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Welcome to Westminster Abbey's Lent and Easter reflections.

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On Maundy Thursday,

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we begin with the Gospel according to John, chapter thirteen,
verses one to eight.

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Now before the festival of the Passover,

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Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from
this world and go to the Father.

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Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.

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The devil had already put it into the heart of
Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.

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And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands,

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and that he had come from God and was going to God,

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got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and
tied a towel around himself.

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Then he poured water into a basin and began to
wash the disciples’ feet

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and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

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He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you
going to wash my feet?’

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Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing,
but later you will understand.’

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Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’

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Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’

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Passover in Jerusalem.

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The city is rammed, full of edgy people.

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Everyone telling the Exodus story, the one about
freedom from oppression.

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Telling that story in a city occupied by Roman soldiers.

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It’s volatile.

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In the Temple they are praying for a different future.

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They keep hearing ‘Blessed is the one who
comes in the name of the Lord’.

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At the Passover meal there are cups, bitter herbs,

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and a lamb that all spell out the same hope of deliverance.

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A longed for Saviour, a better life - you can hear it,
smell it, and taste it.

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All that frantic hope and then the strange scene in the Upper Room
where Jesus speaks and Jesus kneels.

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‘This is my commandment - That you love one another,
as I have loved you’.

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Then he washes their feet.

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Christ on his knees as servant.

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The story that John wants us to step into.

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The new life, is love and the Saviour is a servant.

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On this night the little Christian community will be
plunged into chaos

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and the last image they will have in their heads
in the summoning dark

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is of Christ kneeling at their feet commanding them to love.

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It is all the truth that they need.

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O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments
by loving you and our neighbour:

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Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted
to you with our whole heart,

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and united to one another with pure affection;

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through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,

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one God, now and forever,

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Amen.