Last Minute Liturgy | Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

Asking for a "Friend"...

You are ready for Holy Week. You are probably reading this because you're already thinking about next year—you're just that organized and put together. But maybe you have a "friend" who still needs to put together some or all of a Maundy Thursday or Good Friday service.

Well, "your friend" is in luck! We have two worship service guides you can use to structure your Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services. And "your friend's" luck just keeps getting better... we're offering it to everyone, subscriber or not. It's free.

Each service is based on services shared with us by Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle, Illinois. We love how rich they are in symbolism—we feel that they're traditional without being stilted or inaccessible.

However, we present them each as an order of service with suggestions which you are free to fill out however you want. Subscribers can jump into our database to explore our resources (if you're not a subscriber, consider a free trial to find out what we offer!).

Maybe these will take away a little of the stress your "friend" is feeling as Holy Week draws near.

Click below to see the services or keep reading for more insights about Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services!

Holy Days in Dark Hues

Thursday and Friday of Holy Week are two of the most somber and emotionally intense days of the Church Year. They are especially good moments to remember the reality of the Incarnation. Jesus was a real man with a body, just like us. He ate. He was beaten. He died. Jesus was also, like all humans, profoundly social. He dined with is friends. He washed their feet. He wanted companionship in the dark. He was abandoned. He was betrayed. He was publicly humiliated. He cared, at the last, for his mother and a stranger, a thief dying near him.

The sacrifice of Jesus is wrenching. As good as Good Friday is because of the victory and salvation that Jesus won on the cross, it would be a mistake to ignore what it cost.

Traditional Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services enabled Christians to imaginatively enter into the story of Jesus. They include symbolic actions, some of which go back to the first millennium. For many mainline Protestant congregations, these symbols are familiar—though still powerful.

For the many outside those traditions, adopting the symbolic language of the ancient Church during Holy Week may be especially powerful because it is unfamiliar. Explaining why you're doing what you're doing—and mixing old and new—you may be able to help your congregation make the trip to the most important events in history.

The Thursday Mandatum

The name "Maundy Thursday" may itself be unfamiliar to some congregations. The name is taken from the commandment (mandatum) Jesus gives in John 13:34-35,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (ESV)

There are a few major events on the Thursday before the crucifixion which are traditionally recalled in Maundy Thursday services (though not always all of them).

• The Last Supper and the institution of Communion

• The washing of the disciples' feet

• The vigil in the garden

• The betrayal and trial of Jesus

The Maundy Thursday service we have provided focuses most on the Last Supper and the betrayal and trial.

The Last Supper

Even if your congregation only celebrates the Lord's Supper together once a month (or less often), this is a day to do so. If permitted by your denomination, consider using a more traditional liturgy, perhaps even explaining the symbols in it.

But even if you stick with your usual ceremony, this is a service where it makes sense to highlight it and that you are following Jesus' command to "do so in remembrance of me." This is a great opportunity to connect this familiar ceremony with the cross and the significance of Communion in your denomination's teaching.

Foot Washing

Foot washing is the symbol most closely connected with Jesus's mandatum to love one another. If we add a foot washing ceremony to our services, we can very tangibly teach the lesson Jesus taught the disciples about servanthood.

Consider:

• Who will do the washing? It can be an important lesson to your church about leadership if your pastor, deacons, elders, or other leadership wash the feet of the congregation. Or perhaps you want to make the lesson universal, allowing people to volunteer to wash one another's feet—maybe encouraging friends, family, parents, spouses to do so for one another. (However, be sure to make sure it is easy for people who do not want to engage to do so without shame.)

• Who will be washed? It's easy if you have free-wheeling reciprocal washing for whoever wants it. But this may take... a while. For larger congregations or ones where you don't expect people will be eager to jump up and participate, consider a representative sample of those to have their feet washed. People may feel more comfortable if they know in advance that they'll participate this way.

• Will the washing be done while the congregation sings or is meditative silence the right choice?

