Thursday 17th April - Maundy Thursday

 It's really weird to think back to that first Easter time. Thursday evening was The Last Supper, say starting around 8pm? I'm guessing,  I'm sure I could look it up, but I'm not really bothered about the details here. For me the point is that about 12 hours later The Crucifixion was happening, and around 3pm Jesus was dead. The time frame was so compressed. 

I only worked that out quite recently, a bit surprising considering how old I am. 

And while these momentus events were underway, the rest of the world continued, oblivious. People would have been eating, fighting, laughing, shopping, washing, cleaning, cooking, working...

Much the same everywhere today. 

Indeed, my day was pretty much the same as any other; cooking, washing-up, sowing peas (again; the mice won't get this lot, I hope, I've put them on the hall windowsill)

except... 

every so often my thoughts would return to the first Maundy Thursday, when Christ gathered his disciples for what was essentially his own wake, he shared a meal, and then, extraordinarily, took on the role of a servant,  washing their feet, told them to love and serve each other as he lived and served them.

Music

Two versions of the anthem 'God so lived the world'; the Stainer one, 

and the lesser known setting by Bob Chilcott.