Urban Abbot

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Holy Mess

Maundy Thursday Meditation

God of the table and the towel, You bid us come… “Come to the table,” You whisper.

“Come to the age old feast that fills us with new dreams,” You sing.

“Come be filled with the fruit of the vine and the grain of the ground,” You proclaim.

But is is so hard to come to the table.

The table is messy.

At the table we see Christ sitting between the betrayer and the beloved.

At the table plates are passed from hands that will deny

to hands that will doubt and we struggle

because we know that deep within we are all of the above.

We struggle at the table as sinner longing to be saint,

as broken and breaking longing to be whole.

We struggle at the table because we know the rock will crumble

and the only ones left at the cross are the ones thought weak.

We struggle at the table because as Jesus lifts the bread he honors this HOLY MESS

and challenges us to do the same.

And as Christ lifts the towel to wash road weary feet,

You, forgiving God, dare us to do the same.

In the name of the One that Is, Was and always Will BE.

Amen.

As you read finish, consider reading John 13: 1-7, 31b-35 and/or Matthew 26:26-46.