It's Reformation weekend. Just hours ago I published the blog "Leading from Below." But my mental and spiritual wheels are still turning. The image of footwashing as the most basic and grounding "sacrament" of the church is powerful for me because of the way I know the act of it re-stories both the one who washes the feet and the one who receives the washing. Foot washing quickly deconstructs class, hubris (having your feet washed is perhaps the most humbling experience I've ever had), and coercive power. It grounds us in the proper physical mudra of serving and leading...the posture of kneeling. It's power is supreme in the gentle and loving ways of our Lord Jesus.
Some of the things I promised to change in the congregation I now serve were its "Table Practices." I went to the same sort of seminary you did. You know, the kind that says you're not supposed to change anything in your first year of ministry. But I've never bought into that. I know that those who argue this position argue that you have to build trust to engage change in a congregation, and that coming in and immediately changing things somehow communicates the congregation's prior inadequacies. But I find it unfortunate how binary our perceptions of change and challenge; that the only sort of message change might indicate is one of belittlement. You see, I think it is the most profound way we honor one another, when we call each other more fully into the gospel. In fact, I believe that this is the call and purpose and identity of the church.
This makes me wonder at our defintions of compassion and mercy. Are mercy and compassion most concerned with the "feelings" of a context, or the LIFE God so desperately wants for it? I realize that even this dichotomy should probably be seen as a both/and. But I wonder. What if Jesus had been less abrupt with the lame man at the pool of Siloam? What if he hadn't in the midst of the man's whining and excuses for his illness simply said, "Stand up! Take up your mat and walk?" It doesn't seem all that compassionate. It seems rough, and abrupt, and uncaring. And yet the man walks and lives! Think on that...
In the rite of ordination, I said "Yes!" to the holy privilege of stewarding the gospel. It is my holy call, as it is with anyone who is ordained, to remove obstacles and barriers in community to living in response to the good news about the God who claims beyond all sin, death, and brokenness; who reconciles and forgives beyond all offense, curse, and damnation. And where the fullness of this gracious activity is occluded, despite my own brokenness, (God prefers broken vessels) I've been called to remove the barriers with the help of the "reforming Church" and the Holy Spirit who calls and enlightens as she goes before us.
Semper reformanda. This is the Reformation's call to the ongoing task of "reforming" and "remaking" his precious and broken body, the church. And yet, it seems as though we teach and encourage the safety of mediocre servant leadership that doesn't risk for the gospel at all.
My congregation is flourishing. It is NOT flourishing because I am here. It IS flourishing because the gospel is becoming the music of our collective heart beat. It is becoming that music because not only do we preach the gospel every week, we enact it in a table that welcomes all, tax collectors and sinners, saints and prophets, pharisees and thieves, and CHILDREN to the banquet of the Lord where we live and anticipate together now the fullness of God's coming reign.
Our "Table Practices" have changed, and so have we. It is a powerfully grounding and transformative thing to enact in community the promise of God given to us in Isaiah 25:6-10. But I am wondering, in light of a church always "reforming", what a church that enacts the mutual washing of feet would look like? I wonder where we could be if we were now washing each other's feet week in and out? I wonder, how much further the Holy Spirit could witness through us if The Servant's heart was richly and truly formed in us? I wonder what it would mean to have built into our worship a way to regularly story one another in the most basic posture of the disciple?
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6 comments:
I think the reason we suck at footwashing is the hubris you mentioned. I don't want to take off my shoes and have people see my ugly toes and smell my yucky feet. What would people think about me? I'd rather put a dollar in the plate to help some poor child is some desperate place I'll never see in person. That will make me feel good.
But key to a servants heart is willing to be served when the time is right. Even Jesus allowed his head to be annointed much to the chagrin of Judas. If we can't be vulnerable enough to accept grace, then we can't really be a vessel to pass God's grace on to others.
Well said Kevan. Which is why I think "footwashing" as community praxis would radically transform us. Again, what if we practiced this together in community regularly? I think it would break, warm, and transform hearts. Having your feet washed is an incredibly powerful experience of grace.
Thanks for the comments!
Fellas,
I just finished a sermon series on the 5 Guiding Gifts that come from our MDIVnet.net relationships. I paired a biblical reference to each gift. The last gift (God gifts us for the world) was paired with John 13, and because our worship is intentionally experiential in form, we included a footwashing station along with our other stations.
I preached on how Jesus takes an ordinary towel and redefines who we think we are following...not a King who needs to be served, but a King who reigns through service...and by touching the nastiest part of the human body at that time...the feet.
Before we got up to do the footwashing, I told people, "You may think that you don't want to come up here because your feet stink or you didn't do your nails. Get over yourself."
I really expected only a handful of the 40 gathered to come up.
I was wrong. They all came up, and it was an amazing time. At the same time, I had a table with a bunch of hand towels laid out. There were markers, and the pray-ers were invited to mark up their towels with words or phrases that would remind them of how they are to take up their towels and wash the feet of their world.
At the end of worship, I have a 'call to serve' where we focus ourselves on gearing up for what God has prepared for us to do beyond our glorious hour of worship. During that call to serve, I had them swing their towels around their heads...sort of like a certain football team does but with yellow towels.
That hour transformed me perhaps more than them because of what Nathan has articulated here ... leadership starts on the knee, with a bowl of water, some soap, and a towel.
Just don't forget to wash your hands before we serve communion! :)
So here's a thought...at our next leadership retreats with council, etc, why not include a footwashing rite?
What would synod gatherings look like if this were a mainstay?
Stellar Paul. I've been thinking a similar thing. What if this just starts with council; that THIS is how we start out each council meeting. When we get started, I'll let you know.
Paul, thanks for sharing your transformative experience. These experiences are so transformational, we don't employ them at our own incredible loss.
Last Maundy Thursday, 3 servant leaders in the congregation and myself formed four stations and did this for the first time in my congregation. There were very few dry eyes.
It doesn't matter where you are: Suburban Plano, rural Bloomfield, the steppes of Africa, or the urban squalor of India. A faith that lives at peoples feet transforms, inspires and engages. Again, praise God for the servant King who washes the feet of the world...
Nate thanks for dropping a note on my conversation page...and thanks for your wonderings and visioning here. I look forward to checking in from time-to-time. God's blessings and grace to all who gather here.
Oh wow, I just now discovered your blog and starting reading some--amazing, thank you! And I am so with you on footwashing as essential sacrament. I'll be back later and often, I trust. Be Blessed!
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