We don't have a foot-washing ceremony in our guide (something we hope to add in the future), but don't let that stop you!

The Vigil in the Garden

In some denominations, the Maundy Thursday service initiates an all-night prayer vigil that lasts until the Good Friday service, inspired by Jesus' question, "Could you not watch with me one hour?" A prayer vigil in the sanctuary with individuals signing up for the hours of the night can be an intimate time with God. (You will want to consider security arrangements if you do it on site.)

Especially after 2020, some churches have done virtual vigils where congregants still sign up for times of prayer, but they do so in their own space. This is safer, though it also loses the sense of place that you get from a dark sanctuary.

Consider your 20-40 year old crowd especially for this (they are often more tolerant of late nights)!

The Betrayal and Trial

In our Maundy Thursday service, we have instructions for "stripping the altar." This is typically done at the end of the service, as we look forward to the long night before Good Friday.

Stripping the altar is a dramatic act which reminds us of the betrayal, trial, and humiliation of Jesus. Like Jesus is stripped of friends, dignity, and of his clothes, the altar (or front of your sanctuary more generally) is stripped of all its adornments. Candles, draperies, flowers, anything that is a familiar sight and can be removed can go. The goal is for the beloved/sacred space at the front of the church to be left bare—with the emptiness stark and emphatic for the congregation to see before departing.

The youth of your congregation may be a good choice to involve in this symbolic action. It enables them to be a part of this service in a unique way.

Good Friday

Unlike "Maundy Thursday," Good Friday will be familiar to almost all denominations. Our service focuses on a few main symbols.

• Nailing sins to a cross.

• Dimming and extinguishing lights.

• The Great Noise (strepitus) or closing of the book.

• Tearing a cloth.

Leaving our sins at the Cross

A large wooden cross may be placed on the ground or erected to allow members of the congregation to write sins on slips of paper and affix them to the cross. It could be incorporated into the service or used at the beginning of the service.

This symbolic act might be thought of as a more modern version of the veneration of the cross, which is part of older Good Friday traditions. In keeping with that, a church could choose to integrate this with the unveiling of the cross.

In some traditions, crosses and other images are covered during Lent. The cross is then dramatically revealed during the Good Friday service and brought forward for veneration. However, a veiled cross could still be placed prominently on Good Friday (or placed on Maundy Thursday) in churches that do not follow this tradition. It could then be unveiled before people are invited to come forward to affix their sins to the cross.

Dimming and extinguishing lights

The dimming of the lights reminds us of the darkness that covered Jerusalem at the death of Jesus.

This can be done progressively by extinguishing candles (as is recommended in our service), though you may wish to engage in a little stagecraft by having someone man a dimmer switch so that you can start the service will full lights that decrease to darkness along with the candles.

The order of service we have provided also has a ceremony in which a candle representing Christ is removed and then returned. Another tradition that could be followed is the simple extinguishing of a candle to represent the death of Christ. This comes from the extinguishing of the sanctuary light in some traditions, which is done on Good Friday.

The Great Noise (or "Strepitus") or Closing the Book

The Great Noise marks the death of Jesus, recalling the earthquake at his death. There are many ways to make the noise: slamming a door, having the congregation bang their hymnals on the pews, shake the church with low notes on the organ, or in other ways. The goal is something loud and jarring. (This is incorporated into the service we've provided.)

A very similar symbolic act is the "closing of the book." Effectively, it is "the Great Noise," but with a twist. In this case, a book is brought forth and slammed shut to indicate the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the initiation of the New.

Tearing a Cloth

Bringing forth a cloth to tear after the sounding of the Great Noise symbolizes the tearing of the curtain of the Holy of Holies at Jesus' death. Like the closing of the book, it marks the end of the old order and the beginning of the new—that through Christ we have direct access to God. (This is also in the service provided.)

Conclusion

The old symbolic traditions of the church surrounding Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are literally dramatic. It's a chance to let your inner theater kid out! Please take a look at our orders of service and see if you want to incorporate anything into your Holy Week services!