We attended the Maundy Thursday dinner and service last night at church. We brought both boys with us and weren’t really sure how that would go as they needed to be quiet while our pastor spoke. Fortunately, they did great! They made the occasional peep, but they were entertained by pens and Cheerios.
I, on the other hand, came home hungry.
Dinner was wonderful. The buffet had carrots, shepherd’s pie and a couple of yummy desserts. I need to point out that this wasn’t your typical “fellowship hall” church shepherd’s pie. I had never actually eaten shepherd’s pie before. I’m not sure how that is even possible, but the description of it always gave me the willies.
But this shepherd’s pie was absolutely delicious. A great big pile of peas, corn, beef, and mashed potato goodness. What’s better than that? (Other than Rachel’s trifle/shepherd’s pie mixture on Friends, perhaps? “Beef? Good!”)
I digress.
But seriously this shepherd’s pie was delicious. Unfortunately, to keep Hudson quiet, I shared some of my shepherd’s pie with him. Because we were in a church buffet line, I didn’t put a whole lot on my plate to begin with. You know how it is when you don’t want people to think you eat too much based on how much food you put on your plate in a buffet line. And I didn’t eat lunch yesterday, so I was just hungry.
Well between Hudson and me, we ate that shepherd’s pie. Quickly. And I wanted seconds. But you can’t go back for seconds at a church Maundy Thursday dinner.
Especially when the point of the service is to prepare your heart for fasting on Good Friday.
So I didn’t go back for seconds. I didn’t get more shepherd’s pie. But you better believe I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I got home. Because fasting didn’t start until today.
*More seriously, I pray that you all take time to reflect in your own way about what Good Friday means and the sacrifices that were made for us when God sacrificed his Son for us.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed
1 Peter 2:24
there was a family behind us last night with a couple of small children and they were also well-behaved, with the occasional peep. it wasn’t until about 10 minutes before the service was over that i heard the little girl whisper, “i’ve been such a good girl!” HA!
My 19-month-old daughter did not do as well during the somber service! She kept competing with the pastor with her amens and singing with the soloist…we had to duck out to respect everyone else’s experience…yikes!
That’s one of my favorite Friends’ episodes! “Tastes like feet!”
Love the verse at the end of your post! Happy Easter!
I’d go back for seconds ! Mommys got to eat!!!! You could’ve just put the plate in front of Hudson … I would’ve just made my hubby get some more. Guys don’t get judged for eating too much,it’s expected! Now I want to try Shepard pie.. I’ve always thought the ingredient combo sounded gross !
haha! When I was a kid, we had an Ash Wednesday meal for the Kids Club group I was involved with at church. For dinner, to remember the somber service, we had rice cakes for dinner. RICE CAKES! I wouldn’t get full now, and I wasn’t in fifth grade for sure. So, when we got home, we got to have a second dinner before bed time. 🙂
Hope you have a great weekend!
Hey Erin!
I was the same way with Shepherds Pie and hadn’t really tried it before based on the description, and maybe that same episode of FRIENDS, but after attempting to make it at my husbands request, I fell in love at first bite! I had to laugh when you said you worried about the size of the portion you took and didn’t want people judging. I’m the same way weddings etc but have learned to go ahead and eat.
Thank you for encouragement and a laugh on this Good Friday! It’s rainy and cold here at the beach today but I felt refreshed after my Jesus Calling devotion this morning on being thankful, and what better day than today to remind us of that! Hope you have a great Easter weekend 🙂
Laura
You had me at … “Beef? Good!” My husband makes fun of how I refer to Friends during real life situations. Cute blog, great post!
Love you refrenced that FRIENDS episode!!! I use that soo much, I even blogged it too 🙂