Maundy Thursday is the day when we remember the Last Supper, when Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples before being betrayed and arrested.During the meal, Jesus took and blessed bread and wine and shared them with his disciples, calling the bread and wine his body and blood.
He urged the disciples to do the same after his death in memory of him, and indeed Christians have done so ever since at Holy Communion – also known as the Eucharist, The Lord’s Supper or Mass.
Maundy Thursday takes its name from the Latin word ‘mandatum’ meaning commandment. During the supper Jesus told his disciples: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (John 13 v 34 –NRSV).
He also got up from the table and poured a basin of water and washed the disciples' feet. This was the act of a servant. He also told them to do the same for others. We recreate this act at a special service on Maundy Thursday as a reminder of how Jesus served others and of how Christians should also serve others. We follow this by a period of quiet watchfulness whilst the church is stripped bare of all its furnishings. For those who wish to, we follow this by a period of quiet at our Altar of Repose, representing the Garden of Gethsemane, where the disciples kept watch whilst Jesus prayed, knowing what his fate was to be.