Maundy Thursday, April 2, at 7 p.m.

St. Andrews holds its Holy Week Maundy Thursday service 7 p.m. in the sanctuary.  Childcare will be available in the nursery in the Education Building.

Maundy Thursday is observed during Holy Week on the Thursday before Easter.  This special service commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples on the night before he was crucified. It’s a solemn service foreshadowing the betrayal of Jesus, and leads to the joy of Easter when we celebrate our resurrected Savior.

During the Passover meal, Jesus took bread and wine and asked his Father to bless it. He broke the bread into pieces, giving it to his disciples and said, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Then he took the cup of wine, shared it with his disciples and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you–an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.” These events recorded in Luke 22:19-20 describe the Last Supper and form the biblical basis for the practice of Communion. St. Andrews reflects the Passover and the solemn feeling of the night by conducting a Taize service and serving Communion.

Derived from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “commandment,” Maundy refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper: to love with humility by serving one another and to remember his sacrifice.