Maundy Thursday – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. John 13:1-15
In Christ Jesus, who produces the fruit of humble service through us by serving us through His powerful Word and Sacraments, dear fellow redeemed:
“Greatness” is often defined as being better than everyone else at something. Athletes are said to achieve greatness when they break long-standing records or win the world championship. Professional singers achieve greatness when they reach the top of the music charts or get inducted into the hall of fame. Business people achieve greatness when they hit a record-breaking level of sales or become CEO.
Jesus defines greatness in a very different way. He says, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mar. 10:43-44). In today’s reading from the Gospel of St. John, Jesus taught this greatness first with actions and then with words.
Jesus had arranged to eat the Passover meal with His disciples in Jerusalem. They did not know how quickly His death would come, but He did. John tells us that He knew that His death was near, and that He would soon return to His heavenly Father. In these last hours before His death, Jesus did something that surprised His disciples. He set aside His outer garments, tied a towel around His waist, and proceeded to wash their dirty feet.
When He got to Peter, Peter would not have it. Without knowing why Jesus was doing this or being willing to learn why, he blurted out, “You shall never wash my feet.” It was like Peter’s statement some weeks before this when Jesus predicted His suffering, death, and resurrection. “Far be it from you, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you” (Mat. 16:22). Peter was so sure of himself, so certain that he saw and understood things clearly.
Peter was proud. Who was he to tell Jesus, the Son of God, what He should and should not be doing? And yet, we fall into the same sin when we criticize God for not fixing the problems in society, or when we question why He doesn’t give us more in this life or make things better for us. We act like we are in charge, like Peter did. First, Peter wanted to tell Jesus what to do: “Do not wash my feet.” Then when Jesus warned him about rejecting His service, Peter wanted to tell Jesus how to serve him: “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
Jesus had to teach Peter to receive humbly the gifts He was giving. He knew what Peter needed, just as He knows what we need. When Peter asked for a whole body washing, Jesus replied, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.” Then He added, “And you are clean, but not every one of you.” The one who was not clean was Judas Iscariot who was about to betray Jesus for money. Judas had fallen from faith. He was no longer under God’s grace.
But the other disciples, despite their pride and their confusion about Jesus’ work, were clean in God’s sight. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah sent by the Father for the world’s salvation. You are clean like they were because you also believe that Jesus is your Savior. You believe that He gave His body to be crucified in your place and shed His blood to wash away your sins.
This cleansing was applied to you in Holy Baptism when you became a member of the holy body of Christ. Baptism brought you the forgiveness of sins, but that doesn’t mean your sinning stopped at your Baptism. This is why you need continuous cleansing through Jesus’ Word and Sacraments. Jesus demonstrated this by washing the disciples’ feet. He was showing them and us that we need His ongoing, sanctifying work in order to remain clean.
This is why He instituted the Sacrament of the Altar on this holy day. He took the unleavened bread from the Passover meal and said, “This is My body.” Then He took the cup of wine and said, “This is My blood.” He also told them what it was for: “for the remission of sins” (Mat. 26:28). We continue to partake of His body and blood because we continue to sin. Jesus humbly meets us in this Supper with His grace, stooping down to remove the dirt of sin that has become stuck inside us.
But it is possible to reject this work that Jesus comes to do among us. Like Peter, we could misunderstand what Jesus is doing and act like Holy Communion is a service we render to God instead of a gift He gives to us. Or like Judas, we could watch Jesus stooping down to serve us but despise Him in our hearts. Isn’t it shocking: Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him, and He still knelt before him to wash his feet. In the same way, Jesus gives His body and blood to all who partake of the Supper, but it only benefits those who believe His words.
Those who receive His body and blood without faith, take the Supper to their spiritual harm. 1 Corinthians 11:27 says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.” This is why we insist on meeting with visitors who attend our services before they take Communion. We have the same concern for our members who have fallen into public sin. We want to ensure that they are repentant of their sin and recognize what Jesus is giving in the Supper before we invite them to commune.
That same examination must happen with all of us before we come forward to receive Christ’s body and blood. 1 Corinthians 11:28 says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” We examine ourselves by acknowledging that “our feet are dirty,” so to speak. We admit the sins we have committed in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We also confess our trust in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, that He shed His blood to pay for our sins. We acknowledge that He is present to give us His holy body and blood. And we express our intention to stop our sinning and do better.
