Humble Acts from Chad Herring on Vimeo.

A meditation preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church of Prairie Village, Kansas. March 28, 2013. 

I Corinthians 11:23-26
and John 13:1-17, 31b-25

* * *

Without fail, every Lent, around this time of year,

I’m asked the same question.

 Well, I guess I’m asked about the state of my March Madness Bracket first.

But, today, people ask me about this quirky word “Maundy”

“What the heck does Maundy Thursday mean anyway,

and why do we celebrate it.”

 Well…Maundy Thursday means Mandate Thursday,

from the Latin root for “commandment” – mandatum.

 Tonight on Maundy Thursday, on this Holy Night,

Christians gather in communities just like this,

all over the world,

to recall the MANDATE given by Jesus on that last night with his disciples.

 “I give you a NEW commandment,” Jesus says,

“that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.”[i]

 Its such a curious thing to me, that in John’s Last Supper scene

Jesus calls loving one another a NEW commandment.

Jesus and the Christians did not invent love;

Why would Jesus call it NEW? [Read more…]