The Service of Light

The service below hs been adapted for use at home.

The Service of Light begins with the lights dimmed or turned off.

On this most holy night,
when our Lord Jesus Christ passed from death to life,
the Church invites her children throughout the world to come together in vigil and prayer.
We remember his death and resurrection by hearing his word and celebrating his mysteries,
confident that we shall share his victory over death and live with him for ever in God.

Eternal God,
who made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of your one true light:
set us aflame with the fire of your love,
and bring us to the radiance of your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

A new candle is lit, and this prayer said.

May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.

The Exsultet

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

It is right and good that with hearts and minds and voices,
we should praise you, Father almighty, the unseen God,
through your only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who has saved us by his death,
paid the price of Adam’s sin,
and reconciled us once again to you.

For this is the Passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb of God, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all the faithful.

This is the night when you first saved our ancestors,
freeing Israel from her slavery and leading her safely through the sea.

This is the night when Jesus Christ vanquished
broke the chains of death,
and rose triumphant from the grave.

This is the night when all who believe in him are freed from sin,
restored to grace and holiness,
and share the victory of Christ.

This is the night that gave us back what we had lost;
beyond our deepest dreams you made even our sin a happy fault.

Most blessed of all nights!
Evil and hatred are put to flight and sin is washed away,
lost innocence regained, and mourning turned to joy.

Night truly blessed, when hatred is cast out,
peace and justice find a home, and heaven is joined to earth,
and all creation reconciled to you.

Therefore, heavenly Father, in this our Easter joy,
accept our sacrifice of praise, your Church’s solemn offering.
Grant that this Easter Candle may make our darkness light.
For Christ the morning star has risen in glory;
Christ is risen from the dead and his flame of love still burns within us!
Christ sheds his peaceful light on all the world!
Christ lives and reigns for ever and ever!
Amen.

The Vigil

A minimum of three Old Testament readings should be used.
Genesis 1:1 – 2:2 should be used.
Exodus 14:15 – 15:1 must be used.
The readings marked * are those being read in church this year.

*1^st reading and psalm:          Genesis 1:1-2:2
                                               Psalm 104:1-7

2^nd reading and psalm:          Genesis 3
                                               Psalm 51:1-7

*3^rd reading and psalm:         Genesis 22:1-18
                                               Psalm 16:6-end.

4^th reading and psalm:           Exodus 12.1-24
                                               Psalm 77.11-end

*5^th reading and canticle:       Exodus 14:15-15:21

*6^th reading and canticle:      Isaiah 55:1-11
                                               Isaiah 12:2-6

7^th reading and psalm:           Jeremiah 31:31-34
                                               Psalm 51:8-18

8^th reading and psalm:           Jonah 1.1-2.10
                                               Psalm 130

The Easter Acclamation

Alleluia. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Lights may now be turned on and candles extinguished.

Gloria in Excelsis

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

The Collect

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son,
overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
Amen.

The New Testament Reading

Romans 6:3 – 11

The Psalm

Psalm 114

The Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one;
I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.
Alleluia.

Mark 16.1-8

The Renewal of Baptismal Vows

Candles may be re-lit for the renewal of out Baptismal promises.
The promises may be renewed with these words.

I reject Satan and all rebellion against God.
I renounce the deceit and corruption of evil.
I repent of my sins, which have separated me from God and my neighbour.
I turn to Christ my Saviour.
I submit to Christ my Lord.
I come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

The Profession of Faith

I believe in God,
the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended into hell;
on the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.

God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
You have given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit,
and forgiven us our sins.
Keep us faithful to our Baptismal promises,
and to our Lord Jesus Christ,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Concluding Prayers

On this night, when God passed-over the land of Egypt,
to bring the children of Israel from slavery to freedom as his chosen people;
We wait for the morning.
On this Night when Christ descended into Hell
to bring freedom to those who slept in death;
We wait for the morning.
On this night when Christ lay in death
in the stillness and silence of the tomb;
We wait for the morning.

On this night when Christ passed from death to life
to bring us from slavery to sin to freedom of children of God;
We wait for the morning.

O God, on this night when your Son was raised from death to life,
visit us, so that by your strength,
we may rise with the new day to rejoice in the resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

As watchmen waiting for the morning,
so do our souls long for you, O Christ.
Come with the dawning of the day,
and make yourself known to us in the breaking of the bread;
for you are our Lord and God for ever and ever.
Amen.

One of the unfortunate consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, is that, as we all know, we’ve had to change the way we do things during our church services. One of the casualties of that, is that tonight, we can’t continue that great Maundy Thursday tradition of the Washing of Feet.

I suppose though, how much of a sadness that is, depends on how you feel about having your feet washed. Some people are quite happy for the parish priest to wash their feet but others, are most definitely not happy about it. And I suppose which of those two camps you fall into depends on your feelings about feet in general because I know that some people just don’t like feet and really don’t want anyone touching their feet. Even though some people do feel that way though, there’s not usually a shortage of people who are willing to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday, in fact, there are usually more people willing to have their feet washed than the required number of twelve.

Having said that, I can remember a couple occasions in the past when it seemed that no one in the congregation of the parish church where I was serving at the time, were willing to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday. It must be said that, on each occasion, when I first asked for volunteers to have their feet washed, there was no shortage of them; a lot of hands went up. But when I said that we were going to do things slightly differently that Maundy Thursday, it was a very different matter. What I said was, that in line with our Lord’s instruction that his disciples should wash one another’s feet, I would wash the first person’s feet, but then that person would wash the second person’s feet, the second would wash the third, the third the fourth and so on until we got to the twelfth person, who would then wash my feet. As I spoke, I noticed that the hands started to go down and by the time I’d finished speaking, everyone had put their hands down. And, when I asked again who wanted to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday, no one put their hands up!

