On Maundy Thursday, we gathered as a cooperative parish, three congregations coming together at the table, remembering the night when Jesus broke bread with his friends and gave us the command to love one another.
It was a gift to welcome Rev. Jennifer Spieth, pastor at Washington Pike United Methodist Church, to share the message that evening. She invited us into a simple but searching question: What is the story we carry?
As she reflected on the Last Supper, she reminded us that this is not just a story we hear. It is a story we find ourselves inside. A story where bread is broken and a cup is poured out. A story where suffering and redemption are held together. A story where, somehow, from death comes life.
One image she shared lingers. She spoke about the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold, not hidden but made more beautiful through its fractures. In the same way, she said, Christ meets us in our brokenness, not to discard us, but to restore us.
“We are all broken,” she said, “but God is the one who puts us back together.”
That is the story we carry, one not of perfection, but of mercy. A story that doesn’t avoid suffering, but where God enters it fully. A story that moves through the dark and toward life.
As you listen to this message, or reflect on this night, you might ask yourself the same question: What story am I living in? And how might Christ be meeting me there—right in the middle of it?
We’d love to see you in person at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood United Methodist Church, 3120 Pershing Street, Knoxville, TN. Come as you are. We’re not in the judging business. We’re in the welcoming business.
