What is Maundy Thursday??

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed."
1 Peter 2:24

Lee and I went to our first Maundy Thursday service years ago while living in KY and neither of us knew what it was. Now for me this is one of the most moving services of the year and a service where it is totally fitting to exit in silence. For the most part folks dont know what it is or what it's about so I thought I'd take a moment and describe it, as according to my friend, Wikipedia an online encyclopedia.

Maundy:
Foot washing or washing of feet is a religious rite observed as an ordinance by several Christian denominations. The name, and even the spelling, of this practice is not consistently established, being variously known as foot washing, washing the saints' feet, paedalavium, and mandatum.
For some denominations, foot-washing was an example, a pattern. Many groups throughout church history and many modern denominations have practiced literal foot washing as a church ordinance. John 13:1-17 mentions Jesus performing this act. Specifically, in Verses 13:14-17 he instructs them,
14) "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15) For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16) Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17) If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (Italics mine; these are words of our Lord and Savior)

Maundy Thursday:
Or also known as Holy Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday. The date is always between March 19 and April 22 inclusive. These dates in the Julian calendar, on which Eastern churches in general base their calculations of the date of Easter, correspond throughout the twenty-first century to April 1 and May 5 in the more commonly used Gregorian calendar.

Wikipedia goes on to give a British account of Maundy Money and a very wide scope of the Maundy meaning. If you care to check it out log onto www.wikipedia.org and type Maundy into the search field.
Where as we wont do the foot washing part this year(though we have in the past)
we will host a Maundy Thursday Service on Thursday, April 1st at 7:00pm. It is a time spent in the Scripture, reliving Jesus last days, it is a time of sadness as the Christ Candle is extinguished symbolizing the death of our Lord. Come join us, in remembrance of Him. Praise be to God that this wasnt the end of the story!!