{"id":744,"date":"2020-04-09T14:33:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T13:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/chaplaincy\/?p=744"},"modified":"2020-04-09T14:33:04","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T13:33:04","slug":"footwashing-handwashing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/2020\/04\/09\/footwashing-handwashing\/","title":{"rendered":"Footwashing & handwashing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s the reading and reflection from today\u2019s communion\nservice…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the\nhour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved\nhis own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already\nprompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the\nFather had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and\nwas returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing,\nand wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin\nand began to wash his disciples\u2019 feet, drying them with the towel that was\nwrapped round him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, \u2018Lord, are you going\nto wash my feet?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus replied, \u2018You do not realise now what I am doing, but\nlater you will understand.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No,\u2019 said Peter, \u2018you shall never wash my feet.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus answered, \u2018Unless I wash you, you have no part with\nme.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Then, Lord,\u2019 Simon Peter replied, \u2018not just my feet but my\nhands and my head as well!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus answered, \u2018Those who have had a bath need only to wash\ntheir feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one\nof you.\u2019 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not\nevery one was clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his\nclothes and returned to his place. \u2018Do you understand what I have done for\nyou?\u2019 he asked them. \u2018You call me \u201cTeacher\u201d and \u201cLord\u201d, and rightly so, for\nthat is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,\nyou also should wash one another\u2019s feet. I have set you an example that you\nshould do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater\nthan his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that\nyou know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the reading which is usually read at services on\nMaundy Thursday evening. A few years ago in the church we were part of in\nCodsall, my colleague Priscilla suggested that we did what many other churches\ndid, and included actual footwashing in the service. So for a few years we did\nthat – people volunteered to sit at the end of the row and take off their shoes\nand socks at the appropriate time, and Priscilla or I would come round and wash\ntheir feet – or foot… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it was a bit undignified, and sometimes funny, but also\nvery meaningful. Then a few years later, we thought again. Unlike in the days\nof Jesus, with people walking barefoot or in sandals, footwashing like this isn\u2019t\na common practice. But washing our hands is. So we changed what we did, and\noffered people the chance to come up and have their hands gently washed. And to\nmy surprise everyone came up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, it was very meaningful I think, very tender – very\nintimate – a real moment of connection – very different from the sort of\nhandwashing we\u2019ve all been so much recently – all about cleansing ourselves\nfrom the touch of others, and keeping ourselves separate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the story we\u2019ve heard how Peter struggles to accept what\nJesus is doing. It feels wrong – Jesus shouldn\u2019t be ministering to him in this\nway, it\u2019s humiliating – and maybe it\u2019s too intimate for him. He protests. But\nJesus insists – \u2018Unless I was you, you have no part in me.\u2019 I imagine Jesus\neyes, locked with Peter\u2019s, willing him to understand. He must allo Jesus to\ntouch his feet, no doubt scarred and pretty smelly. He must accept the gentle\ncaress of his cleansing – this is necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John puts this story into his account of the Last Supper instead\nof the story about Jesus sharing bread and wine. It\u2019s as if he is saying \u2018This\nis also communion\u2019 – letting yourself be ministered to by Jesus. Allow it.\nAccept it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of his Midday Moments Brian Draper suggests that we\ncan use our own handwashing as a way of connecting with Jesus. He suggests that\nas we wash our hands we pray \u2018Wash me clean, Lord.\u2019 And then we hold our hands\nlike this – and remembering all that we are feeling and going through, we say \u2018I\nam in your hands, Lord.\u2019 And finally we hold up our hands in self-offering,\nresponding to the call of Jesus to follow his example; \u2018Help me be your hands,\nLord.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wash me clean, Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am in your hands, Lord.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help me be your hands, Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we need new symbols and actions to help us connect.\nToday, whether or not we had our feet and hands washed, many of us would have gathered\naround the Lord\u2019s table to share bread and wine with each other. As things are,\neven though we can be together in this way, we can\u2019t do that. The Church has been\nhelping us to think about a different sort of communion – spiritual communion. Most\nof us cannot receive communion in the usual way, but we can all hear again the\nstory of our salvation, and make our own deep connection with our Lord as bread\nand wine are blessed. And we can open our hearts to receive him, trusting that\nhe will give himself to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are invited to share a deep and intimate communion of the\nheart. And as we go on from this service today, we are invited to continue that\nclose companionship with our Lord, sharing again in deeply as we can in the\nstory of his complete selfgiving – his betrayal, his breakdown in the garden,\nhis arrest, abandonment, abuse, torture, unjust trial, humiliation and agonising\ndeath. In all of this he is saying to us – this is how close I am to you,\nalways, because I love you – this is how much I share in all that you are going\nthrough, now…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And maybe we can hear him asking us  – will you let me wash you – will you let me\nfeed you – will you let me be this close to you – will you share in the deep\ncommunion of my love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n