Matt and Alida Barnes both grew up in God-fearing families. Even so, neither of their families paid much attention to the church calendar, outside of Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. When members at Lake were encouraged to observe this part of Holy Week in their homes, they had almost no experience with Maundy Thursday services.
“We were unsure at first, so much so that five years ago we commemorated Maundy Thursday, just the two of us,” said Alida.
The following year we invited a couple of people over. Each year after, they have invited people from the community and the Crossroads class which meets Sunday mornings.
“Our home is pretty small, so doing the Maundy Thursday service with ten or so friends is cozy, but that’s part of the point; everyone in the room gets a close-up view of everything going on,” said Alida.
The couple followed the helpful guides from Lake for putting on a Maundy Thursday service. It involves reading sections from the Gospels that depict what Jesus and his followers were doing on the night he was betrayed and short and easy-to-follow discussion questions. Early in the service each year, the people at the service follow Jesus’ example by washing one another’s feet. At the end of the service, they celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, which is a reminder that when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet it was a foreshadowing of how he was going to serve all of humanity on Good Friday.
This year, Lisa Liou and her two beautiful children, Emma and Jesse attended the service at the Barnes’ home. Everybody who attended would agree that participating in the foot washing with the children was incredibly moving.
“Their penetrating questions were helpful for all of us. As adults we tend to make things exceedingly complicated. But as Lisa and others were helping Emma and Jesse understand what we were doing, it was a helpful reminder to us all that the core of our faith is pretty simple: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself,” said Matt.
Alida Barnes expressed a similar sentiment when reflecting on the impact of sharing in this act of service with the children. For her, this was exciting and significant because it represented the new generation of believers in the church.
“We had to really simplify the language to help the children understand what was going on. When we removed the flowery, "churchy" language and just focused on the act of foot washing, it was a reminder to examine myself also and be sure that I have the basics right. It's also always moving to see in action the molding of a new generation of Jesus-followers. These children are the future of the church and it was moving to see them participating in things adults do and not just to be sequestered in their own thing. We all learned from one another,” said Alida.
The children asked questions like why are we doing this? and what does this mean? and by the end of the night, they had blessed several people and had also grown in their understanding of God.
"I learned from listening to the story and trying what Jesus did. It helped me understand that this is what you should do for your friends,” said Emma.
The Barnes have been so blessed through hosting Maundy Thursday services in their home and would encourage everyone who is able to do the same. Next year when Holy Week comes around, be sure to pick up some of the Maundy Thursday service guides and invite some of your friends over to memorialize this important night.