WEBVTT 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.920 Bless the Lord and forgive us all our sins. 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:04.239 God's mercy is yours. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:06.000 Amen. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:07.920 Let's pray together. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:15.359 Almighty God, to you all our spirit of all sins, and from you that seekers. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:27.680 The Lord be with you. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:30.960 Let us pray. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:40.159 Almighty Father, whose dear son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:55.840 Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life, and who now lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.000 You led in your faithful love the people whom you redeemed. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:45.599 You guided them by your strength to your holy abode. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:52.159 The peoples heard, they quaked, pangs like labor seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:57.919 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed, and the rulers of Moab trembling seized them. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:13.360 All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away, terror and dread fell upon them by the might of your arm, and they became still a stone, until your people, redeeming God, passed by, until the people until the people whom you acquired passed by. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:17.920 You brought them and planted them on the mountain of your own possession. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:25.759 The place sheltering God you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, most high God, that your hands have established. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:29.360 The everlasting God will reign for ever and ever. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:37.519 The horse of the Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers went into the sea, and the mighty God turned the waters of the sea back upon them. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:42.160 But the daughters and sons of Israel walked through the sea on dry ground. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:50.319 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a hand drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand drums and were dancing. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:05:01.360 And Miriam sang to them, Women and men, Sing to the indomitable God, who has triumphed triumphantly, horse and rider, God has thrown into the sea. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:21.839 Give thanks to the fount of life who is good. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.680 Give thanks to the God of gods. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:33.600 Give thanks to the majesty of majesties. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:38.879 Who alone does great wonders. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:44.560 Who through insight made the heavens? 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:47.360 For our faithful law is everlasting. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.560 To the one who spread out the land upon the waters. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:55.839 To the one who made great lights. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:00.720 The sun to govern the day. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:12.959 Who struck Egypt through their firstborn daughters and sons? 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.399 And brought Israel out from among them. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.560 With a strong hand and an outstretched arm. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.759 Who cut the Red Sea in two? 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.079 And made Israel pass over through the midst of it. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.560 But churned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.000 And walked her people through the wilderness. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:53.759 By faith, Moses, after he had grown up, refused to be called a son of Jara's daughter, rather choosing ill treatment with the people of God than enjoyment of the transitory pleasures of men. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:05.040 He considered abuse for the sake of the Messiah to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:15.360 By faith, he left Egypt, unafraid of the anger of the king, for he persisted as though he saw the unseen. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:30.000 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, in order that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn daughters and sons of Israel. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:32.799 The word of the Lord. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:52.559 He said, Go into the city to a certain person and say, The teacher says, My time is near. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.399 I will keep the Passover in your house with my disciples. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:02.159 So the disciples did, just as Jesus instructed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:11.200 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve, and while they ate, he said, Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:18.240 They became deeply grieved, and each one began to say to Jesus, Not me is it rabbi. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:24.000 He responded and said, The one who dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:27.600 Indeed, the Son of Woman goes away, as it is written of him. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:31.519 But woe to the person by whom the Son of Woman is betrayed. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.279 Would it have been better for that person not to have been born? 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:40.000 Judas, who betrayed him, responded and said, It wasn't me, was it, Rabbi? 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.279 Jesus replied, You said it. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:50.799 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and blessing it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying, Take, eat. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.639 This is my body. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:58.720 Then he took a cup, giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:04.000 For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:12.240 I tell you all, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you all in the realm of my Abba. