This day and service are named for the “new commandment” (“mandatum novum” in Latin) that Jesus gives to his followers at the Passover meal on the night he was arrested: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” We hear as an example of that love how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.

This is also the moment when Jesus institutes the Eucharist, telling his followers on that solemn night, “I am with you only a little longer,” but that “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

This service includes the choir and the celebration of Holy Eucharist. After we break bread together, we acknowledge Christ’s impending death by stripping the altar. Finally, we silently depart with the reserve sacrament into the courtyard for a time of silent prayer and reflection — our Garden of Gethsemane — to pray and “stay awake” in solidarity with Christ.