That last point is difficult. We might think to ourselves: Do I really want to stop the sins I keep falling into? Do I want to stop hating my enemy? Do I want to stop listening to and watching what I know I shouldn’t? Do I want to stop drinking too much, eating too much, lying, gossiping, prioritizing my pleasure and my plans above everything else? These are all sins of selfishness.
Jesus calls us to set aside these sins, leave them behind, and receive His body and blood to wash our guilt away. No sin is too great that He cannot forgive it. Jesus died on the cross to pay for all sins, every single one. As we come forward for Holy Communion, burdened by our sins, we remember why Jesus instituted this Supper. It is for our forgiveness.
As we leave the Communion rail cleansed and return to our homes and our work, Jesus also directs us to the needs of our neighbors. He says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
This is where true greatness is found: first in Jesus’ humble service to us, and then in the humble service toward one another that He moves us to do. This sort of greatness might not impress the world, but it is the sort of greatness that changes the world, that changes hearts, just as the sacrificial work of Jesus has changed ours. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mar. 10:45).
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Giotto di Bondone, c. 1267-1337)
Maundy Thursday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Numbers 9:1-14
In Christ Jesus, the perfect Passover Lamb, whose holy blood cleanses us from all sin, dear fellow redeemed:
When the LORD was about to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He gave Moses instructions for the Passover meal—the male lamb without blemish, killed at twilight, roasted whole over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs on the side. Because they had put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes, the angel of God passed over their homes, and their firstborn sons were spared. The same was not true for the homes without blood as death came to every Egyptian home.
The Israelites quickly gathered their belongings and marched out of Egypt, no longer enslaved. The Passover was the defining event in their deliverance. It ushered in a new era for the people. The LORD told the people, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you” (Exo. 12:2). And every year on the fourteenth day of the first month, the people were to remember the Passover and “keep it as a feast to the LORD” (v. 14). When they observed it, they were to tell and teach their children, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses” (v. 27).
It had been an eventful year since the Israelites left Egypt. They had been saved from Pharaoh’s army by passing through the Red Sea. They had received God’s holy Law at Mount Sinai. The tabernacle had been constructed, where God made His presence known through a cloud. And now it was time to partake of the Passover meal again—on the fourteenth day of the first month.
But some of the men brought a problem to Moses. They told him they were unclean according to God’s Law because they had to take care of a dead body. So they were unable to observe the Passover even though they wanted to. They asked Moses what they should do. Moses asked the LORD, and the LORD gave a special provision for the Passover. He said that if any were unclean from touching a dead body, or if they were on a long journey at the time of the Passover, they could observe the Passover exactly one month later, on the fourteenth day of the second month.
But this only applied in special cases; it was not to be done for convenience’ sake or because a person preferred to wait. Such disregard for the LORD’s Passover required that the offending individual be “cut off from his people”; in other words, that he be cast out or excommunicated from the Israelite congregation. The Passover observance was not optional. It had to be done in remembrance of what the LORD had done for them.
There was also a forward-looking aspect of the Passover. Every year that the people observed it, they were reminded that the LORD had delivered them from slavery and death in Egypt by the blood of the lamb. But in the future, He would deliver them from something much greater. That lamb without blemish was a type or picture of the sinless Son of God, who would take on human flesh to deliver all people from our slavery to sin and death.
This is the week that the Lamb of God made His way toward the altar of sacrifice, toward His crucifixion on Calvary. The night of His betrayal and arrest, He reclined at table with His disciples to partake of the Passover. He said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luk. 22:15-16). Jesus was the Passover’s fulfillment. He was the spotless Lamb that took away the sin of the world on the cross.
Since He was its fulfillment, the observance of the Passover was no longer required. Now Jesus instituted a “new testament” to replace the old. He took unleavened bread from the Passover meal, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’” Then He took the cup of blessing filled with wine and said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (vv. 19,20).
Just as the LORD directed the people of Israel to observe the Passover “in remembrance” of what He had done for them, so now Jesus tells His followers to eat His body and drink His blood “in remembrance” of Him. But is the Lord’s Supper required in the same way as the Passover was? In other words, can we as Christians choose not to partake of the Supper? And if so, how long can we go without it?
It is true that Jesus did not mandate how often to receive Holy Communion. He just said, “do this.” So perhaps we should ask what might keep a Christian from not doing this. Like the Israelite men who were unclean from working with a dead body, the death of a loved one or a personal illness or injury could keep us from attending the Divine Service for a time. Or if we were “on a long journey” like the LORD spoke of with the Passover, perhaps we would not be able to receive the Lord’s body and blood for a while.