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.919 And when they'd sung the ham, they went out to a Mount of Olives. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:26.320 Then Jesus said to them, You will all become scandalized to the point of desertion because of me this night, for it is written, for I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:29.759 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you all to Galilee. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:36.799 Peter said to him, Though all become scandalized and desert because of you, I will never desert you. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:43.360 Jesus said to him, Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:49.440 Peter said to Jesus, Should it be necessary I die with you, I will not deny you. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:59.440 Then likewise said all the disciples, Then Jesus came with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, You all sit here while I go pray there. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:04.240 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and distressed. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:09.440 And then he said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:12.240 You all stay here and stay awake with me. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:19.360 And going on a little, he fell on the ground and prayed, saying, My father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.960 Nevertheless, not what I want, but what you do. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:31.759 And then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, So you all were not strong enough to stay awake with me one hour. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:35.600 Stay awake and pray that you all may not come into the test. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.960 Indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:49.200 Again for the second time Jesus went away and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is not possible for this to pass, lest I drink it, let your will be done. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:53.120 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:57.519 So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying those words again. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:01.039 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep now and take your rest. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:06.240 See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Woman is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.320 Get up, let us go, look. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:10.639 My betrayer is at hand. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:21.200 While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:26.480 And the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, That when I kiss as he, take him. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:32.480 And once he came up to Jesus and said, Shalom, Rabbi, and kissed him. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:36.720 Jesus said to Judas, Friend, This is why you have come. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:40.080 Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:46.480 Suddenly someone with Jesus reached out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the slave or the high priest, cutting off his ear. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:53.360 Then Jesus said to him, Return your sword to its place, for all who choose the sword will perish by the sword. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:59.440 Do you think I am not able to ask my Abba, who will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:03.440 How then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must be thus? 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:10.879 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, Is it as for a bandit, you all have come out with swords and clubs to seize me? 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.559 Daily in the temple I sat teaching, and you did not arrest me. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:19.200 But all this has happened, so the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:23.759 And then all the disciples deserted him and fled. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:01.360 It's kind of hard to imagine a spot with the disciples where you don't know what's in store tomorrow. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:09.680 So it's sort of hard for us to really meaningfully re-enter the story when we know about Friday and Saturday and Sunday. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.400 But I think there is something to be said for trying to re-enter that story. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:24.880 Now, normally the lectionary, the revised common lectionary, would have us read the story that is the preparation for the Passover that happens in Egypt, right? 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:30.319 So we didn't get that this year because the women's lectionary thinks you already know the story. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.839 Quick reminder: the people were slaves in Egypt. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:35.519 Moses said, Let my people go. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:36.880 Pharaoh said no. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:38.640 A bunch of times. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:40.880 Things got bad, then they got worse. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:45.279 And this is the evening of the tenth plague, is where we normally would pick up. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.839 And this is the instructions for the Passover. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:52.319 That people, not priests, are supposed to take a lamb and kill it and eat it. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:58.559 This is the only time in the Jewish calendar when each family kills its own meat. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.839 Otherwise, that's what you go to the Levites for, who were the butchers. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:05.599 You kill your own meat. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:08.160 You do something even a Cajun wouldn't do. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:10.400 You roast it with the entrails inside. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:11.519 That's just kind of gross. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.880 Because you're in a anybody ever roasted meat with the entrails in it? 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:16.559 Yeah, heard say a no. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.319 It's just not really going to be tasty. