Leaning Into Lent: Day 38—Feet

I am always a little uncomfortable about allowing my feet to be washed on Maundy Thursday. I’d rather be the washer than the washee. Peter may have felt something similar when he tried to avoid having his feet washed by Jesus in John 13, one of the readings for today from the St James Devotional Guide. But he was missing the point. The foot washing Jesus was doing was not so much about hygiene as it was about holiness. Same for me.

Every year when I invited the people I served to come and have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday (always in an Anglican decently-and-in-order sort of way by which the custom was all may, none must, some should) I did so, as according to the words in The Book of Alternative Services,

that I may recall whose servant I am by following the example of my Master (p305). 

Holiness, not hygiene. As a result of that simple, moving rite one year, I received this note from an elderly woman saint in the parish:

Lent is one of the Church seasons when I quietly reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross and his crucifixion. Maundy Thursday seems to me to be almost as sorrowful a day as Good Friday. The foot-washing ceremony is something I never took part in. This year as Maundy Thursday approached several of my friends told me what a powerful service they thought the foot-washing was.  

After a day and night of prayer and meditation, I realized that pride had kept me from the foot washing. Because of my hammer toes and rotten looking feet, I had never wanted anyone to see them. 

At the Maundy Thursday service, I was still ambivalent about having my feet washed. Images of Jesus washing his disciples feet flooded my thoughts and I said to myself, “Do it.”  

As my feet were being washed, a feeling of great humility came over me. As they were being dried, I felt a great desire to wash another’s feet. While doing so, I was filled with ecstasy and great emotion. I felt myself to be in a more spiritual realm. My soul was filled with wonderment and love. I was at the foot of the cross; a more fervent believer than ever before. 

That’s what observing Holy Lent on Maundy Thursday can do.

Gene+

Soul Needs: Meditating on Maundy Thursday.

Today The Three Days (Triduum) begin, usually with the Foot Washing and Eucharistic liturgy centred on what Jesus did and said at The Last Supper in that Upper Room.

Past Maundy meditations: 

Feet

Love, Wash, Eat, Drink, Remember: a Short Sermon for Maundy Thursday

Thoughts on Foot Washing

Foot washing can be a challenge for those who are not used to it—all a bit too up close and a little creepy. Eleven years ago a woman wrote me the following note after Maundy Thursday worship and her first experience of foot washing:

Lent is one of the Church seasons when I quietly reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross and his crucifixion. Maundy Thursday seems to me to be almost as sorrowful a day as Good Friday. The foot-washing ceremony is something I never took part in. This year as Maundy Thursday approached several of my friends told me what a powerful service they thought the foot-washing was.   

After a day and night of prayer and meditation, I realized that pride had kept me from the foot washing. Because of my hammer toes and rotten looking feet, I had never wanted anyone to see them.  

At the Maundy Thursday service, I was still ambivalent about having my feet washed. Images of Jesus washing his disciples feet flooded my thoughts and I said to myself, “Do it.”   

As my feet were being washed, a feeling of great humility came over me. As they were being dried, I felt a great desire to wash another’s feet. While doing so, I was filled with ecstasy and great emotion. I felt myself to be in a more spiritual realm. My soul was filled with wonderment and love. I was at the foot of the cross; a more fervent believer than ever before. 

Why was this experience so powerfully moving for this dear saint? When words aren’t enough, we perform rituals. A good ritual says something more than mere words can say. That’s what rituals are for. So we take a tuna casserole over when someone has had a loved one die. We give an aching spouse a back-rub. And we wash feet. Not because the feet need cleaning, but because our souls do. And we go the altar to eat little wafers and take tiny sips of wine, not because our bodies need them for sustenance, but because our souls do.

Thoughts in a Maundy Thursday Vigil

Maundy Thursday watching-for-an-hour vigil after the foot washing and Eucharist. The city hums outside. Railway locomotives rumble with ringing bells. A child's voice pipes up the stairs from the GX Dance break dancers. They know we're here. But nobody else does. People are in the pubs and restaurants; eating and drinking, hooking up, just as they must have been when Jesus sweated those great drops like blood at Gethsemane and was hammered to the cross. Life went on all around as His poured out; so many oblivious to the desperate battle for souls going on and the dark transaction taking place.

I don't feel desperation like Jesus. My life is not in danger. But I want to honour Him. To remember. Give him back an hour. He would have washed my feet had I been there and one of them. Amazing thought. No wonder Peter balked at the prospect.

All I've got to do is miss a few meals tomorrow, lead a few services—small it is, in this poor sort, for such as Him.

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Maundy Acrostic Thought

R is for RECALL whose servant I am.

E is for EXAMPLE, the example of

My Master.

E is for EAT

M is for MY

BODY

E is forEVER

R is for the REMEMBRANCE of me as often as…

 

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The Triduum—The Great Three Days at StB

This evening, the Triduum, or the The Great Three Days, the heart of the Church's liturgical year, begins with the Maundy Thursday liturgy.

"Maundy," the unusual adjective descriptive of this day, comes from the Latin mandatum, meaning "commandment," because this is the day on which the Lord gave the "new commandment" that we are to love one another. On this day He exemplified this love by washing the disciples' feet and also instituted the Lord's Supper, in which all of us who share the one bread are made one body in Christ. (Patrick Henry Reardon. Spring 2013 - The Daily Devotional Guide by Patrick Henry, The Fellowship of St. James)

So, our liturgy this evening (at 7pm) will include all those things: the new commandment, the foot washing and the Lord's Supper.

