Maundy Thursday

Today was the first of the three holy days preceding Easter.  To celebrate each one is to walk with Jesus through his last hours with his friends, through his betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane, the midnight trial, torture and death.  Then comes the Easter Vigil -- the waiting for the joy of Easter morning. All three are part of a piece.
This Easter week-end parts of the prairies around us are bracing for another snowstorm.  The weather report says heavy snow tomorrow, blizzard conditions and just plain ugly.  It is not supposed to be this far south, but we will see.  Today what moisture we had turned to snow.
Last year Maundy Thursday 2017, a friend traveled with me and we went north of Beach, North Dakota, to Skaar Lutheran Church service held at Squaw Gap Community Center.  It was an evening service followed by a pot luck for the faith community that gathers there.  As we drove back to Beach and then Glendive I remember the stars filled the night sky as the lights of the little building faded behind us.
It was a time of community, of sharing food together, and mostly joining in worship as we remembered our Lord and Savior on this holiest of week-ends.
Tonight I sat in the sanctuary with others as we heard scripture and shared holy communion.  I thought of Christians around the globe gathering in far away places and worshiping in different languages.  Can you imagine life without the love of God present and active  everywhere?  Life is hard, but God is always with us and Easter is a reminder of the sacrifice and the love God interjected into the world in the person of Jesus.