Reflection:
Compassionate Foot Washing
In this reflection we will explore the transformative power of compassionate foot washing, through the interweaving of a talk based on John 13:1-17 with music, readings and guided prayer.
Opening music:
Listen to the following piece of music as an opening prayer.
Lyrics:
In this moment I welcome thee
Ever giving thyself to me
Reflection Talk:
Talk length: 15 minutes
If you would like to listen to this as an audio file, click here.
Reading:
Below is the scripture text from the talk. I invite you to read this prayerfully yourself, and spend some time in quiet reflection:
John 12:45
"When they look at me, they see the one who sent me."
John 13:1-17
"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the evil one (or diabolos, meaning the false accuser) had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than their master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent them. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
Quiet prayer
I invite you into a time of quiet prayer, using the ten minute timer below which begins and ends with the sound of a gong. Open yourself in surrender to the presence and action of God within.
End the time of quiet prayer by listening to the following song:
Lyrics:
On this the final night
They bicker and they fight
Still they are slaves to men
But not yet slaves to Christ
He would give up on words
Too tired to speak
So He took up the towel
And washed their filthy feet
The arguments just melt away
And there was nothing more that they could say
A wordless lesson that would set them free
Tell me how much more a servant could He be?
He took the loaf of bread
He broke it and He said
Take this My body and remember Me
He took the final cup
And as He raised it up
This covenant is new
My blood poured out for you
The arguments just melt away
And there was nothing more that they could say
A wordless lesson that would set them free
Tell me how much more a servant could He be?
He is the Slave who always serves Himself
And makes of Himself the final meal
Lived out in flesh so we could see
Tell me how much more a servant could He be?
He is the wine and bread
Too much to comprehend
He leads us from His knees
And serves us as a friend
In time they'd finally hear
The message made so clear:
Who is the greatest one?
It is God's Servant Son
The arguments just melt away
And there was nothing more that they could say
A wordless lesson that would set them free
Tell me how much more a servant could He be?
Foot washing practice:
Richard Rohr describes foot washing as a contemplative practice:
"While sometimes reserved for Holy Thursday, foot washing as contemplative practice can happen any time, with anyone. Invite someone to share this ritual with you—if you both are comfortable having your feet touched by each other. No particular script or special space is needed, just a basin, warm water, towels, and your authentic presence. You might choose to wash in silence, focusing on the physical sensations. Or you may wish to talk about what you mean to each other, express gratitude, or ask for forgiveness. However you choose to practice foot washing, I hope it helps you experience your own and your companion’s bodies as God’s body."
Questions for reflection:
Below are some of the questions from this talk. Spend some time reflecting on these:
We are so used to our neat, safely boundaried ways of worship and of serving God, but allowing something to be done to us pulls the rug out from under our measured control and invites us into the realm of vulnerable receptivity and not-knowing. Can we allow this?
Can we receive with this kind of vulnerability, that allows grace to approach us and wash over us on God's terms, even if this means that all we held safe and known is pulled apart?
Feet are a wonderful symbol of our messy, cracked, somewhat smelly realness. Can we allow our nobbly, cracked human feet to be seen, held, and tenderly washed?
Can we offer this kind of service to our own wounded and struggling humanity?
Can we offer this kind of service to the wounded and struggling humanity of others?
Consider the whole of your life as it is right now.
Can you recognise the ways in which the Beloved may be seeding "deflation in the field of separation?"
Can you receive the whole of your life as a blessing that is being given, not on your own terms?
Read the following blessing as you hold these questions open in prayer:
Blessing You Cannot Turn Back
As if you could stop this blessing from washing over you.
As if you could turn it back, could return it from your body to the bowl,
from the bowl to the pitcher,
from the pitcher to the hand that set this blessing on its way.
As if you could change the course by which this blessing flows.
As if you could control how it pours over you—
unbidden, unsought, unasked,
yet startling in the way it matches the need you did not know you had.
As if you could become undrenched.
As if you could resist gathering it up in your two hands
and letting your body follow the arc this blessing makes.
—Jan Richardson
Ending prayer:
A blessing is not finished
until we let it do its work within us
and then pass it along,
an offering grounded in the love that Jesus shows us this night.
Yet we cannot do this—as the disciples could not do this—
until we first allow ourselves to simply receive the blessing as it is offered.
And so we open our hearts to receive this blessing,
to be shaken and transformed by this blessing,
and to freely and humbly pass it on:
as gift,
as promise,
as a sign of a world made whole.
Amen
(Based on a blessing by Jan Richardson)
Ending music:
Lyrics:
And the call is to community
In an upstairs room, a parable
Is just about to come alive
And while they bicker about who's best
With a painful glance, He'll silently rise
Their Savior Servant must show them how
Through the will of the water
And the tenderness of the towel
And the call is to community
The impoverished power that sets the soul free
In humility, to take the vow
That day after day we must take up the basin and the towel
In any ordinary place
On any ordinary day
The parable can live again
When one will kneel and one will yield
Our Savior Servant must show us how
Through the will of the water
And the tenderness of the towel
And the space between ourselves sometimes
Is more than the distance between the stars
By the fragile bridge of the Servant's bow
We take up the basin and the towel
And the call is to community
The impoverished power that sets the soul free
In humility, to take the vow
That day after day we must take up the basin
And the call is to community
The impoverished power that sets the soul free
In humility, to take the vow
That day after day we must take up the basin and
Day after day we must take up the basin and
Day after day we must take up the basin and the towel
Take up the basin and the towel
(Day after day)
Basin and towel
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Sharon's book that was previously called "Contemplative Living" has been republished by AnamChara Books under the title "Deeper: Finding the Depth Dimension Beneath the Surface of Life". The Kindle version is available from Amazon, and the hard copy version can be ordered from loot.co.za or Takealot, or from your local bookshop through Ingram Distribution.