MAUNDY THURSDAY - APRIL 6, 2023 - Bethel Lutheran Church
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MAUNDY THURSDAY APRIL 6, 2023
April 6, 2023 Schubert’s Deutsche Messe with hymns from 7:00 p.m.
Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Tonight our Lenten observance comes to an end, and we gather with Christians around the world to celebrate the Three Days of
Jesus’ death and resurrection (Paschal Triduum). At the heart of the Maundy Thursday liturgy is Jesus’ commandment to love
one another. As Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, we are called to follow his example as we humbly care for one another,
especially the poor and the unloved. At the Lord’s table we remember Jesus’ giving of his life, even as we are called to offer
ourselves in love for the life of the world.
GATHERING
The Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God
PREPARATORY SERVICE OF RECONCILIATION
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Friends in Christ, in this Lenten season we have heard our Lord’s call to struggle against sin, death
and the devil— all that keeps us from loving God and each other. This is the struggle to which we
were called at baptism.
Within the community of the church, God never wearies of forgiving sin and giving the peace of
reconciliation. On this night let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor, and enter the
celebration of the great Three Days reconciled with God and with one another.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed,
by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, renew us, and lead us,
so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
God who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with
Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name of + Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty
God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through
faith. Amen.
Tonight’s absolution completes the confession of sin from Ash Wednesday and Lent is now ended.THE PEACE
The presiding minister continues:
Friends, let us also love one another, for love is from God. The peace of Christ be always with you.
And also with you.
All are invited to share God’s peace as a sign of our reconciliation with one another.
__________________________________________________________________________
+ The Three Days + The Paschal Triduum +
+ Maundy Thursday +
___________________________________________________________________________
The Three Days (Paschal Triduum) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil now begin.
MEDITATION Prelude on RHOSYMEDRE (‘Lovely’)
(“My Song is Love Unknown”)
Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
My song is love unknown, He came from his blest throne
My Savior’s love to me, salvation to bestow;
Love to the loveless shown, but men made strange, and none
That they might lovely be. the longed-for Christ would know.
Oh, who am I But O, my Friend,
That for my sake my Friend indeed,
My Lord should take who at my need
Frail flesh and die? his life did spend!
Samuel Crossman (1623-1683)
At the conclusion of the meditation, the assembly is invited to rise for the Opening Hymn.
OPENING HYMN Lord, Who the Night You Were Betrayed ELW # 463
SONG 1
APOSTOLIC GREETING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new commandment, to
love one another as he loves us. Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to
serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The assembly is seated at the conclusion of the Prayer of the Day.WORD
God speaks to us in Scripture reading, preaching, and song
FIRST READING The institution of Passover Exodus 12:1-14
Israel remembered its deliverance from slavery in Egypt by celebrating the festival of Passover. This festival featured the Passover
lamb, whose blood was used as a sign to protect God’s people from the threat of death. The early church described the Lord’s
Supper using imagery from the Passover, especially in portraying Jesus as the lamb who delivers God’s people from sin and death.
A reading from the Book of Exodus.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the
beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of
Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each
household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining
one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from
the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled
congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on
the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same
night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any
of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall
let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your
hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings
and animals; on all the deities of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be
a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague
shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.
You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a
perpetual ordinance.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.PSALMODY sung in alternation with the choir Psalm 116:1, 12-19
I love the Lord, because the Lord has heard the voice of my / supplication
and inclined an ear to me whenever / I cried out.
How shall I re- / pay the Lord
for all the good things God has / done for me?
I will lift up the cup / of salvation
and call upon the name / of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows / to the Lord
in the presence of / all God’s servants.
Precious in the sight / of the Lord
is the death / of God’s servants.
O Lord, I / am your servant;
I am your servant and the child of your creation;
you have freed me / from my bonds.
I will offer you the sacrifice / of thanksgiving
and will call upon the name / of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows / to the Lord
in the presence of / all God’s people,
in the courts of / the Lord’s house,
in the midst of you, / O Jerusalem.
SECOND READING The institution of the Lord’s Supper 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
In the bread and cup of the Lord’s Supper, we experience intimate fellowship with Christ and with one another, because it
involves his body given for us and the new covenant in his blood. Faithful participation in this meal is a living proclamation of
Christ’s death until he comes in the future.
A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Church at Corinth.
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night
when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This
is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also,
after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he
comes.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.When the choir stands, the assembly also stands for the Gradual and Gospel.
GRADUAL Christus factus est
Music of Felice Anerio (1560-1614)
[Sung in Latin]
This famous text, which we heard in the Palm Sunday epistle and gradual, is the
veritable “motto” of Holy Week. Historically, it was the appointed gradual for Maundy
Thursday, and was also sung during the progressive observance of Tenebrae, the
Church’s night prayer, which traditionally unfolds over the vigils of Holy Thursday,
Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. The words are from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians
(2:8-9).
