Last Supper

Tonight I was able to participate in my first Maundy Thursday service, including a Passover Seder.  I can’t really describe what it meant to sit and listen and participate and understand what that last meal would have looked like for Jesus and His disciples.  To have in mind my spiritual deliverance from slavery to sin while remembering Israel’s physical deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  To eat the lamb while thinking of Jesus as the spotless lamb, sacrificed for our protection from death.  To eat the unleavened bread, the symbol of Jesus’ body… have you ever noticed that matzah is pierced with holes?  And to drink the wine, not once, but four times.  Three sips as part of the traditional Passover meal; the fourth, added by Jesus as a symbol of His blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

During the course of the evening, I played the piano as we sang various hymns.  Of course, this meant I was playing while the bread and wine of communion (the Eucharist) were being passed around the table.  I wasn’t able to participate, but that actually set up one of the most memorable moments of my time in England so far.  After the final hymn, we recited Psalm 116, and Ian dismissed everyone.  As I started gathering my things, one of the boys from the church (the youngest participant at the service this evening) came over with the bread and wine.  “The body of Christ”, he said.  I took some bread and ate it.  Then he handed me the wine: “The blood of Christ.”  I drank.  I was almost in tears; his willingness to serve me communion touched the depths of my heart in a way I can’t articulate.  I will never forget that moment.