I must admit, it came as no surprise to me that a lot of people put their hands down when I said what we were planning to do. But I was disappointed that everyone put their hands down and that no one was willing to volunteer to have their feet washed in those circumstances.

And I was disappointed because, actually, what I was suggesting we do, is far more in keeping with what Jesus said to his disciples than the way we traditionally carry out the Washing of Feet in Church on Maundy Thursday. Just think about the words we’ve just read:

“Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

Quite clearly then, both by word and example, Jesus is not telling us to let one person wash everyone else’s feet, but that we, his disciples, should all wash one another’s feet. That’s obviously not what we usually do on Maundy Thursday and it’s not the Church’s tradition, but I think this is one example of the Church being complicit in encouraging Christians not to follow the example and teaching of Jesus. And that was clearly shown in those parishes where so many people were prepared to let a priest wash their feet, but no one was prepared to wash any feet themselves.

There can’t be any doubt that we, as Christians, are called to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, whatever that teaching and example is; we can’t call ourselves his disciples if we’re not prepared to do that. That’s made clear in our baptismal promises, and if we were baptised as infants, as most of us probably were, in the promises we took on for ourselves at our confirmation. And we can’t say we’re not aware of what those promises are because we renew them, every year, either at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, or on Easter Day. We’ve promised to turn to Christ as our Saviour, to submit to Christ as our Lord and to come to Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. And we pray for the strength to follow Christ in that way, in his way. So we can’t be in any doubt that we’re called to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, because we’re reminded of it every year and we renew our promises to do that, every year.

The thought of washing someone’s feet might not be a particularly pleasant one for some people. It might be a teaching and example of Jesus that some people wouldn’t really be too keen on following. But in light of our baptismal promises, it’s a teaching and example of Jesus that we should all be prepared to follow if necessary.

And in fact, if we think about the meaning of Jesus’ washing his disciples feet on Maundy Thursday, we find that it has many, many similarities with the meaning of our baptism.

Washing the disciples feet and being baptised were both things that Jesus didn’t have to do but did. And they’re both things that he commanded us, his disciples, to do too. In Jesus’ time, when someone arrived at a house, their feet would be washed to remove the dirt that people had picked on their feet as they’d walked on the dusty roads and footpaths of the time. And baptism is about washing as well. It’s not about washing away any physical dirt that we pick up on the roads and footpaths, but it is about washing away the dirt of the sins that we pick up as we travel along the road of life. It’s about being washed clean from that sin. That’s one way we understand the symbolism of pouring water over people at their baptism, and we symbolise that at the Renewal of Baptismal Vows on Holy Saturday and Easter Day by sprinkling with water from the font.

In the introduction to the Church of England’s baptism service, it says that, in baptism,

‘…we are washed by the Holy Spirit and made clean. Here we are clothed with Christ, dying to sin that we may live his risen life.’

St Paul speaks in these terms quite often in his letters. He speaks of the baptised being clothed in Christ or putting on Christ, and he explains what that means, the kind of life that those who are clothed with Christ should live. He says that the baptised should put their old, sinful ways behind them, and live according to Christ’s teaching and example. In fact, when people are baptised, they become members of the Church, they become part of Christ, part of the Body of Christ as St Pauls puts it. And we find Jesus saying words very much to the same effect in the Maundy Thursday Gospel:

“If I do not wash you, you have no share”, or “nothing in common with me.”

So we have these similarities between the Washing of Feet on Maundy Thursday and our baptism and baptismal promises. And when we look at it in this way, we can see that following Jesus’ teaching and example to “wash one another’s feet” is simply a living out of our baptismal promises.

And to wash one another’s feet is a better way to live out those promises than simply having our feet washed by someone else.

In Jesus’ time, washing the feet of others was the job of a servant or a slave. But it was something Jesus, our Lord and Master himself did. But didn’t Jesus also say to his disciples that,

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”?

I know that the thought of washing someone else’s feet isn’t a very pleasant prospect for many people. Some perhaps think it’s beneath them to do such a menial job. But it wasn’t beneath Jesus’ dignity to do it. He is not only our Lord and Master, he’s our God too, and he washed the feet of his disciples. Are we too proud to follow his example?

Some people perhaps think washing someone else’s feet is a thoroughly loathsome thing to do, or even to be asked to do. They might be disgusted at the prospect. I’m sure Jesus wasn’t too thrilled at the prospect of being scourged and crucified on Good Friday, but he did it, and he did it for people who, on the whole, didn’t appreciate what he’d done for them. And he did it for you and for me. Can’t we even bring ourselves to do something much less unpleasant, like washing someone’s feet, in return?

Most people will probably never be asked to wash someone’s feet as part of their Christian discipleship, but we can see the washing of feet as a metaphor for all the difficult and unpleasant things we may be asked to do as disciples of Christ. We’ve allowed Christ to wash us in the waters of baptism so that we can have a share in him, so that we can be part of him, part of his Body, the Church. We’ve promised to have something in common with him by following his teaching and example. So are we prepared to wash each other’s feet, as he commanded us to? Where do we draw line between what we will and won’t do for Jesus, the one who gave his life for us?

Amen.  

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The Propers for Maundy Thursday can be viewed here.