That Is All

Grace is the unique offering
the church has
to bring to the table,

Yet, when we bring it,
we find that it is actually
the gift that delivers us;

an unwrapping that reveals
the glorious strands of hope
that inspire us toward
the community of God
for which we were created;

the net that keeps us
from falling into the abyss
of separation and division;

eyes and hearts that sense
that we are all in this
together for a reason,
and it is really the only reason.

Photo by DeEtta Harris Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Maundy Thursday Resources

Call to Worship [responsive]:

Females: How long ago was it

that Jesus entered Jerusalem

in a carnival atmosphere;

the crowds shouting his praises

and waving royal palm branches?

Males: That was barely more

than four days ago,

on the first day of the week.

Females: So much has happened since then;

so much that we did not expect

and could not control.

Males: Expectation has indeed been shattered,

and control lost. 

Where do we go from here?

Females: Rumor has it that those closest to him

are gathered in an upper room;

gathered to celebrate the Passover,

and perhaps more.

Males: Should we join them? 

Dare we risk setting aside our own expectations,

and giving up our control?

All: Let us dare! 

Let us abandon our lives to

the power of the God whose

love conquers all.

Prayer of Confession:

We confess, O God of exodus promise,

that we have found a certain level of comfort

in our own enslavements. 

We have chosen some bondages for ourselves;

others have been forced upon us;

and the evils we know

seem more comforting than

possibility and promise that we don’t know. 

In the quiet solitude of this hour,

give us the hope of Gethsemane’s garden,

that we might also have the courage

to let go of our own desires

and open ourselves to your will;

through Jesus Christ

the bread of life and cup of salvation.  Amen.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

As We Know It

How many times have drama demons

come knocking to herald

the disappearance or demise

of something we’re expected

to hold dear, echoing the phrase

“…as we know it” in their decree?

As if our knowing is the point;

is the key to it all!

Life, society, church;

all of these have

our particular comprehension

of them threatened regularly.

What if the issue is not really

 the loss of the things themselves,

but the forever-transforming nature

of our understanding of them?

What if that’s also the point

of life’s forward march:

an overture to reexamine

our knowing; to grow

our perception of people

and things around us?

Then, maybe, the fear mongers

would hold less sway, and we

would recognize the engraved envelope,

when it arrives, for the truth

of its invitation to see the universe

with new eyes, fresh hearts.

Photo by Kendall Cox

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Filling

When your heart gets broken,

and it will – at least if you manage

not to avoid all of life –

try not to obsess on seamlessly

super-gluing it all back together

in just the same shape, form,

and size that it was before.

Instead, try to let it be

held loosely by God,

with all fissures not only visible,

but some of them quite wide.

Why would you dare

to risk something like that?

So that God and others

can fill both the cracks

and your heart with all the love

that it couldn’t hold while

it was small and intact.

Photo by Terri Taylor

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Word Plow

When will you learn to accept

the unconditional love of who you are,

and realize that these words

and phrases do not define you;

that they are, instead, what you

have been gifted for connection?

When will you let them go

with less anxiety for how you are received

and more peace about how they might

open those with ears to sense

their own connectedness

to the vastness of their own enoughness?

Don’t you see how they emerge;

how you type them and return to them

over and over, as if you are the one

who can decide when they are ready –

as if you can somehow perfect them?

Yet there is a deeper place

which knows that these words

come from beyond you;

and that your returning is not

for the sake of others,

but for your own, so that you

can learn to absorb and live them.

What if the words and their worth

belong to the universe?

What if your primary task

is to sift through the collections,

looking for the places where

your own and others’ pain

have created sacred spaces

for the words to rest?

What if your calling is to cast them

on ground that life’s plow has turned-up –

your own, and others’ –

and let the universe do the rest?

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Illumination

When the light fades,

be it literally or figuratively,

how will you respond to the darkness?

Your mind will shift into overdrive,

your other senses will stumble,

and you will be at a crossroads.

One direction leads to shrinking

and withdrawal in fear.

Absent visual confirmation,

it's easy to question your remaining

senses' ability to keep you safe.

The other path leads to creativity

and abundance in hope.

Learning to see more than

your eyes ever could

opens the floodgates of imagination,

awakening your soul to images

heretofore only available in your dreams.

When the view from the shadows emerges,

you'll wonder how you ever

could have settled for daylight.

Photo by Holly Jane Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Offering

Photo by Todd Jenkins

We confess, O God, 

that we’re really good 

at offering you advice. 

We go through the motions 

of handing things over to you, 

but when we think no one’s looking, 

we try to take them back. 

We have a hard time, 

O Lord, seeing beyond 

our own hopes and dreams; 

and these are so easily 

colored and limited by our own 

experiences and understandings.

In your gentle mercy, O God, 

open our ears, eyes, and hearts 

to the grand plans and promises 

that you have had for us 

since before we were born; 

through Jesus Christ, 

the prince of peace and 

dreamer of resurrection. Amen. 

© 2014 Todd Jenkins