Guide 5: Foot Washing
Good News About Our Bodies
(Leader’s Note: Make sure you have the following supplies before beginning the Guide:
A pitcher, large cup, or bowl filled with warm water
A bucket or bin in which to catch the poured out water
A few towels with which to dry feet and one on the ground below the bucket or bin Communion elements.)
Review the Practice (10 minutes)
During this series we focused on how we carry God’s good news to the world in our bodies, and have used this review time each week to reflect on our Lenten renunciation—the neutral appetite, habit, or activity that we are laying down for the 40 days before Easter in order to make space to experience our deeper love for God. With Easter in just a few days, let’s take some time to reflect on how God has met us this Lent.
How did your renunciation this Lenten season shape your awareness of God?
What was God able to give you as you laid down your neutral appetite for 40 days?
Overview (2 minutes)
On the night before Jesus died, at his final dinner with his disciples, he summed up much of his life’s message through a symbolic practice. Jesus used these last moments not to tell one final parable, but to enact one—exactly modeling God’s posture towards humanity and, therefore, what our posture must be towards those around us.
John builds up to the moment in his retelling of the event by writing that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God…” (John 13v3) Jesus knew his source and his destiny. As the readers, then, we might expect Jesus to then stand up and lift a sword to the heavens, setting some covert plan in place to take down Rome. Instead, Jesus’ certainty about identity led him to rise from the meal, removing his coat, wrapping a towel around his waist, and kneeling before each disciple to wash their feet.
The “maundy” in Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word maundatum, meaning command, and references how Jesus explains what he was doing by washing their feet: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13v34–35) Tonight, we will reenact Jesus’ symbolic gesture of foot washing together, remembering God’s love for us and embodying the love he calls us to have for one another.
Exercise for Tonight
We’ll begin with foot washing, then we’ll practice confession and receive communion together.
Foot Washing: As the Community Leader, I will be “washing” each person’s feet and then, at the end someone can volunteer to wash my feet. Here’s how it is going to work:
To maintain an atmosphere of worship, let’s remain quietly reflective (Leader’s Note: Have some sort of worship or instrumental music playing like this playlist.)
Each person whose feet are being washed will sit in a chair with their feet in the bin.
I will “wash” your feet by pouring the warm water from the pitcher over your feet.
I will then dry your feet with a towel.
We’ll repeat steps 2–4 until every person has had their feet washed.
Confession: In John’s account of this event, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet in silence—until he gets to Peter. Having likely grown uncomfortable and embarrassed as Jesus washed his friends’ feet, he expressed his own feelings of unworthiness to have his Rabbi wash his feet. Jesus meets Peter’s confession with grace, showing Peter that God’s love is good. Before we receive communion, let’s take some time to confess together.
To do this, we’ll take a few moments in silent prayer, reflecting on our resonance with Peter’s objection: What about my own life causes me to feel reluctant about receiving God’s love? What deeper attachment do I need to confess? Perhaps it’s my need for control, or my desire to be admired by others, or to feel productive or secure or comfortable? Let’s take a moment in silent prayer to let the Spirit bring something to mind, and to confess it back to him, freely receiving his forgiveness.
(Leader note: Give people a minute or so to confess silently to God.)
Ok, now that we’ve prayed about our sin, we’re going to participate in corporate confession by sharing aloud with one another by going around, one at a time, and confessing in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.
A confession for tonight might sound like “I confess that I have such a deep attachment to feeling safe and secure, that it’s hard for me to trust God.” or “I confess that my desire to be productive gets in the way of being with Jesus.” or “I confess that I care so deeply about the way others perceive me that I have a hard time hearing what God says about me.” We’ll go around in a circle, starting with me, and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by saying something like, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.
Communion: Having had time now to confess to God and to one another, we’re going to receive communion together. Before we do, let’s take a moment in silence to come back to God’s loving presence to us—to our God who calls us “very good.” Even now, draw your attention to his nearness to you.
(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)
Sisters and brothers, Jesus allowed his own body to be broken for ours—that we might be made whole. Your body is good news because his body is good news. One day, we will be raised, whole and free. Until then, we receive God’s grace to help us live as embodied good news to the world. Take the body and blood of Christ, who poured out his love for us on the cross to freely forgive and restore us to himself. Let’s eat and drink and remember him.
Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)
Tonight we reflected on the good news about our bodies as we washed each other’s feet, confessing where we’ve erred and receiving God’s grace through communion. Until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:
Good Friday gathering: Good Friday is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Gather with the rest of the church on Friday, April 3, at either 5:30 or 7 PM to reflect on Jesus bearing the weight of our sin through his suffering and perfect love. More information at bridgetown.church/holyweek
Pray through the Stations of the Cross. During Holy Week, all are invited to participate in Stations of the Cross—a visual meditative journey through 14 key moments Jesus lived in the final hours of his human life. Walk with Jesus on his journey to the cross, reflect on his suffering, and prepare your heart for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Stations of the Cross is self-directed and available during open hours listed at bridgetown.church/holyweek