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:23.519 The point is not that the Passover lamb is tasty or that you put jelly on it. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:29.039 The point of the Passover lamb is also has nothing to do with its blood, nothing at all. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:38.240 The point of the Passover lamb is to get some greasy calories because you are holly tailed out of Egypt in the middle of the night. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:46.400 Remember, these are people in the ancient world who ate meat a few times a year, not a few times a week. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:48.960 So this is that celebration. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:49.839 What about the blood? 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:51.440 It's just important to mention this. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:59.200 If you know anything about the Hebrew Bible and if you know anything about kosher food regulations, you cannot eat the blood of any animal. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:04.480 Because the Hebrew Bible tells you the life of the animal is in the blood. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:12.160 Well, we understand the life of the animal is also in the lungs and the brain and the pancreas, like you need all of those things. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:19.759 But blood is a symbol for life, and it's probably a good reminder that Judaism has never been a Western religion. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:23.519 It has always been an Eastern religion. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:33.119 The life is in the blood, is like saying the chi, the spirit essence is in the blood, which is why you can't have it. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.920 That belongs to God, not to you. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.960 This sounds really weird, but I used to have an exchange student. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.480 You probably heard about this. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:47.519 There's a swift black market business on eating rhino horns so you can gain virility through the animal's powers. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:48.880 Do you know about this? 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:52.400 I hope you don't know about it personally. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.000 It doesn't really work. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:57.920 It still happens today, which is why the rhinos are almost extinct. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.319 Like this is a thing that's been going on for a long time. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:06.400 By taking the power of the animal, which you consume, this is the way that you increase your own personal power. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:09.920 That's not a new idea that's been around for a long time. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:12.960 Hence the injunction, you don't get the blood. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:20.319 In fact, the difference between kosher meat and the meat you buy at HEV is that it's been soaked in salt three times. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:22.640 Also, it's been killed by a rabbi. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:27.359 Look, it's been soaked in salt three times so that there is no blood left in the meat. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:36.160 So we have this false understanding in the Christian church that the Passover lamb is a sacrifice for sin. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:38.400 That is not at all the case. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:43.200 The sacrifice for sin happens on Yom Kippur, not on Passover. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:54.079 Passover is about people who are in bondage, getting ready to go out into freedom, and what do you know they need strength for the journey? 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.079 We pick up now where that's already happened. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.759 I don't know if you noticed in the reading. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.119 The reading is they've already crossed the Sea of Reeds. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:11.279 So they left Egypt, Pharaoh sent the chariots, they're up against the sea, the sea is parted, the Hebrew people crossed, the sea's close. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.279 That's when the reading starts today. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:17.839 Not just in preparation, but for the salvation that is already coming. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.319 Then we pick up that Jesus is going to have his Passover meal. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.960 Has anybody been to a Seder, by the way? 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:29.200 Yeah, and that is a new custom, the Seder. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:33.359 Like, we don't have any evidence of that happening before the year 500. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:44.240 Although we do have this understanding, it's in the book of Exodus, that the Passover is like a regular Shabbat dinner with a few twists to it. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:44.720 Right? 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:50.160 So a lot of what we get in the Christian church comes, frankly, from our Jewish roots. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:54.880 Every Shabbat and every Passover, there are two candles on the table. 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:56.799 We always have two. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.759 The dinner. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.799 Always has like a sort of a celebratory lighting of the candles. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:12.640 There's always a celebratory blessing of a silver cup that everyone drinks out of. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.319 That's called the kiddish. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:16.319 The disciples do it. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:16.960 What do you know? 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:17.759 We do it too. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:21.680 There's also a ritual blessing of the bread. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:32.559 Passover, the only real difference in Passover is that there's a hymn at the end and that the bread is flat, not leavened. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:39.839 Not because yeast is bad, but because when you leave in the middle of the night, there's no time for the bread to rise. