Humble service in love that flows from God’s mission and culminates in resurrection hope

Maundy Thursday - Good Friday - Easter Sunday

April 2, 3, & 5, 2026

---

Blessed Are Those Who Offer Humble Service in Love

Maundy Thursday

Scriptures: Exodus 12:1–4, 11–14; Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; John 13:1–17, 31b–35

---

Dear church, humble servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What feelings rise in you when I call you

Humble Servants of Our Lord Jesus Christ?

How does that identity sit with you tonight?

Because that is who you are.

And that is who God desires us to be

not just tonight, but always.

Not just in worship, but in ministry,

in community, at home, in the workplace, at school…

in everything we say and do.

As I sat with our readings for tonight, I kept noticing a thread running quietly beneath all of them—a thread of humble service.

The kind of service that doesn’t seek applause.

The kind that doesn’t perform.

The kind that simply loves.

Let’s walk through the readings together for a moment.

Exodus reminds us of the night of protection and preparation.

Blessed are those who remember God’s saving work and carry that memory into their lives out of love for God.

Psalm 116 sings of thanksgiving.

Blessed are those who respond with gratitude, offering their vows in the presence of God’s people out of love for God.

1 Corinthians invites us to eat and remember.

Blessed are those who receive Christ’s sacrifice and cross every cultural, ethnic, and class boundary to become one people in Christ Jesus, out of love for God.

John 13 shows us Jesus kneeling, washing, loving.

Blessed are those who offer humble service

who serve not to be served, out of love for God.

And then there’s that moment.

Jesus looks at Peter and says,

“You will understand later what I am doing.”

That line stayed with me. Because I’ve lived it over and over.

I want to share a story with you.

1994, I served in a low-income residence of a nursing home. My husband and his professor invited me to join them in leading worship there.

And I’ll be honest with you

I wasn’t sure what I was doing.

I wasn’t sure if I was doing it well.

I wasn’t sure if it counted as “good service” in Jesus’ name.

I pushed elders in their beds and wheelchairs into the worship space.

I held their hands and walked beside them.

Some couldn’t sing, but their faces lit up with joy.

Some couldn’t speak, but they reached out for communion with longing.

I watched their communion with God.

I witnessed their faith in Jesus.

And slowly, I understood.

Humble service isn’t simply about submitting ourselves.

It’s about being fully present with God

letting God be the one who communicates

through prayers, through songs, through scripture.

It’s about trusting that God's grace flows in and out of our shared lives

whether or not we feel confident,

whether or not we feel prepared.

That uncertainty

that quiet wondering

taught me humble service in Jesus’ name.

It taught me that true humble service begins within, not just in outward posture.

It taught me to let go of perfection and lean into God’s presence.

I often return to that uncertainty again and again, because it reminds me what humble service truly is—always pointing back to God, who does the wonder and the miracle.

And so tonight, I want to invite you into that same reflection.

What life experience has taught you the kind of humbleness God desires to see in us?

Let’s take a moment.

[You’re welcome to speak aloud, or simply hold your reflection in silence.]

What has humbled you?

What has taught you to serve in love?

[Pause for reflection]

What is God saying to each of us in worship

when we bow our heads and extend our hands to receive the Lord in communion?

What is God saying to each of us in worship in ministry

when we listen to the stories of lives touched by God?

What is God saying to each of us in worship in community

when we make space for those who didn’t know they belonged?

Blessed are those who offer humble service in love.

Blessed are you, humble servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed are we, woven together in God’s story.

And even when we don’t understand like Peter, Jesus is still saying to us:

“You will understand later.”

Dear church, humble servants of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Let us pray.

Holy Jesus,

on this night when you knelt to wash feet,

teach us to kneel in spirit and in truth.

Make our hearts humble,

our hands willing,

and our love sincere.

Where we feel unsure, give us peace.

Where we feel unworthy, give us grace.

Where we feel hesitant, give us courage to serve.

Let your quiet, steady love flow through us

into every place we go

and every person we meet.