But if we are in fair health, and we are able to attend church, or we are able to receive a pastoral visit in our home, then why would we not want to receive Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins? Our Catechism asks the question, “Do those who neglect the Lord’s Supper commit a sin?” The answer is “yes” with this explanation. They sin first of all against “the Lord, whom they insult by treating His gifts as unimportant,” second of all against “themselves, whom they deprive of great blessings,” and finally against “the believers, whose fellowship they neglect” (ELS Explanation, 2023 edition, p. 252). Whether or not we partake of the Lord’s Supper is no unimportant matter.
It can happen, though, that a child of God is struggling. He carries a burden of guilt because of a sin done long ago or not so long ago. Perhaps he is still stuck in the sin. He wants to stop, he is sorry for it, but he doesn’t have the strength. Or maybe someone is hurting from harm done to her by another. She knows she should forgive, but she can’t get rid of the anger. Sometimes people in these situations stay away from the Lord’s Supper because they don’t feel worthy enough to receive it.
To such as these, Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28). “But Jesus, I have sinned!” we say, “I’m not worthy to come to Your table!” And Jesus replies, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Joh. 6:37). His Supper is for sinners. If you recognize your sin and are sorry for it, His Supper is for you. He gave His body on the cross and shed His blood in payment for your sins, and now gives you the same holy body and cleansing blood for your comfort and strength.
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper is not a time for going through the motions. The Israelites were to observe the Passover each year remembering what the LORD had done and continued to do for them. We also partake of the Sacrament remembering what Jesus has done and continues to do for us. This is no place for our unrepentance, our sinful smugness and stubbornness, our pride, our self-righteousness. This is the place for broken and contrite hearts, for humble faith, for thankfulness.
We come forward remembering who Jesus is, the true Son of God and Son of Man. We remember what He has done, given Himself and shed His blood to redeem us from our sin and death. We remember our ongoing need for His forgiveness because of our many sins. And we remember His promise to be with us always here and to return again on the last day to take us to be with Him.
Just as the Israelites observed the Passover to God’s glory, so we observe the Lord’s Supper to His glory. “For as often as [we] eat this bread and drink the cup, [we] proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Co. 11:26). Amen.
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(painting of the Last Supper by Simon Ushakov, 1685)
Maundy Thursday – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. John 13:1-15
In Christ Jesus, who cleansed you by his selfless love, dear fellow redeemed:
The time had finally come. Jesus knew what was about to happen. In only a few short hours, he would be betrayed by one of his own disciples and arrested by the religious authorities in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then, after being questioned, mocked, and tortured, he would be sentenced to death on a cross, one of the worst ways for a person to die, even though he had done nothing wrong. On that cross, he would bear the burden of the entire world’s sin as if it were his own and face the punishment for all of it. This would be the final Passover meal that Jesus would eat with his disciples before he would be sacrificed as the ultimate Passover Lamb.
If you knew that you were about to face the ultimate suffering, surely you would be dreading what was about to happen and, if it were possible, would be thinking of ways that you could escape it. But Jesus wasn’t thinking about himself or the pain that he was about to endure. He was instead thinking about “his own who were in the world” (verse 1), whom he loved to the end, to the fullest extent. These people were not only his disciples, but were also, as Jesus describes in John 17:20, “those who will believe in [him] through their word,” that is, the gospel that would be preached by the disciples. In his final hours, Jesus was thinking about you. His disciples, on the other hand, were thinking about something much different.
In the gospel according to St. Luke, we hear that “[a] dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest” (Luke 22:24). This is not the first time that the disciples had this dispute. The last time they did, Jesus called a child to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3–4). But it appears that the lesson did not sink in. So, this time, Jesus said to them, “[L]et the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:26–28).
The Jews, including the disciples, thought that the Messiah was going to be an earthly king who would free them from the Romans, but Jesus did not come down from his throne in heaven to be an earthly king. He came down to earth to be a servant. In our Epistle lesson for Palm Sunday, we heard that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6–7). We also hear in the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark that “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). Now, Jesus was not only going to show his disciples through his actions that he came to be a servant, but he was also going to give them an example for how they were expected to act. He got up from the table, took off his outer garments and laid them aside, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
Since the Jews wore sandals when they traveled at that time, traveling on the dusty roads would cause their feet to get dirty. But washing feet was not a task that just anyone did. This was considered menial work that was reserved for the lowest of servants. Because the disciples thought so highly of themselves, none of them thought to volunteer to wash the feet of the others. But now that Jesus, the greatest among them, was willingly washing their feet without complaint, they all felt guilty that they had not been the ones to volunteer.