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:42.640 In the ancient world, they did not have fleischments. 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:48.319 They had sourdough and they used yeast from the air, leaven the bread. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:53.119 So it's not like they didn't put yeast in the bread in the Exodus story. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.720 It's that there was no time for it to rise, so it came out flat. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:06.079 So this is a tradition today that during the Passover week, you not only refrain from eating yeast, you clean all of it out of your home and throw it all away. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:20.559 So Jesus is at the table with his disciples doing the regular stuff, and then he puts in a couple of twists that we still remember to this day. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:27.680 The first twist, he says, is that this bread is my body. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:33.759 And the second is that he says, This wine is my blood. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:39.279 And of course, if you've been around, that could mean 19 million things. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:44.240 So I'm not going to deflate 19 million possible meanings for you. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:58.079 I'm not going to debate the finer points of transubstantiation and consubstantiation, but I do want to offer you symbolically that if Jesus is the Passover lamb, he is nourishment for the journey out of bondage. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:13.599 And then when we drink the wine that is his blood, I suppose that could be literally the case, although in the context of the story, that's about being possessed with the spirit of Jesus. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:15.440 His qi. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:18.799 Isn't that interesting to think about? 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.440 Consuming the chi of Jesus. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:28.480 Of course, it helps to know that wine in the Hebrew Bible is a symbol for joy. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:31.119 Do you know about kosher wine? 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:32.640 Does anybody know about kosher wine? 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:34.559 What makes kosher wine kosher? 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:43.119 If you know anything about kosher food law, right, it really has everything to do with meat and dairy. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:47.200 And everything else is called parve, which means you can just eat that, it's fine. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.359 There's no regulations about beer. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:52.319 There's no regulations about grain, alcohol, at all. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:25:00.000 The only concern about kosher wine is that in Judaism, kosher wine is used ceremonially, ritually. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:04.640 Every Shabbat, at weddings, and at high holy days, you drink wine. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:12.880 In fact, we just had Purim, in which you're supposed to drink so much wine, you can't tell the difference between the names Haman and Mordechai. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.920 That's like a lot of wine. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.000 Like really a lot of wine. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.880 Like you might want to have the EMT on speed dial, right? 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:30.960 And so the insistence that wine be kosher is because wine was used ceremonially in the ancient world by pagans and Jews alike. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:40.319 And so what they didn't want is to have sort of pagan ritual wine used in Jewish ceremony. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:49.200 It was very important that the land, and this is still true, kosher wine today, must be grown in the land of Israel. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:53.440 And it has to be sort of not touched by unclean hands. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:59.359 By the way, if you touch a bottle of kosher wine, you just unkoshered it, just so you know, right? 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:08.880 So there's this interesting about keeping it sort of sanctified so that it can be this symbol of joy. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:10.480 And so it is an interesting thing. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:26.400 We know where the evening's going, but Jesus offers that his blood, that his wine, is actually not a nourishment for sorrow, or so we can feel bad about ourselves, or we can say, God, woe is me. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:30.799 Jesus invites us to enter into his joy. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:38.799 If we miss the joy of Maundy Thursday, we've missed the invitation to the table. 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:49.440 It may also help to hear that in the ancient world, people pretty much just ate bread and wine. 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:56.480 Like two pounds of bread a day, that was 90% of your nutritional intake. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:06.240 Maybe you got a couple of fruits, maybe you got a little bit of fish, and maybe you got some three buck chucks level of wine, like it wasn't particularly very good. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:11.359 So it could be that Jesus is setting up a thing that we do once a year or once a week. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:39.039 It's more likely Jesus is saying, When you eat and drink together, do it with an awareness of my teaching and our time together, so that you can be nourished by our time together, by my teaching, so you can enter into my joy, so that your spirit can be light, so that your spirit can be nourished by me. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:57.039 There's a Jesuit priest named Greg Boyle who says God is really not afraid we will take this as something unimportant. 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:02.880 God is perhaps afraid we will forget how ordinary it is. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:15.519 The communion is made at basic nutrition with others, with the spirit of joy. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:28.720 And that this nourishment is not meant to be self-contained, it's supposed to send us out, out of our own bondage, so that we can help be agents of deliverance for others. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:33.839 And there's this really, really interesting twist on the meal. