21st Century Liturgy Resources for Holy Thursday

Gathering Meditation
(Based on Exodus 12:1-14)

Marked!

The calendar contains special days we all look forward to, such as birthdays, Christmas, or vacations. When our special day approaches, we get excited. But excitement over a "special" day is nothing compared to the excitement of a new beginning. God told Moses and Aaron to start a new calendar. Mark time from this point forward. Tear up the old calendars, marred with memories of an ugly past. Mark a new day and a new experience with a sacrificial lamb. Mark the new era with blood-painted doorposts. Mark the day with barbeque rubbed in bitter herbs and flatbread. Eat hurriedly, anticipating that God will move at any moment. Mark this as a day to remember, when God restarted time for you. Mark the day just as God has marked you to live freely as a child of God

Love: A Call to Worship

(Based on Psalm 116:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
Suggested background music: "Love" by Kirk Franklin, CCLI #2339427)

Reader 1: Love
Reader 2: is patient.
Reader 1: Love
Reader 3: is kind.
Reader 1: Love
Reader 4: doesn't envy.

All: We claim this love.
Lord help us to love you
The way that you love us.

Reader 1: Love doesn't boast.
Reader 2: Love isn't arrogant.
Reader 3: Love isn't rude.
Reader 4: Love isn't irritable.

All: We claim this love.
Lord help us to love ourselves,
The way that you love us.

Reader 1: Love isn't resentful.
Reader 2: Love doesn't rejoice in wrongdoing.
Reader 3: Love rejoices in the truth.
Reader 4: Love bears all things.

All: We claim this love.
Lord help us to love others,
The way that you love us.

Reader 1: Love believes all things.
Reader 2: Love hopes all things.
Reader 3: Love endures all things.
Reader 4: Love never ends.

All: We claim this love.
We proclaim this love.
Beloved let us love one another, because God is love.

The Rev. Dr. Kwasi I. Kena is a former staff member of Discipleship Ministries. He serves on the faculty of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.