You might not argue that you are the greatest, like the disciples did, but there are times when you think that you are better than others or you think that a certain task is beneath you. You may not be perfect, but at least you’re better than the person who actively lives in sin, despite the warnings that are given to them by you or others, or the person who refuses to go to church, even though they are perfectly able to do so. There are also many important tasks that you are in charge of. So, why should you be expected to do even more when you’re already doing so much? Why can’t other people be found to do those tasks? It’s really easy to start thinking in these ways, but when you think in these ways, you are putting yourself, your wants and desires, before others and their needs.
This is not the example that Jesus gave us to follow. By washing the feet of his disciples, by willingly taking on the task that was reserved for the lowliest of servants, Jesus was teaching his disciples and us that we are to humble ourselves in loving service to others. But it’s clear from how often we fail to do that and only think of ourselves that it’s impossible for us to serve like Jesus served. Fortunately for us, Jesus perfectly humbled himself in loving service to others for us.
Jesus’ entire earthly ministry was spent in loving service to others. He fed people who were hungry, healed people who were sick, cast out demons from people who were possessed, and even raised people back to life who had died. Jesus was not performing these miracles because he was trying to make himself look good or because he was trying to get something out of those he was helping. He was performing these miracles because he loved the people of the world and wanted to help them. And Jesus showed how much he truly loved all sinners when he willingly laid down his own life for them.
Jesus’ willing sacrifice was the ultimate example of his loving service to others. Because of his great love for us, Jesus took all of our sins on himself and carried them all the way to the cross. He bore the burden of our sins as he hung on the cross and paid the price for every single one of them. When Jesus died on the cross, all of our sins died with him, because he bore them as though they were his own and made atonement for them.
Peter did not yet understand why Jesus was washing his feet or what Jesus was going to have to do to save him and the world. So, when Jesus came to wash his feet, Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet” (verse 8). But Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (verse 8). Jesus was not saying that Peter needed to have his feet washed if he wanted to have a share of Jesus’ eternal inheritance in heaven. He was saying that Peter, as well as all of us, need to be spiritually cleansed by him if we want to have a share in his eternal inheritance.
All of us who believe in Jesus have already been spiritually cleansed by him. But, just like a person who needs to keep washing his dirty feet, we also need to keep returning to Jesus for forgiveness since we continue to sin every day of our lives. One of the ways that we receive this forgiveness is in the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus would soon institute Holy Communion after he finished washing his disciples’ feet. In that supper, you receive Jesus’ true body and blood in the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus instituted Holy Communion, he was looking forward to the sacrifice he would soon make as the Passover Lamb on the cross, shedding his blood for you. Now that his sacrifice has been made, when you partake in the Lord’s Supper, you look back on the sacrifice that he made for you, and the forgiveness that he won by his sacrifice is brought to you in the present. As you leave the Lord’s table, you have the comfort of Jesus’ forgiveness and the assurance that you will one day feast with him in his eternal kingdom.
You may not be able to perfectly follow Jesus’ example of loving service, but through the faith that the Holy Spirit has given you through the Word and the Sacraments, he has changed your heart so that you desire to follow Jesus’ example. And when you fall short, you return to the Lord’s table to receive his forgiveness, which he freely gives to you. It is because of Jesus’ selfless love that you receive his forgiveness. It is because of Jesus’ selfless love that you are cleansed. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Giotto di Bondone, c. 1267-1337)
Maundy Thursday sermon – Vicar Cody Anderson
Text: St. John 13:1-15
In Christ Jesus, who continued to teach His disciples even hours before His death, who continues to teach and provides for you, dear fellow redeemed:
My mother has a sign in her house that says, “Dust is a country collectable.” As much as we try to keep our houses clean of that country collectable, we see that it doesn’t take much for our houses to continue to be dirty. Not only can our houses be dirty, but around here our cars can get dirty. When our houses, cars, and whatever else get dirty, then usually we must take the time to attempt to clean them. This is a chore that no one really wants to do and most of the time we wait until the last minute. In our text we see the humility of our Savior. Jesus takes time from the Passover meal to wash His disciples’ feet. This humble act shows how much He loved His disciples; it also shows how much He loves us. Jesus says, “I have washed you; you are clean!
