Maundy Thursday

"Maundy" is Old English taken from French taken from Latin"Mandatum novum". In Latin it is the first word in the phrase " A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34

I suppose I could preach a great sermon about love here, but let me encourage you to do your own sermon. Go to http://www.crosswalk.com/ or http://www.biblegateway.com/ or another Bible study site and do a search for "love". Narrow your search down to John or John's epistles or you'll have too long of a list. Then read those verses that show up in the search and then the Holy Spirit will tell you what you need to hear.

Maundy Thursday is a time to remember Christ's servant love as he washed the disciples' feet, the Last Supper, Judas' betrayal and the arrest and trials. Tune in tomorrow to read about Good Friday.

You can find all kinds of information about Maundy Thursday on Wikipedia if you would like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday

Holy Week

Sometimes I think we miss out on some nice spiritual things as Baptists. It's not in our tradition to observe "Holy Week", but it can be a very good time of spiritual growth and/or renewal. ("Now, he tells me. The week is half over.)

The point (at least one point) of Holy Week is to prepare yourself - prepare your heart - for a wonderful celebration on Resurrection Sunday (Easter). Many Christians give up something for the week (like dessert or TV or something they really enjoy) to remind themselves of all that Christ gave up on our behalf.

Probably more important than giving something up is focusing on our Lord Jesus, turning from sins that have crept back into our lives, reading scripture and praying and basically getting back to living like we should as followers, as the redeemed, as a royal priesthood 1 Peter 2:9 NAS .

"Wow! That's asking a lot", you might say. That's why you have a whole week to work on it!

Now you're late getting started since I didn't get around to telling you about it until Wednesday, so get busy!

I like to read the last few chapters of each gospel - starting with the Triumpahl Entry (Palm Sunday) reading about the last supper John 13 (this is good for Thursday - check in tomorrow for info on Maundy Thursday), Christ's death (Good Friday), and of course the resurrection (Sunday). I'll post more on each of these. I know you can hardly wait!

Another great passage of scripture for this week is Isaiah 53:1-12