Holy Thursday begins the great three days that commemorate how God accomplished our salvation in Jesus Christ. The first part of the service is confession and forgiveness, the culmination of the Lenten season of repentance. Holy Thursday then recalls two central events leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection. First is the Lord’s Supper. The Gospel tells of the Holy Thursday night when, during the Passover meal, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “This is My body.” He then took the cup, blessed it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My blood of the new covenant.” The old covenant involved regular repeated animal sacrifice. This new covenant involves the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus’ blood, which fulfilled the old covenant once for all. We now share this Meal regularly in remembrance of Jesus’ all-availing sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. The second central event recalled tonight is the abandonment of Jesus by all who loved Him. This is remembered by the action of stripping the altar while Psalm 22 is sung or read. This reminder of how Jesus was forsaken also assures us that Jesus is with us at times when we feel forsaken.