Grace poured out John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Just some thoughts on Maundy (Latin: Mandate. "I give you a new command" - mandate - "that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.") Thursday.

 

Tonight at 7:00, St. Luke's will have a Maundy Thursday worship service. Foot-washing will be part of that service. I think it only honest to share some of my feelings about this "ritual."

 

I, personally, am far more comfortable being the one washing others' feet, rather than having others wash my feet. At its root, this reveals my personal desire to be in control. To be able to control for how much water to pour, how hard to scrub (or not), that sort of thing.

Having someone else wash my feet, means that I am at their disposal. Allowing them to hold my filthiest part...so vulnerable. You'd be amazed how often people will say to me: "I wish you had told me we were doing a foot washing, I would have had a manicure, scrubbed my bunions, clipped my toenails, or whatever." And so, they won't come forward and receive this blessing (actually, it should be considered a sacrament. Jesus said "do it."). I'm serious! Pretty up your feet??? Kind of defeats the purpose, you know? Not that I'm not self-conscious of my ugly runner/dancer's feet. But, they are what they are. And I got them by being who I am.

I think my need for control limits the way I receive grace. If I want to control how grace is poured over me, how much, when, how, where and only when I've prettied my life (feet) up...then it's not really grace. Make sense?

My most dramatic reception of grace - or the one I am most aware of - came when my life was literally falling apart around me, and quite publically. Grace flowed over me and over me and over me (through friends and family and strangers - who held me up, by holding my hand and my heart, until i was strong enough to get my feet under me). And I was just too exhausted to fight back. I, who could appear "together" in just about any situation, was exposed as completely "not together." And in my weakness, God's grace showed forth most clearly. It literally carried me through. Poured over me in ways I had never imagined. Splashing and spilling and sinking into the crevices of my messed-up life. Drowning what needed to die and watering what needed new life. In that death, God began moving me toward resurrection.

I will have my feet washed tonight (I hope you will, too). I will not be completely comfortable with it. But I will do it, so that I may have a "share in Jesus," so that I may live in his grace poured out, in hopes of sharing that grace with others.

 

Peace ~

 

 

 

Making Sense of Foot Washing

This is the first time I have ever "blogged" (is that the right verb?).

So, as a first attempt, I'm posting some thoughts on Footwashing that were shared with me.

 

St. Luke's will offer foot washing as part of our Maundy Thursday worship (Thursday, March 28 @ 7:00).  I hope you will participate.

 

Blessings on your journey this week ~

+ Pr. Sara

 

Making Sense of Foot Washing

by Pilgrim Lutheran Church (Notes)

Feet are gross, or so I have often heard. All that sweat and smell. They do a lot of work, and thus get worked on. Scars, bunions, broken toes- all signs of well used feet.

It wasn't any different in Jesus' day. Probably it was worse. When you're walking through towns and streets and farms where animals were always present, and you're walking in sandals, well, feet picked up a lot of undesirable qualities. It was the lowest-rung servant who knelt by the door and washed the feet of those who came in the house, usually a young girl or boy. This servant was the least of the house servants doing the worst of the jobs.

So when Jesus washes the feet of those he loves (John 13), it isn't just symbolism, it was a real cleaning. It was scrubbing dirty things from an undesirable place. No wonder Peter wouldn't take it. This act upsets the good order intended for the house. The master of the house should NOT be washing feet. Yet here is Jesus, taking the bottom rung and owning it.

Jesus says to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (John 13:8)

Huh. Unless you let Jesus get down and dirty with the parts of you you don't want to share, then you just don't get it. You have to let Jesus in. It is not a time to hide the ugly and undesirable. Washing feet is opening up the most vulnerable part and letting Jesus in to make it clean.

Jesus goes on to say that he does this as an example to the rest of us, what we are supposed to do (John 13:14-15). I don't think this just means we are supposed to only wash feet, I think this means we are called to have our feet washed too. We don't just get to serve, we have to humble ourselves and be served as well, even in the places that aren't always so nice.

This Thursday, we will be washing feet as a part of our Maundy Thursday Service (7pm). Perhaps you are thinking, there is no way I am letting someone wash my feet. Instead I would encourage you to consider that it is time to let Jesus in, to clean the places we would rather hide. It humbling to wash feet. Maybe it is more humbling to have your feet washed.

Come, serve and be served. Come, wash and be washed.