Christus factus est pro nobis Christ was made for us
obediens usque ad mortem, obedient unto death,
mortem autem crucis. even death on a cross.
Propter quod et Deus Therefore God also
exaltavit illum has highly exalted him
et dedit illi nomen, and given him the name
quod est super omne nomen. that is above every name.GOSPEL The foot washing and the new commandment John 13:1-17, 31b-35
The story of the last supper in John’s gospel recalls a remarkable event not mentioned elsewhere: Jesus performs the duty of a
slave, washing the feet of his disciples and urging them to do the same for one another.
The Holy Gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from
this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him
And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that
he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and
tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to
him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am
doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus
answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my
feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need
to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For Jesus
knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to
them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right, for
that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very
truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one
who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. “Now the Son-of-Man has
been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also
glorify him in God’s own self and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little
longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Judeans so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going,
you cannot come.’ “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you
have love for one another.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
SERMON Pastor Merle BrockhoffIn the Hymn of the Day we proclaim the word of God in song.
The assembly is invited to stand at the final phrase of the introduction.
HYMN OF THE DAY It Happened on That Fateful Night
BOURBON
1. All 2. High voices 3. All 4. Low voices 5. All
High voices = soprano/alto Low voices = tenor/bass
FOOTWASHING
Members of the assembly are invited to come forward for Footwashing.MEDITATION Mandatum novum do vobis
ancient chant
[sung in Latin]
Mandatum novum do vobis A new commandment I give you:
ut diligatis invicem to love one another
sicut dilexi vos, dicit Dominus. as I have loved you, says the Lord.
The Lord Jesus
ancient chant
The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with his disciples and
had washed their feet, said to them, “Do you know what I,
your Lord and Master, have done to you? I have given you
an example, that you should do as I have done.”
I will listen to what the Lord God is saying,
For God is speaking peace to all faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to God.
Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. [Psalm 85:8, 10]
Motet: Ubi caritas et amor
Setting by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
[Sung in Latin]
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Where charity and love are, there is God.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. We are gathered into one in the love of Christ.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur Let us exult, and rejoice in him.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum In holy fear let us love the living God,
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero. And love one another with sincerity of heart.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of
creation.
The prayers of intercession today take the form of “bids”: the leader asks for all to pray; the assembly prays in silence.
This form echoes the bidding prayers on Good Friday. There are no responses until the final “Amen.”
The presiding minister concludes the prayers:
We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew
your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.MEAL
God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ
INVITATION TO THE OFFERING
The presiding minister invites the assembly to the offering:
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be glad, and love the living God.
And may we love one another with a sincere heart.
OFFERING
HYMN AT THE OFFERING Love Consecrates the Humblest Act
TWENTY-FOURTH
1. Choir alone. 2 and 3. All
OFFERING PRAYER
God of glory,
receive these gifts and the offerings of our lives.
As Jesus was lifted up from the earth, draw us to your heart in the midst of this world,
that all creation may be brought from bondage to freedom,
from darkness to light, and from death to life;
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.THE GREAT THANKSGIVING You are welcome at God’s table. If you believe that here Christ is truly present in, with and under the elements of bread and wine, and you have partaken in a home congregation or perceive the welcome of Christ to this table, you are welcome to receive. Children of God who do not commune are invited to come forward for the blessing. The wine is clear; the grape juice is a darker color.
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy…we praise your name and join their unending hymn: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY (SANCTUS) from German Mass Franz Schubert
THANKSGIVING AT THE TABLE Blessed are you, O God of the universe. Your mercy is everlasting and your faithfulness endures from age to age. In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me. O God of resurrection and new life: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. With your holy ones of all times and places, with the earth and all its creatures, with sun and moon and stars, we praise you, O God, blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever.
LORD’S PRAYER from German Mass Franz Schubert
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
The presiding minister invites all to communion.
Where charity and love abide, there is God. Rejoice in this Holy Communion.
All are welcome at this table.
LAMB OF GOD (AGNUS DEI) from German Mass Franz Schubert
COMMUNION HYMN O Bread of Life from Heaven ELW # 480
O WELT, ICH MUSS DICH LASSEN
[May be sung in harmony.]
This magnificent chorale harmonization is taken from Bach’s monumental
Saint Matthew Passion of 1729.POSTCOMMUNION ANTHEM Ave verum corpus
Music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
[Sung in Latin]
Ave verum corpus, Hail, true Body
natum de Maria virgine, born of the Virgin Mary,
Vere passum, immolatum who truly suffered, sacrificed
In cruce pro homine, upon the cross for mankind,
cujus latus perforatum from whose piercèd side
unda fluxit et sanguine. flowed blood [and water].