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:39.839 Jesus seems acutely aware that one of his better friends is going to intimately betray him. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.480 And please notice that that person still is completely included in the meal. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:50.400 The gospel, according to Mike, says, Judas, it was it's you. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:51.359 Get out. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:57.599 I'll see you on death row, but I'm enjoying my last meal for myself. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:00.799 I don't know what your gospel reads. 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.160 I'm suspicious it's really similar. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:11.359 Would you choose to share your last meal with somebody who is going to betray all of your trust? 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:13.200 I doubt it. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:18.160 And this is what Jesus chooses to do. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:24.079 So when he says it'd be better if you weren't born, does that mean that God loves Judas less? 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:25.039 It can't mean that. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:26.880 He wouldn't have been included at the meal. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:30.720 Perhaps Jesus knows that Judas won't be able to live with himself. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:33.200 And that is how the story plays out. 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:40.480 The disciples have been nourished by Jesus' own hand. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.240 They have the Passover energy. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:48.240 And do you notice that they're still in bondage when it's time to pray? 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:51.759 I find this very hopeful. 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:59.759 But if the people who knew Jesus best can get it wrong three times in a row, there's hope for us. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:09.519 And in some ways, they become a foil for the Eucharist. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:15.039 They've been nourished to come out of bondage. 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:21.039 Remember, the Hebrew people leave in the middle of the night. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:23.759 It's the middle of the night. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.079 And these Hebrew people fall asleep. 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:39.759 This is a reminder to us that the holy energy that God gives us is to get us up and out. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:44.480 Not to desert our friends in their deepest need. 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:47.839 You know, how could you minister to Jesus at this time? 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:50.559 Do you notice that he doesn't ask them to say anything? 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:53.440 He doesn't ask them to be an armchair psychologist. 00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:54.960 He doesn't ask them to pump it up. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:59.839 He just says, could you just stay awake with me? 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:03.039 And maybe this is a really good reminder. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:05.519 We don't have to solve our friends' problems. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.680 We don't have to solve our political problems. 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:10.480 It'd be nice if we'd stay awake and pray. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:16.880 You don't have to know the right answer when somebody's grieving or upset. 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:20.000 Really, if you just show up, that might do it. 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:25.039 If you just show up and you stay awake for an hour. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:30.960 I am usually afraid to share somebody's pain for five minutes. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:35.680 Especially if they won't listen to my advice on how to turn it off. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:43.039 This is a great reminder that this holy energy pushes us not to solve, but to be present with. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:56.559 And then there's something that is, because we've heard this story all too often, to be betrayed by a kiss. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:00.319 Of course, we know in the Middle East, I have relatives from Spain. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.400 When they greet each other, they give two kisses, one on each cheek. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:07.359 Sometimes even on the mouth, not to me, I'm not in the family. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:09.279 I give the cheeks, which is great. 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:11.519 I actually could do without any of those. 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:21.680 This is a cultural thing of closeness, and this is precisely within intimacy the way all of this goes down poorly. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:26.720 Jesus has indeed been intimate with Judas at the Last Supper. 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:34.960 He has knelt and washed Judas' feet in this intimacy that comes back, but this time in betrayal. 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:39.359 And that's why in about 30 minutes it's going to get really dark. 00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:42.000 This is part of the story. 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:47.039 You notice that Peter says, We'll never leave you. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:50.079 And Peter's going to prove it. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:52.720 He doesn't get named in this story, he gets named in Luke. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:54.640 Peter's the one with the sword. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:33:04.079 And when Jesus says, put that away, put your sword away, that's when Peter leaves. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:14.799 Peter would have fought to the death, but he wasn't going to just be with Jesus at a time of sorrow or despair. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.599 That's an interesting model, isn't it? 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:30.880 Once again, I would much rather solve your problems with the sword or with my stunning wit. 