Earlier in the week on Palm Sunday, Jesus’ rode into Jerusalem. He has done His teaching of the people in the temple. He has rested and now is with His disciples for one more gathering. Jesus instructed His disciples to have a room prepared so that they might eat the Passover meal. Now during the supper, Jesus does something that would have been out of the ordinary. He takes off His outer garment, wraps His waist with a towel, and then He begins to wash His disciple’s feet. A task that would have been done by a servant or a slave. As Jesus washes their feet, in our text He explains why He does it. This explanation is applied directly to us.
Jesus said to [Peter], “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. Peter at first doesn’t want the Lord to wash him. He thinks that Jesus is degrading Himself. Jesus says if He doesn’t wash Peter’s feet then Peter can have no share with him. Jesus also points out that He knows and sees all. He says, “Not all of you are clean.” Judas currently has fallen into complete unbelief. He is only thinking about how he can betray Jesus. Jesus washed his feet and gave him bread. Jesus is giving him opportunities to come back but Judas does not take them. The devil then enters his heart. The Upper Room activity on this Maundy Thursday points out the actions of Peter and Judas and why we need to be washed. We need to be washed daily because of our sins. We have inherited our sin from our first parents. We must be washed clean because of our sins, but we are unable to do so on our own.
Jesus tells us that He wants to wash us clean. Like Peter, we can tell Jesus that we don’t want His washing. Most of the time the sins that we commit, we want to do it. Why would we want Jesus to wash something away that we enjoy doing? He wants to do it. He wants us clean. Most people want Jesus to only help them out on their terms.
There are many dangers when we stay persistent in our sins. Jesus warns us of this in the text. Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” The biggest danger is that the devil comes into our heart, and we live in unbelief. The devil’s goal is to lead people astray. This unbelief happens because of our choices to give up on God. The devil wants that separation. This is not what Jesus wants but we can give up on Him.
Our text for today reveals the amount of Jesus’ love. “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” He loved His disciples to the end, and we know that He loves us until the end. As Jesus teaches the love that He has for us, we see how much love we lack at times. Jesus tells us to do for others as He has done for us. But we know how often we have failed to love as we should.
Jesus teaches and shows His disciples how they are to love each other. He washes their feet. This was the job of a servant, a slave. He washes their feet, but more importantly, He washes them completely with His blood. Jesus is bringing the gospel out with the washing of His disciple’s feet. Their sins are washed away by His power. The sins that they have committed to this point and the sins that they are going to commit. They are all washed away by Christ.
Jesus knows that He is going back to the Father. The plan is being carried out, Jesus’ great love for you. Jesus is not only washing His disciple’s feet clean, but He is also going to die for them. He told them earlier, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He loves you and He was willing to die for your sins. He knew His time on earth was up. He would have to go back to His Father. He also knew what it would take for Him to go back. Jesus knew that He would suffer and die. He did it for you. He became a servant and died for you.
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection saves you because He could serve you perfectly. He obeyed God the Father and He knew what kind of sacrifice was needed. Jesus doesn’t lead people astray; He is the way, the truth, and the life. He washes away the sins that are easy to quit, and the sins that are hard to shake. He cleanses you with His blood. You received these gifts from Christ through your baptism. You died and rose with Christ because of this washing. This washing stays with you. Jesus then gave the Lord’s Supper. He proclaims to you that you are forgiven by His body and blood.
Jesus invites you to often go to the Lord’s Supper. He taught it to you saying that it brings you forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. You are clean by faith in Him, but you will continually sin. Jesus tells you to eat and drink often in remembrance of Him. This is your medicine here on earth. He brings you comfort and strength for the days ahead.
As the sacrament provides us with comfort and strength, it also is Jesus’ last will and testament. By Christians taking the sacrament, we are proclaiming Jesus’ death and resurrection until He comes again. Knowing that our sins are forgiven, it doesn’t mean that we are perfect. We will still give in to sin. It is the Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts to receive His forgiveness and the Holy Spirit creates fruits of faith. It is through the Holy Spirit that we serve others with a good heart, having their best interests in mind.
As you keep your Savior in front of you, knowing what He has done for you, He teaches you love for one another. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Who would have thought we could learn so much from a simple washing of feet? This is great humility that came with a price. Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. That is the undeserved love that you receive. Jesus also gave you His medicine to remind you about this foot washing, and to give you the strength to make it through the week. His Supper is a gift that He wants you to receive often. It shows you that even those who are clean by faith continually need to be cleansed. You will give in to sin. But the Lord’s Supper gives you forgiveness. You take it for your comfort and strength. Through it you pronounce the Lord’s death and resurrection until He comes again. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Giotto di Bondone, c. 1267-1337)