Lean in.

I have to admit that I never really understood the significance of Maundy Thursday until I started serving a local church.  It is a significant step that we must take toward the cross and the events of Good Friday, but aside from Communion it never really meant all that much to me.  My first Maundy Thursday as an appointed pastor changed my mind about this day, and has forever marked it as one of my favorite ministry opportunities ever since.  

So today has been a bit strange, because normally right now we'd be gathering around a beautiful table serving one another Holy Communion and sharing about Jesus new mandate (which is where Maundy comes from), or commandment found in John 13:

 "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. 

Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

My favorite part of this passage of Scripture (John 13: 1-17, 31b-35) is actually the moment that Jesus gets up from the table where his friends and companions had gathered for the last time, takes off his outer robe, ties a towel around his waist, and pours water into a basin.  For men who had been walking the dusty streets, this was a pure offering of service and hospitality.  He kneels down and one by one washes their feet.  Peter, who I often relate to most, is certain that Jesus should not wash his feet, and when pressed he then decides he should wash all of him.  Peter is always a little bit more excited than the rest of them.  Jesus models servant leadership and then challenges them to do the same.  

I have big feet.  I have feet that have played lots of basketball.  These feet are not pretty feet.  In fact, the most nervous I have ever seen church folks be is when you tell them you'd like to wash their feet.  People actually SKIP church because they don't want to have their feet washed.  Lots of churches have gone from washing feet to washing hands, because that is easier for people to engage.  Getting your feet washed makes you vulnerable.  What if your toenails are too long, what if you have sock lint between your toes, or you've had shoes on all day and you're afraid your stinky feet will clear the room.  The list of reasons why this is a bad idea seem to spill forth rather quickly when a foot washing is suggested.  

The most amazing gift I've been given as a pastor is for someone to trust me enough to wash their feet.  It is intimate in a way that is so humbling because it is raw and real and feet can tell us something about people.  I've washed feet that were rough and rugged, feet that were manicured and beautiful, children's' feet dirty from play, teenage boy stinky feet just because, 93 year-old feet, and infant feet.  It's not the feet that matter, it is looking up into someone's eyes and helping them to realize that the love of Jesus is just as real for them as it was for each of those disciples that night.  It is a reminder that the powers and principalities of this world can never overpower the life-altering servant-love that leads to eternal life.  It is about letting down our guard enough to place our trust in each other's hands knowing that we will be held in a divine embrace as water is poured, feet are washed and dried.  And as we rise up from this space we remember that we are called to go and serve not of our own will, but out of the love of Christ alive within us.  

Perhaps these last few weeks has taught us something about servant leadership, as nurses and doctors with ears raw from elastic show us the reality they face day in and out.  We witness this at the post office, at the grocery store, gas stations, when you pick up takeout it is in the eyes of small-business owners who are filled with fear about the impact of this on their lives.  Servant leadership is in the folks delivering groceries and medicines to high-risk persons, in the actions and words of pastors who have become internet evangelists, it is in the first-responders ready to help at the ring of the phone, and in teachers who are doing everything to stay connected  and help teach children that they miss.  These folks may not be kneeling down with a basin of water, but they are opening themselves up, being vulnerable and real in order that others benefit.  

One of my current favorite podcasts is Brene Brown, and in her book Daring Greatly, she wrote: "Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.  Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness."  

In this time of uncertainty we have come to terms with the reality that we are all vulnerable.  Vulnerability might look like fear about your feet, it might look like an emotional rollercoaster right now, it might feel bad when our current situation starts to bring up things from pasts that have been dealt with long ago.  Vulnerability is messy and hard and takes a a lot of trust in self, others, and God.  But when we can go there, really allowing ourselves to be as authentic as God created us to be, just think how courageous the Body of Christ will rise in the end.  

So if you're feeling awfully vulnerable right now....lean in.  This is right where Jesus meets us, takes hold of our feet and tenderly reminds us who we are, and Whose we are.  It's not really about your feet, after all.

Pastor Devon