Esto nobis praegustatum Be to us a foretaste of bliss now
in mortis examine. and in the hour of our death.
The assembly stands for the Table Blessing.
TABLE BLESSING
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace. Amen.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Lord Jesus, in a wonderful sacrament you strengthen us with the saving power of your suffering,
death and resurrection. May this sacrament of your body and blood so work in us that the fruits of
your redemption will show forth in the way we live, for you live and reign with the Father and the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The assembly remains standing for the Eucharistic hymn.HYMN Of the Glorious Body Telling
PANGE LINGUA GLORIOSI
1. All 2. High voices 3. Low voices 4. High voices 5. Low voices 6. All, Standing
This Eucharistic meditation by Thomas Aquinas aptly expresses the significance of Maundy Thursday. It is universally
revered, and like Stille Nacht on Christmas Eve, it is sung this night throughout the Christian world.STRIPPING OF THE ALTAR
The assembly sits.
As the altar is stripped, the choir chants Psalm 22.
Our service concludes in silent meditation.
* * *
Music for this service: This evening we hear an ancient chant for this day which begins, Mandatum
novum do vobis. “I give to you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” From
mandatum, “commandment,” came the English sobriquet, Maundy Thursday, the day of our Lord’s
“new commandment.” As our Gospel suggest, this day is as much an expression of Christ’s mandatum
of love, as it is an observance of the Last Supper. In fact, these two themes are aspects of the same
mystery: the Holy Eucharist, the mystical expression of Christ’s sacrifice for us on Calvary, is itself
the ultimate expression of His love for us. We, in turn, are called to share this gift of love, in
communion with all of our sisters and brothers, in lives of active Christian compassion and service.
Consequently, our music reflects the significance of this “new commandment.”
Music during the washing of the feet: The rite of the foot-washing, with its implications for
Christian love and service, is often simply referred to as the mandatum. Appropriately, Christ-like love
is the theme of the accompanying choral music and hymn.
The rite is accompanied by a setting by French composer Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986), of an ancient
antiphonal chant for Maundy Thursday, Ubi caritas et amor: “where charity and love are, there is
God”—underscoring the meaning of this blessed evening. [The hymn at the offering (ELW #359)
renders the same powerful text in the vernacular.] Duruflé’s setting incorporates the melody and
antiphonal feature of the ancient chant, repeating phrases with subtle changes in harmony. His
compositional idiom fuses the grace and austerity of the chant melody with an imaginative use of
impressionistic harmony. The result is a richly personal spiritual expression that speaks both to the
heart and to the soul.
Acknowledgments: Sanctus, Lord’s Prayer, and Agnus Dei from German Mass by Franz Schubert, edited by
Richard Proulx. Copyright © 1985, 1989, GIA Publications, Inc. Chicago. Used by permission Of the Glorious Body
Telling, text by Thomas Aquinas. Reprinted from the LBW. Reprinted with permission. Onelicense.net #A-704944.
Artwork: “The Last Supper,” from the series of woodcuts, The Great Passion [1510] by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528).Have Something for the Bethel Connection, Bulletin, Website, Narthex Information Board, or Facebook?
Email it to submissions@bethelstl.org by 9 a.m. Monday morning.
TODAY’S WORSHIP LEADERS
Celebrant & Preacher The Rev. Merle Brockhoff
Assisting Minister & Steward Jody Kluender
First Lector and Communion Assistant Sue Flesch
Second Lector Pastor Roy Ledbetter
Altar Guild Gail Hafer
Musicians Bethel Chancel Choir
Dr. Stephen Mager, music director
Audio-Visual Engineers Eric Webster
Brittany Upchurch
7001 Forsyth Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63105
Office Hours Mon-Fri 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (314) 863-3112
The Rev. Merle Brockhoff, Interim Pastor
Stephen Mager, DM, Organist and Music Director
The Rev. Tina Reyes (she/her/ella), Campus Pastor, LuMin St. Louis
Deb Grupe, Director of Child, Youth, and Family Ministry
Eric Townsley, Custodian, custodian@bethelstl.org
Anna Burkemper, Church Administrator, office@bethelstl.org
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation (a welcoming ministry to persons of all sexual orientations,
gender identities, and gender expressions)
and A Green Congregation (for being stewards of the earth)
In Covenant with Lutheran Campus Ministry (LuMin), lcmstl.org
Have a prayer request? Email it to prayers@bethelstl.org anytime.
Note that the information you send to this address will get shared with a number of people who will be praying for
you as well as the Sunday Holy Communion bulletin.You can also read
