Maundy Thursday 2020

Two very special announcements. First, the treatment for Pete Pratt has gone well and Pete and Nancy are preparing for a return home from the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, TX. As our good friends make their way home to the low country, we pray that their trip will be smooth and uneventful. Please be advised that Pete will not be able to accept visitors. Medical protocol at this time requires time for rest and recuperation as Pete continues to receive treatment locally. Nancy will communicate the best way to communicate. It will be so good to have them close by! As Nancy shared in an earlier post today on Caring Bridge, they find peace and comfort in the promise that the Lord is with us when we need him most,  “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14) To this, all God’s people say, “Amen!”

Kay and I are happy to announce the birth of Alice Kathryn Keeler, daughter of Sam and Weslie, sister of Elizabeth, yesterday evening, which happens to be the 8th anniversary of my mother’s death on Easter morning, April 8, 2020. We give thanks that Alice was born with good lungs, all of her fingers and toes, and a strong appetite! And Jesus said, “Blessed are the children, for such is the kingdom of God.”

As we continue our prayers for Peter and Nancy, and rejoice in the birth of Alice, another child born into the community of faith we know as Sea Island, life begins to slow down and draw quiet on this Maundy Thursday. As I think about Pete and Nancy beginning to make a long drive and look at photographs of Alice via Facebook, unable to visit the hospital because of precautions due to the coronavirus, I can’t help but ponder what the world will be like for all of us, family, friends and neighbors, in the coming weeks and months. Dr. Fauci says we are about to experience a new normal.

This is where our faith comes in. As we welcome Pete and Nancy home, celebrate the new life of Alice among us, and hold close to our hearts family, friends, and neighbors, the last thing we want to be is a melancholy group of people beat down by conflicting news reports, outlooks and scenarios about the problems of the world and how they may negatively impact our future. As I read through the gospel and consider how bleak things begin to look after Maundy Thursday, a betrayal and an arrest, Good Friday with a crucifixion followed by death, burial, confusion and fear, the dreadful silence of Holy Saturday, we all know what waits for us just around the corner! New life! Hope! A Future! Looking down the road, whatever comes our way, may we as Chrisians, followers of Christ not give in, give up, or give out!

The below presentation for Maundy Thursday takes into account how Jesus loved his disciples to the end, how he showed that love to his friends, and by his example, how he wishes for us to love each other. Please continue to check your emails tomorrow for Good Friday, Holy Saturday and especially Easter morning. May we prepare to turn our faces and hearts to the Holy City of Jerusalem and affirm our faith, We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. May the Lord be with you. We are in this together. Call if you need me. In Christ +

Maundy Thursday Video

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Steve Keeler, Pastor