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:40.079 Peter deserts Jesus because he can't sit with pain. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:43.200 He's not allowed to take on for himself. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:44.960 It's just interesting to think about. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:47.279 This is our story. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:52.960 And we call this the Eucharist. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:54.160 Does anybody know what that means? 00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:55.440 It's a Greek word. 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:01.359 We still say it today. 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:08.239 If somebody gives you something in Greece, you say Eucharisto, which means thank you. 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:10.960 Eucharist means Thanksgiving. 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:12.800 That's all it means, thanksgiving. 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:22.079 And of course, on a night like tonight, perhaps we come and we say, hey Jesus, thanks for showing us the way. 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:27.440 Showing us the way to serve others by kneeling and washing the feet of your friends who didn't really need it. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:28.320 Thanks for that. 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:32.960 Thanks for sharing your last meal with somebody who's going to betray you. 00:34:33.039 --> 00:34:35.599 That just seems like really lovely for the human spirit. 00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:40.639 Hey, thanks for offering nourishment from your own table for us week after week. 00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:57.039 And while perhaps that's important, I'm suspicious the reason we use that word and the reason we come back year after year and week after week is because, quite frankly, it is not your Thanksgiving that much matters. 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:12.000 We call this the Eucharist because this meal, the foot washing, the communion, the invitation to people who are going to fail three times in a row. 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:15.039 You notice he doesn't seem to get all that upset about it. 00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:38.960 It's cognitively dissonant to think that God is thankful for Jesus as much as God is thankful for Judas. 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:51.840 Which is why we will do this again next year. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:56.559 It will still be cognitively dissonant next year. 00:35:56.960 --> 00:36:01.760 It will probably still cognitively be dissonant in 30 years. 00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:04.639 Which is why we will do it again. 00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:11.599 So that we can not just hear the story, but start to imagine who am I in the story? 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:14.239 Who is Judas in my life? 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:16.719 What weapons do I fight with? 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:20.320 What do I do with the nourishment that I ask God to give? 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:32.960 Will I stay awake or am I so uncomfortable and I can't fix someone who God doesn't need me to fix, that I'd rather desert or sleep? 00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:44.320 And in all of those moments, if we find ourselves going away from joy, it's because we're not drinking the qi of Jesus. 00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:48.159 The qi of Jesus is grounded in thanksgiving. 00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:52.159 God is thankful for you. 00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:54.960 God is thankful for you. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:04.639 I know that because I know most of you and I am thankful for you. 00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:12.000 And if I can be thankful for you, then God certainly is. 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:25.199 Tonight will not fill you with enough thankfulness for people you have prejudice against for the rest of the year. 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:27.280 This one meal won't do it. 00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:39.119 Sunday morning will not be enough to give you energy you need to live in liberation and love for people who irk you. 00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:59.280 Which is why Jesus says, whenever you eat bread like three times a day, whenever you drink wine, which what do you know would have been three times a day, whenever you eat food for your body, invite nourishment for your spirit. 00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:05.199 Because it takes a lot of energy to love somebody who seems hard to love. 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:08.719 I guess unless you're God. 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:13.440 Which is why we ask God to give us that energy. 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.360 Maybe it is a sacrifice. 00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:24.559 We're invited to sacrifice being right so that we can be in communion. 00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:37.360 Maybe it's a sacrifice because we're asked to give up having it how we want when we want, so that we can be with one another. 00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:47.280 Maybe it's a sacrifice because there's times I'd rather be asleep than watching and praying. 00:38:54.400 --> 00:39:02.559 I think our thanksgiving matters because that determines whether or not we're living in joy or not. 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:10.000 But it is God's thanksgiving for us that makes all of this possible. 00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:22.000 So as we celebrate this holy meal, and then we celebrate intimacy gone awry, and celebrates the right word, we do celebrate it. 00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:23.920 It's a dark celebration. 00:39:24.719 --> 00:39:28.400 It's one you've all known just as Jesus has known it himself. 00:39:39.519 --> 00:39:44.000 So we can go and do it out there when it's not always safe. 00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:58.000 And when it matters the most to be grounded in joy and thankfulness, and in communion, especially when it's hard. 00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:10.559 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of an IC3. 