A Prayer for Maundy Thursday

A Prayer for Maundy Thursday: (Jemma Allen is a priest of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia)

“God,  There is no altar to strip, no fair linen to fold: yet so much of what is familiar has been stripped away in these days of shelter in place, of quarantine, of lockdown.

We cannot wash one another’s feet, remembering Christ’s act of humble service:

but we will wash our hands in love for our neighbours, staying at home, breaking the chain of transmission; and we will pray for all those who serve others in health care, in supermarkets, in delivery, in supply chains, those who are fighting on the front lines.

We cannot gather at the Lord’s table, sharing bread and wine to remember: so we will pray for all who have no table at which to eat,

for all who have memories they cannot bear to remember, for all whose capacity to remember is robbed by dementia.

Gracious God, in these days coming as we seek to remember and be transformed pour out your Love upon us, that same Love that raised Christ from the dead. Amen.”