this cup
You live in me and I in you
Come all who thirst
For life eternal
Come to the table of salvation
“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.”
When was the last time an experience touched you at the core? When was the last time you wondered if you would ever be touched like that again? When was the last time you felt something touch you in a way you never thought possible?
When was the last time you touched someone else's heart? That person knew it and you knew it. The two of you shared a connection, and you were the one who made the first move. Touching another person's heart is as amazing as being the one who is touched at the core.
Maundy Thursday. What is this night all about? Where does the name for this night come from? "Maundy" comes from the Latin form for, "mandate." This night is about the "new mandate," the "new commandment," to love one another as we have been loved by The One who made the first move, to touch one another at the core as we have been touched by The One who graces us first, and keeps his passionate and loving heart on us!
On this night, Jesus touched his disciples by washing their feet, by taking bread and the cup, by serving them, by keeping his loving heart on them, and gracing them, one and all. Jesus longs for you, to touch you, again and again. He longs for you to touch one another at the core, to love one another as you have been loved, in the grace of Christ alone.
When was the last time you were touched at the core? Wondering if you will ever feel it again? Let tonight, let this weekend, be the next time! God is ready!
Let us pray: Lord today, tonight, I long to be touched, to have my needs tended to, to be overcome by you and others; and yet, to touch another and to love another is hard for me. Keep your loving heart on me, and grace me. Make the first move again; call me again to your Holy Table, to feel your touch. Call me through your new commandment, to trust I can touch the lives of others, for I have first been so loved and touched by your grace alone. By your Spirit, let tonight, let these holy days before me, be the next time you touch me like never before. In your name I pray, The One who touches me first. Amen.
