Wow! Here it is Holy Week already. It must be my age but only yesterday was the Christmas Season. Soon it will be summer and Christmas right after that! Got to live in the moment. 

In this moment, I have an opportunity to reflect on my understanding of these enormous Holy Week events-the cornerstones of the Christian church. The gift of the New Law and the Body and Blood of Christ; the death of Christ on the Cross and the glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday, these mysteries can keep me occupied for long hours, but they remain mysteries. 

Often, I find that my emphasis is on Easter Sunday. This may happen because of the commercial importance placed on the holiday. However, Good Friday is the centerpiece-the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises to Isreal.  

But what about Maundy Thursday?  Here’s a new look at Maundy or Holy Thursday that I found in a blog written by Diana Butler Bass of The Cottage (printed on April 17, 2025). Rev. Bass contends that Maundy Thursday is the “First Feast of the Kingdom That Has Come. The first meal of the new age, the world of mutual service, reciprocity, equality, abundance, generosity, and unending thanksgiving.” Here we are no longer slaves or servants but friends of God; here we are in communion with God; here fear is gone because we are enclosed in God’s unconditionally loving arms! 

All these gifts were given to us before the sacrifice that Christ made in giving himself up for death on the Cross. The Cross creates drama and demands attention, but God set the new world into being with the actions of Holy Thursday. He gave us His Body and Blood! He gave us the New Law of Loving God above all and loving our neighbors as ourselves. These were new and radical laws, world-changing, you might say.  

The Sacrifice of the Cross cleans the slate and starts us on the new order. The order of loving our neighbors, of caring for our neighbors, of praying for our neighbors, no matter where in the world our neighbors live. 

Read a blog by Diana Butler Boss “The Last Supper is the First Feast” for another view of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. (https://open.substack.com/pub/dianabutlerbass/p/the-last-supper-is-the-first-feast)  

Remember God loves you unconditionally and demonstrates all the time!  

Terri