Event details

Join us for a fully virtual Maundy Thursday service at 8pm. The recorded service goes live at 8pm and will be archived afterwards for viewing at any time along with our many concerts, programs, and worship services. Please join us Thursday, April 1 at 8pm though this link to the ORL youtube page where the service is posted.

Bulletin for Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2021

Invitatory: Aria in Classic Style by Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975) with Elaine Christy, Harpist

Welcome: Dean Boden

Solo: A Prayer for Light with Sean Crites ’22, Tenor

Prayer: (Read by Alex Miller-Knaack)

Loving Powerful God, who hears our voice and the pleas of the world, your ear turns to us whenever we call. What shall we return to you for all your bounty? We raise the cup of deliverance to you tonight. We are your servant people. You have undone the cords that bound us; move with us tonight as we travel from joy to betrayal, leading to death. For your bounty, freely given, we give you thanks and praise.

Reading: Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14 (Read by Jonathan A. Ort ’21)

Prayer: God of the covenant, as we celebrate the beginning of the paschal feast, we come to the table of the Lord in whom we have salvation, life, and resurrection. Renew the power of this mystery in our service to one another and to you, so that with Christ we may pass from this life to the glory of your kingdom. Amen.

Anthem: Ubi Caritas by Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)

Reading: Matthew 26:17-25 (Read by Thomas Hontz ’22)

Prayer: Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment, to love one another as he loved them. Write this commandment in our hearts; give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, who gave his life and died for us, yet is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Solo: Andante from Violin Sonata No. 2 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) with Elaine Christy, Harpist

Reading:The Last Supper (based on Matthew 26: 17-29) by Rainer Maria Rilke (Read by Dean Thames)

They are assembled, astounded, bewildered, round him who, like a sage centered at last, withdraws from those to whom he once belonged and flows beyond them as some foreigner. The former solitude comes over him which raised him to perform his profound acts; again he’ll wander in the olive grove, and those who love him will now run from him. He summons them to the final meal and (as a shot shoos birds from sheaves) he shoos their hand from bread with his word: they flutter up to him; they flap about the table anxiously searching for some way out. But he, like an evening hour, is everywhere.

Prayer: Gracious and merciful God, in the wonderful sacrament you have given us, a memorial of the passion of your Son, Jesus Christ; grant that we who receive these sacred mysteries may grow up into him in all things until we come to your eternal joy; through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Solo: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee arranged by Gerald Near (b. 1942) with Eric Plutz, Organist

Reading: Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-19

I love you O God because you heard my voice: when I made my supplication, because you turned your ear to me: when I called upon your name. I will take up the cup of salvation: and call on the name of God. I will pay my vows to God: in the presence of all God’s people. Grievous in the sight of God: is the death of a faithful servant. God, I am your servant the child of your maidservant: you have freed me from my bonds. I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving: and call on the name of God. I will pay my vows to God: in the presence of all God’s people, in the courts of God’s house: in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure. Wash me, and I shall be clean indeed. Amen.

Solo: Thee, We Adore by Frederick Candling (1892-1964) with Sean Crites '22, Tenor

Reading: Holy Thursday by William Blake

Is this a holy thing to see in a rich and fruitful land, babes reduced to misery, fed with cold and usurous hand? Is that trembling cry a song? Can it be a song of joy? And so many children poor? It is a land of poverty! And their sun does never shine, and their fields are bleak and bare, and their ways are filled with thorns: it is eternal winter there. For where'er the sun does shine, and where'er the rain does fall, babes should never hunger there, nor poverty the mind appall.

Prayer: Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth; lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust; lead me from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe. Amen.

Solo: Sarabande Etude #3 from Violin Partita No. 1 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) with Elaine Christy, Harpist

Reading: I Corinthians 11: 23 – 26

Prayer: Jesus, you are the vine; God is the gardener, who breaks off every branch that bears no fruit and prunes each one that does. We cannot bear fruit, unless we remain in you. You are the vine, we are the branches. If we remain in you, and your words remain in us, whatever we ask, we shall have. Your commandment is this: Love one another, just as I love you. You can have no greater love for your friends than to give your life for them. Amen.

Hymn: It Was a Sad and Solemn Night (Bourbon)

It was a sad and solemn night, when powers of earth and hell arose against the Child of God’s delight, whom friends betrayed to wicked foes.

Before the mournful scene began, our Jesus blessed and broke the bread; what love through all these actions ran, what wondrous words of love were said!

“Share this, my feast, till time shall end, in memory of your dying friend: meet at my table and recall the love which God has shown to all.”

Prayer of Confession: Eternal God, whose covenant with us is never broken, we confess that we fail to fulfill your will. Though you have bound yourself to us, we will not bind ourselves to you. In Jesus Christ, you serve us freely, but we refuse your love and withhold ourselves from others. We do not love you fully or love one another as you command. In your mercy, forgive and cleanse us. Lead us once again to your table and unite us to Christ, who is the bread of life and the vine from which we grow in grace. Amen.

Response: Ubi Caritas (Taize Chant) with Sean Crites ’22, Tenor

Ubi caritas et amor, ubi caritas, Deus ibi est.

Sending

Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila: Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no feet but yours, no hands but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks compassionately on a hurting world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless all now.

Voluntary: Adoro Te, Devote arranged by Gerald Near (b. 1942)

The University Chapel is a welcoming community of faith. We gather to sing God's praises, to hear God's living Word, to seek justice, and to proclaim God's love for all people.

University Chapel Staff: The Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D., Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel; The Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames, Associate Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel; Penna Rose, Director of Chapel Music; Eric Plutz, University Organist; Elizabeth Powers, Chapel Administrator; Alexandra Miller-Knaack, Seminarian Intern; Edgar Gomez, Sexton; Lisa McGurr, Sexton

Calendar: The events listed below are fully virtual and available online at chapel.princeton.edu

Friday, April 2, 2021, 8pm - Good Friday Tenebrae Service

Sunday, April 4, 2021, 8am - Easter Sunday Service The preacher will be Dean Boden

For additional information, please visit chapel.princeton.edu or call 609-258-3047.