And as we follow you into the mystery of these three days,

help us trust your promise:

that we will understand later.

Amen.

---

God’s Humble Service in Love Flows from God’s Mission

Good Friday — Service of Light and Darkness

Scriptures: Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9; John 18:1–19:42

---

Tonight, we continue the message we heard yesterday:

“Blessed are those who offer humble service in love.”

That is still true.

That is still our calling.

But tonight, our focus shifts.

Because Good Friday is not about our offering.

It is about God’s offering.

It is about Christ’s offering.

It is about the mission God has carried from the very beginning

the mission to bring all people back to God,

again and again,

in love and in forgiveness.

God’s mission has always been clear.

And tonight, we see how far God is willing to go to fulfill it.

We see it through God’s humble service in Jesus Christ.

Our readings show us this movement

that what ultimately flows from God’s mission

is God’s humble service in love.

Isaiah shows us the suffering servant

the one who carries what we cannot carry,

who bears what we cannot bear,

all for the sake of God’s mission.

Hebrews shows us Jesus, our great high priest

the one who knows our weakness,

who prays with tears,

who embodies obedience through suffering,

all for the sake of God’s mission.

John shows us Jesus completing the mission

not with power,

not with force,

but with love and forgiveness

to the very end.

If Maundy Thursday teaches us how to serve,

Good Friday reveals the heart and the mission that shape our service.

We serve because Christ first served us.

We love because Christ first loved us.

We offer ourselves because

Christ offered himself

as the bridge

the filling of the gap

between God and humanity.

Tonight, as the light fades

and the shadows lengthen,

I invite you to hold one quiet question:

Where do you see the places of separation or gap—

and how does Christ bridge them and meet you through his humble service,

on the cross?

May this question rest in you

and open your heart to the mystery of this night.

Let us pray.

Merciful God,

on this Good Friday, slow our steps.

Keep us from rushing past the cross.

Root us in the story of Jesus’ passion.

Let our hearts rise and fall with him.

Let us see our own frailty in the weakness of humanity.

Let us receive the offering he makes for the world.

And when the shadows deepen,

teach us to trust that your mission still moves,

your love still reaches,

your forgiveness still flows.

For Christ has given himself

so that all may be brought home to you.

Amen.

---

Easter Sunday

God’s Love Letter to Easter People

Jeremiah 31:1–6; Psalm 118:1–2, 14–24; Acts 10:34–43; John 20:1–18

---

Beloved in Christ,

We have journeyed from humble service to God’s self-giving love, and today we stand in the light of resurrection hope.

On this Easter morning, we hear Scripture after Scripture telling the same truth in different ways: God is sending a love letter to Easter people.

And that letter has been arriving for generations.

Jeremiah reminds us that long before anyone saw an empty tomb, God was already speaking to a weary people:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love… I will build you again… you shall dance again.”

These words were given to people who thought their story was over.

But God’s love letter says, your story is not finished.

Psalm 118 sings the same message:

“God’s steadfast love endures forever… I shall not die, but live… the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

This is the love letter sung out loud—love that endures, love that lifts us up, love that rebuilds what was broken.

Acts 10 widens the circle.

Peter suddenly realizes something astonishing:

God’s love letter is addressed to everyone.

Every nation, every household, every person who longs for mercy and new life.

“No partiality,” Peter says.

No one left out.

No one forgotten.

And then we come to John 20.

Friends, Easter is not just an event.

It is God’s ongoing love letter to us

especially to those who long to believe.

And today, that love letter continues to be written in this community:

in the lives of those who worship here,

in the stories of those finding their way back to God,

and in the hearts of those preparing for baptism.

And we have one among us today.

I want to invite April to share a brief testimony of faith

a glimpse of how God’s love has been unfolding in her life

as she prepares to enter the waters of baptism

and rise with Christ into newness of life.

Thanks be to God for the love that endures forever,

the love that raises us up,

the love that calls us by name.

April, please come forward to share your story.

[...]

Thank you, April.

Christ is risen, and his love is still at work among us.