00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:18.400 We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty. 00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:10.800 Lord God, you are both host and servant at this meal and in our lives. 00:42:11.360 --> 00:42:18.159 Teach us, we pray, to follow your example of love, hospitality, and service. 00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:20.960 In your mercy, Lord. 00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:26.719 We pray for your church, broken in many ways. 00:42:27.039 --> 00:42:34.960 We wait on your guidance and nourishment for our lives, for encouragement and strength for your mission. 00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:37.519 In your mercy, Lord. 00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:48.800 We pray for our leaders responsible for shaping our common lives, that they may lead us in ways of justice and peace. 00:42:49.519 --> 00:42:51.519 In your mercy, Lord. 00:42:53.519 --> 00:43:07.760 We pray for those who struggle to find food and shelter tonight, who hunger for peace, who ache for warmth and friendship, heal broken hearts and spirits. 00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:11.519 Envelop the sick with your healing embrace. 00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:18.480 We pray for those who know the pain of betrayal and for those who face death today. 00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:27.199 In your mercy, Lord, we leave this place singing hymns of love. 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:32.239 Embed them in our lives that we may teach others to sing. 00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:37.039 We follow you into the garden, into the unknown. 00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:43.519 Teach us to trust the lessons of this night in your mercy, Lord. 00:43:45.519 --> 00:43:49.119 Let us humbly confess our sin unto Almighty God. 00:43:50.719 --> 00:43:59.760 Holy God, creator of all that is, donor of grace, giver of life, give our heaven, every cast. 00:44:06.320 --> 00:44:17.039 We confess that we have allowed those to us to grow, for fewer in our hearts of separation, for fewer in when we reach out. 00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:25.199 You call us to reconcile life, to heal relationships, to a holdness with each other and with you. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:34.400 And thus we pray and make us new creations the department love of Christ, in whose name we pray. 00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:35.360 Amen. 00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:37.039 Friends, hear this good news. 00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:41.199 The love of God is beyond measure, and you are included in that love. 00:44:41.760 --> 00:44:46.800 Know that you are forgiven, and thus free to love and serve. 00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:48.000 Amen. 00:44:49.119 --> 00:44:51.679 The peace of the Lord be always with you. 00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:37.679 So just prepare your own. 00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:41.760 The choir is going to keep their lights, but the rest of us are mostly going to lose. 00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:45.199 And we do leave at the very end, we leave in silence. 00:45:45.280 --> 00:45:50.719 So there's a moment when all the festivity is stripped away and we leave in silence. 00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:59.039 And uh the Holy Week schedules out, but we'll have an opportunity to gather for Good Friday tomorrow at 12 and at 6. 00:45:59.440 --> 00:46:09.519 On Saturday morning for Holy Saturday at 8.30 for a 20-minute morning prayer, and then of course on Easter morning at 6.30 for the vigil. 00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:18.800 Uh we come in the dark and it becomes light during the service, and then uh the principal service is at 8.30 and at 10.30. 00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:21.679 Walk in love. 00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:28.000 As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God. 00:49:17.280 --> 00:49:20.559 This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ. 00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:25.360 It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more. 00:49:26.159 --> 00:49:29.599 So come, you who have much faith and you who have little. 00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:35.440 You who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before. 00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:39.599 You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come. 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:43.119 Not because the church invites you, it is Christ. 00:49:43.360 --> 00:49:45.599 And he invites you to meet him here. 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:53.280 Our service continues on page 361 of your red prayer book, page 361. 00:50:02.079 --> 00:50:04.960 The Lord be with you. 00:50:34.719 --> 00:50:40.639 It is right, a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you. 00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:46.079 Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:51.760 For our sins he was lifted high up on the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself. 00:50:52.159 --> 00:50:58.639 By his suffering and death, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who put their trust in him. 00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:09.679 Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name. 00:52:06.159 --> 00:52:21.599 And when we've fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you and your mercy send Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all. 00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:29.840 He stretched out his arms upon the cross and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. 00:52:30.079 --> 00:52:34.800 On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread. 00:52:34.960 --> 00:52:40.800 And when he given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, Take eat. 00:52:41.280 --> 00:52:43.760 This is my body which is given for you. 00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:46.159 Do this for the remembrance of me. 00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:56.320 After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you. 00:52:56.559 --> 00:53:01.920 This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin. 00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:06.320 Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me. 00:53:09.119 --> 00:53:12.239 Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith. 00:53:12.719 --> 00:53:17.679 Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. 00:53:17.920 --> 00:53:23.519 We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. 00:53:23.760 --> 00:53:28.880 Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer to you these gifts. 00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:38.239