johnmdemarco posted on April 21, 2011 18:38
My daughter and I sat in silence with the others in the congregation as the altar was stripped bare of vestments, candles, baskets of communion bread, goblets of grape juice, and so forth. We then left in silence as well, reflecting on the previous hour of commemorating Jesus’ last evening before his death in a service called Maundy Thursday.
What else besides silence can be offered in the face of a King who allowed himself to be stripped bare of all his glory, dignity and human life itself—in order that I, in my brokenness and barrenness, might be clothed in that same majesty and given the gift of my true identity, my true life?
I pray that I might continue to be stripped of the distractions that keep my attention from Christ, of the numerous wants and alleged needs that fuel desires that lead to dead-ends, of trust in external outcomes and circumstances that compete with my awareness of the renewing life that dwells inside of me. Peel it all away, Lord, leave it strewn and tattered upon the earth around me…as I surrender all that is relevant to me into your nail-scarred hands.