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Traditionally, the liturgy of Maundy Thursday is a continuum with the liturgies of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. There's a strong eucharistic element, too - we recall Christ's institution of the Eucharist; additionally, it is the last time most people will receive communion until Easter morning.
After the Liturgy of the Word, we had the Maundy Washing, in which we recall Christ's washing of the disciples feet. In Coventry, this is done by people washing each others' feet - the ministers sit and wait for a member of the congregation to wash their feet, and then recipricate; other members of the congregation may come up and wash each others' feet, too. This seemed to capture the call not just to wash others' feet, but to let our feet be washed too. In typical Anglican fashion, however, only a small number of the congregation actually took part - we're all too reticent!
After the Eucharistic rite, there was a short gospel reading (Matthew 26, after the Last Supper, as Christ prepares to go to Gethsemane), and the altar was stripped, whilst the choir sang the lament of Psalm 88. Coventry's not the most decorated of places to begin with, and they couldn't remove or cover the tapestry, which meant this perhaps lacked the impact it has at, e.g. LSM. None the less, the lights were also extinguished as this happened (echoing, perhaps, Tenebrae, which won't happen in Coventry this year?), and we were left in near-darkness by the end (we needed some light to avoid the BBC's trip hazards!). We stood in silence as the last torch was carried down the length of the cathedral, through the eerily-lit West Window, and up into the ruined cathedral, flickering away towards the old altar. Some will watch until midnight, like the disciples tried to do while Christ prayed in Gethsemane; the rest of us departed in silence, reflecting once more upon the Passion, and the liturgies to come before Easter.
After the Liturgy of the Word, we had the Maundy Washing, in which we recall Christ's washing of the disciples feet. In Coventry, this is done by people washing each others' feet - the ministers sit and wait for a member of the congregation to wash their feet, and then recipricate; other members of the congregation may come up and wash each others' feet, too. This seemed to capture the call not just to wash others' feet, but to let our feet be washed too. In typical Anglican fashion, however, only a small number of the congregation actually took part - we're all too reticent!
After the Eucharistic rite, there was a short gospel reading (Matthew 26, after the Last Supper, as Christ prepares to go to Gethsemane), and the altar was stripped, whilst the choir sang the lament of Psalm 88. Coventry's not the most decorated of places to begin with, and they couldn't remove or cover the tapestry, which meant this perhaps lacked the impact it has at, e.g. LSM. None the less, the lights were also extinguished as this happened (echoing, perhaps, Tenebrae, which won't happen in Coventry this year?), and we were left in near-darkness by the end (we needed some light to avoid the BBC's trip hazards!). We stood in silence as the last torch was carried down the length of the cathedral, through the eerily-lit West Window, and up into the ruined cathedral, flickering away towards the old altar. Some will watch until midnight, like the disciples tried to do while Christ prayed in Gethsemane; the rest of us departed in silence, reflecting once more upon the Passion, and the liturgies to come before Easter.
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