The following is the text of an invitation to a dinner some friends and I are going to put on to celebrate Maundy Thursday. If you read this and are at all interested in spending an evening in a new liturgy with us, drop me a line. Just go to my profile and use it to send me an email.
Sometimes knowing the ending from the beginning changes the way we see the story.
I remember when the 6th Sense came out. For those that still have not yet seen it all these years later I won't spoil it for you, but it has a twist ending. It's one of those details that once known, changes how you see the entire narrative. Well, a friend of mine called me one day to express their frustration that another one of their friends had spoiled it for them by telling them the twist, which they off handedly told me. I had not yet seen the movie and therefore I too knew the end from the beginning. I could never see the story with fresh eyes, as it was intended.
The story of the "Gospel" is all too familiar to many of us. Those of us that have been raised in a religious tradition, or have chosen to participate in one for any significant length of time, know the story of Jesus. We know it beginning to end. That is to say, we know the end from the beginning.
I think that has blinded us to many parts of the story. The disciples, those that walked and talked with Jesus, had no such luxury. They experienced walking in the Way of Jesus day to day, never really knowing what the future held for them. They saw each turn of the journey for what it was. They were not blinded by an assumed meaning of the story that they could substitute for the whole, and not worry about the turns and twists of everyday life with Jesus. They got to experience the immediacy of the Way.
We propose an experiment. Please come be with us as we celebrate an important step in the journey of following Jesus. Come participate in the creation of a new liturgy.
We invite you to come have dinner with us to celebrate Maundy Thursday. The day Jesus washed his disciples feet. The day they celebrated the Passover meal together and they looked forward to Jesus inaugurating the Kingdom of God. The disciples brought their expectations and dreams to this dinner.
We've all had hopes and dreams for our lives. Sometimes we've even thought we've had the future figured out. We knew what God had in store for us, and how God was going to bring it to fruition. But sometimes, it doesn't quite go as we expected.
Come eat with us. Bring all your hopes and dreams with you, especially your misplaced, mistaken, and broken ones. Come forget the end that you have imagined, and be with us in this step of our journey together. Come as we call for the in breaking of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom that eludes our expectations and dreams, and will exceed our imaginings of it.
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