The fellowship of the towel

As a woman who grew up in a "low church" tradition – with no official liturgy, very little emphasis on the church calendar, and skepticism about the use of icons and symbols – I've never celebrated Maundy Thursday.  Millions of Christians set aside this evening –  the night before Good Friday –  to somberly reflect on the washing of feet, communal meal, and the going out in darkness that Jesus and his disciples experienced on the night he was betrayed.  This past spring, my daughter invited me to attend with her at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, where we've been celebrating holy days for the past couple of years.  Heavenly Rest is a beautiful old stone structure, where sound echoes and silence can be tangibly felt.

It became clear to me as we began that the evening was designed to be a sensory experience that immersed us in the story.  We participated as re-enactors – not the cheesy kind wearing uniforms that were too small, anachronisms in this modern world, but participants in fact ... for we, too, are part of the same story that will continue until Christ comes again.

After the homily – a beautiful reminder that this night is, at its root, a community story –  the time for foot washing began.  All present were invited to participate in one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed.  Even though the clergy washed the first feet, it quickly became a free-for-all service of love one toward the other – parents and children washing each others' feet, spouses one to the other, lay members washing the feet of their priest.  My daughter washed my feet and I washed hers –  so humbling, both as receiver and giver.

I wept as I watched this act of love continue until all were washed, thinking about the words from John: "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." (John 13:1)  "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet.  I have set you as an example that you should do as I have done for you." (John 13:14-15)

I can only imagine how everything that happened to Jesus that night was heightened by the sense of last-ness – the last touch, the last word, the last meal, the last hymn.  And I am reminded how often I go about life as though it will last forever, putting off acts of service and fellowship until tomorrow or next week or next year, until the finality of death closes the door and the moment is gone.

Jesus had this amazing ability to engage his whole being in the moment of service, secure in his purpose and identity, never feeling the act was wasted – even an act as lowly as washing dirty feet. And he invites us today to join him in this fellowship of the towel, cementing our relationship to him and to each other.


This is the first of a series of three reflections on Maundy Thursday.