We have a weekly practice at Luther Seminary called Lunch Church. Every Thursday we gather in the Dining Room at 11:00am to share good food, good conversation, scripture, and prayer. It is simple, and I love it.
It is ironic that on this Thursday we are not gathering for Lunch Church. It is Spring Break. I’m on vacation. Students are scattered to the wind. Most people are about to launch into the most intense four days of the Church calendar: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.
I say it is ironic because we do Lunch Church to recognize that people gathering around a meal is one of the best physical symbols of the church that we can have. It is a family meal. Our Creator/Parent provides the food, the table, the shelter, the community of belonging that we all need. We sit around the table in equality, sharing our core need of hunger, while we discuss the intersection of scripture and daily life and hold each other up in prayer.
We won’t meet today, but people all around the world will celebrate a meal that Jesus shared with his disciples in an upper room. The Gospel of John records that scene in a unique way in John 13-17. In that version of the story Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, tells them that he is preparing a place for them in his Father’s house, that they will not be alone because the Holy Spirit will be with them, and commands them to love one another.
Below are the pages from A Cartoonist’s Guide to John that visually tell the story. Click to enlarge. Blessed Maundy Thursday everyone.
This page is Luke’s version of the story found in Luke 22:1-71.
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