Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter Sunday, when the Church commemorates
Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples. The word "Maundy" comes from a Latin
word, "mande" which means command, or commandment, because during the Last
Supper, Jesus told his disciples (in John 13:34-35) "I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love
one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you
have love for one another."
Why are so many Church doors red?
The red color on many church doors symbolizes blood--it is through Jesus'
shed blood (that is, Jesus' act of spending his life to teach his disciples
about the coming of the Reign of God, and the fact that he was assassinated
by the Roman Government for treason, because they didn't understand that
Jesus taught about a Realm that exists between human beings, not a political
entity) that our sins are forgiven (sin is a word taken from archery which
means to miss the mark or to fail to hit the bullseye--that is, not completely
living up to God's will--and haven't we all failed from time to time to
be the people that we know God wants us to be?) Baptism, the symbolic act
of being washed, is the action which makes us members of Christ's Church,
and the act of Baptism symbolizes being washed in Jesus' blood; therefore,
since Baptism is the entrance (or admittance) to the Church, and Baptism
symbolizes being washed in Jesus' blood, the red doors on many churches
remind us that the entrance to the Church is through Jesus' blood.
Some New Questions
I received a question about why some pastors and church leaders condemn long hair on men. Is this question biblical? Or is this question more cultural/historical? As I have stated, my specialty is in the history and Traditions of the Church, so my biblical exegesis tends to be colored more by what Christians have actually taught and practiced at different times and places, since there are so many variations among Christian practice across the centuries. As an ancient saying puts it, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity (that is, selfless love for the other.) I am still working on this answer for the questioner.
I just received a very good question about polygamy in the Hebrew Scriptures, and how or why did God's position seem to change in the time after Christ. (Or did it?) I am working on the research on this question and should have the answer up next week. I just returned from a marvelous mission trip to Mexico with a member of my Church School class and my Junior High Youth Group leader, and will also have pages up showing our ministry and how this trip strengthened our faith. Finally, I received a question about what happens between the time that we die, and the Final Resurrection and Judgement. That question will take several pages to answer fully, so it may be a few weeks until I can adequately answer that one, give the tremendous diversity of teachings that the Church has held throughout the centuries. In the meantime,
Blessings!
Pastor Gordon
E-mail me at pastorgordon@yahoo.com
with your questions and I will post them and their answers here!
Click HERE to see our photos from our recent Mexican Youth Mission Trip!
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"It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it is usually
that Christianity has not really been tried!"
(Paraphrase of G. K. Chesterton)
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