Maundy Thursday (at home, with kids)

I'm breaking with the normal format of this blog today. Because this is a different kind of Holy Week. But it is still Holy Week, and today is still Maundy Thursday. So we're doing our best to observe these sacred days, and to help others to do so. To that end, I created (borrowing generously from the creativity of others) a Maundy Thursday "home liturgy" for our parishioners. After I put it together, I felt pretty good about it--pastorally appropriate, creative but still theologically sound, etc.

Then came yesterday, another day at home with the kids (we have five, ages 3 to 13)--and I wasn't feeling it. Because I know how these things go in my house. Even the most simplified family prayer time is rarely smooth. Even grace before meals, somehow, inexplicably, often results in fighting and tears (don't ask me how). So yesterday, I (me, the priest) was wondering if we would do anything at all today as a family. Because that's how I was feeling.

So it was good for me to remember and return to these words I read last week from Allison Sandlin Liles at the Grow Christians blog.

Typically I find this sort of creativity inspirational, but it instead reminded of how overwhelmed and underprepared I am for this holy time.

So before I continue, I want to say, that no matter how you observe Holy Week this year, the stone will roll away and Jesus will rise. It’s okay if you don’t cut greenery from your yard on Sunday and wave it around in your living room while watching a live streamed donkey walk down a cobblestone road in Jerusalem. It’s okay if you don’t wash your toddler’s feet on Maundy Thursday or keep watch by a home altar later that night. It’s okay if you can’t find a quiet ten minutes to pray the solemn collects on Good Friday because your house is anything but quiet right now. It’s okay.

No matter how we engage Holy Week, Easter will come.

Amen. Easter will come. And the resurrection of our Lord does not depend upon our ability to celebrate as we see most fit, nor does it depend upon the solemnity with which we keep these final days leading up to Easter. As beautiful and powerful as Holy Week is, with its proper liturgies fully observed, they should be kept in perspective--especially this year. Indeed, the first Easter was hardly observed or celebrated by anyone--and still he rose.

So, at this point, Maundy Thursday in our house will look like this: a meal, a prayer (brief), a children's story Bible account of John 13, and foot washing. Hopefully. Maybe. But regardless of how it goes (or not), our Lord will be present here. As he will be present with you, as he is present in every heart and home that seeks to welcome him, however so humbly or imperfectly.

I pray you blessing in the remainder of this Holy Week.

From the Children of God: Storybook Bible, a personal favorite