Foot Washing

Foot washing can be a challenge for those who are not used to it—all a bit too up close and a little creepy. Eleven years ago a woman wrote me the following note after Maundy Thursday worship and her first experience of foot washing:

Lent is one of the Church seasons when I quietly reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross and his crucifixion. Maundy Thursday seems to me to be almost as sorrowful a day as Good Friday. The foot-washing ceremony is something I never took part in. This year as Maundy Thursday approached several of my friends told me what a powerful service they thought the foot-washing was.  

After a day and night of prayer and meditation, I realized that pride had kept me from the foot washing. Because of my hammer toes and rotten looking feet, I had never wanted anyone to see them. 

At the Maundy Thursday service, I was still ambivalent about having my feet washed. Images of Jesus washing his disciples feet flooded my thoughts and I said to myself, “Do it.”  

As my feet were being washed, a feeling of great humility came over me. As they were being dried, I felt a great desire to wash another’s feet. While doing so, I was filled with ecstasy and great emotion. I felt myself to be in a more spiritual realm. My soul was filled with wonderment and love. I was at the foot of the cross; a more fervent believer than ever before. 

Why was this experience so powerfully moving for this dear saint? When words aren’t enough, we perform rituals. A good ritual says something more than mere words can say. That’s what rituals are for. So we take a tuna casserole over when someone has had a loved one die. We give an aching spouse a back-rub. And we wash feet. Not because the feet need cleaning, but because our souls do. And we go the altar to eat little wafers and take tiny sips of wine, not because our bodies need them for sustenance, but because our souls do.

Nonetheless—All may, none must, some should.

Prayer Vigil

After our Maundy Thursday service this evening:
Following an ancient tradition, there will be an opportunity to watch for one hour in prayer as Jesus did at Gethsemane before the crowd came to arrest him.

A Maundy Manifesto

This sums it all up for today:
Love one another.
Wash one another’s feet (it's about holiness, not hygiene).
Eat the bread.
Drink the wine.
In remembrance of him.
Remember that.

Day Two and Three

The Triduum continues at StB with:
Good Friday
2pm: silent meditation around the Stations of the Cross
3pm: The Celebration of the Lord's Passion

It ends at StB with:
Holy Saturday
The Great Vigil of Easter as the sun goes down at 752pm.

Love, Wash, Eat, Drink, Remember: a Short Sermon for Maundy Thursday

The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum which means command.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

Today, we remember two ways in which Jesus exemplified that mandatum, that command.

First, he washed his disciples’ feet. Stunning. Barely comprehensible—for Peter, especially. Jesus knew it.

John 13:7 …“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 

Do we understand what exactly is going on? Not entirely. If we did the church would be full tonight and every Sunday. But we can choose to remember it and do what he says anyway.

 John 13:14 “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” 

We can do it literally. Tonight. We can do it figuratively as we serve one another with great generosity. 

Second, Jesus sets up a memorial for us. Paul describes it.

1 Corinthians 11:23 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

Jesus said, “In remembrance of me.” Another memorial like the one Moses set up for the Passover in Exodus. We keep it as a feast to the LORD Jesus. Throughout our generations. Forever. Sunday by Sunday, Maundy Thursday by Maundy Thursday. To remember him.

Love one another. Wash one another’s feet. Eat the bread. Drink the wine. In remembrance of him. Remember that.

A Maundy Thursday Foot Washing Testimony

Foot washing and Eucharist this evening. It never fails to move me in its simplicity and beauty. Here's what a dear sister wrote about her first experience of it nine years ago:

Lent is one of the Church seasons when I quietly reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross and his crucifixion. Maundy Thursday seems to me to be almost as sorrowful a day as Good Friday. The foot-washing ceremony is something I never took part in. This year as Maundy Thursday approached several of my friends told me what a powerful service they thought the foot-washing was.

After a day and night of prayer and meditation, I realized that pride had kept me from the foot washing. Because of my hammer toes and rotten looking feet, I had never wanted anyone to see them.

At the Maundy Thursday service, I was still ambivalent about having my feet washed. Images of Jesus washing his disciples feet flooded my thoughts and I said to myself, “Do it.”

As my feet were being washed, a feeling of great humility came over me. As they were being dried, I felt a great desire to wash another’s feet. While doing so, I was filled with ecstasy and great emotion. I felt myself to be in a more spiritual realm. My soul was filled with wonderment and love. I was at the foot of the cross; a more fervent believer than ever before.

She's off in dementia now, but I believe she still communes with the LORD at the foot of the cross.

Feet

I love being an Anglican at this time of year.

Last night I washed several pairs of feet; smooth and rough, big and small, young and old; and my own were washed, too.

The Maundy Thurdsday foot washing, Eucharist and stripping of the altar in preparation for today never fails to move me. We don't jazz it up in any way. We just follow the bare liturgy as it is laid out and the LORD meets us there.

I find it profoundly humbling to wash someone else's feet. It is also a joy and a priviledge, especially on those occasions when I hear that this is the first time someone has been able to come forward. There is something almost fearfully intimate in offering our feet, a part of our bodies we often consider to be the least attractive, odd, even ugly, for someone else to touch. But people do, often overcoming great fear, or even shame, to step forward. It's amazing.

I also never fail to be moved when I see members of the congregation washing each others' feet. Husbands washing their wive's; grandchildren, their grandparent's; friends, friends; It's wonderful to see.