Foot
Washing
There
are 26 bones in the human foot and 31 joints (I don’t know how that works.) One
quarter of the bones in our bodies are in our feet.
How
do we feel about touching feet? Why? What images and feelings do feet bring up
for you?
Jesus
offers us a new commandment. We are to love one another. The example he uses is
washing the disciples’ feet. In his day this was an act of service, hospitality,
and humility. Some churches wash each other’s hands. In the other extreme
direction, the Pope and the Queen of England each pick out twelve people to
wash their feet.
We
may be disconnected from the original meaning of Jesus. Today, what do we mean
by foot washing? How is this a way to love?
Intimate?
Generous? Humbling? Embarrassing?
In
our day, it is a way to reject all pretense that we are other than human. There
is no mistaking our vulnerability. There is no denying our wounded, aging, creaturely
selves.
This
is awkward and strange. Just like love. This is how we love each other. We
fumble and we are unsure what we are doing. We don’t know how we look to
others. We don’t know if we are doing it right. Love requires vulnerability.
Love requires risk. Service is not a contained, intentional act that reaches a
predictable outcome. We open ourselves and offer ourselves and we do not know
how our actions will be received. Love is in relationship. There is give and
take. We try to understand and to be understood. Only then do we seek a deeper
level of love where we meet the other person as an equal – as another sister or
brother on the same journey.
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