Washing Each Others Feet...Following Christ's Example?

Study on foot-washing ritual
spawns spirited discussion

[size=-1]By John H. Adams[/size]
[size=-1]The Layman Online
[/size][size=-1]Thursday, August 7, 2003[/size]<HR align=left width=190> CHICAGO – A Bible study on washing the feet of his disciples by Jesus prompted a spirited discussion at the meeting of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity on Thursday morning – one of the few occasions in which there has been anything bordering on debate.

The study was led by Frances Taylor Gench, a task force member who is a professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. She offered two interpretations of footwashing: 1) that it's hard to receive the humility of Christ, as the case with Peter's protest and Judas' treachery; and 2) that Christians have trouble repeating the act, as Christ instructed them.

"Following Christ … invites us to break down our own barriers" to others, Gench said, noting that the feet are the ugliest part of the body. Then she used the Biblical story as a springboard to address sexuality issues in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

"Presbyterians will probably argue over whether we have a heterosexual to wash feet," she said in a not-so-veiled analogy to the denomination's constitutional standard that prohibits the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

"That raises the question of whether we would argue the worthiness of having your feet washed," she added.

Milton J. "Joe" Coalter, a church historian and librarian at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, questioned the all-inclusiveness of Jesus' footwashing. Coalter noted that, after washing the feet of his disciples and telling them they would be blessed by doing the same for others, Jesus said he was not "referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen."

Coalter added, "We have to be careful … the church doesn't decide who's chosen."

Others noted, however, that Judas was one of those whose feet Christ washed, although they did not likewise note that, once Judas had committed his act of treachery, the New Testament writers depicted him negatively.

Jose Luis Torres-Milan, pastor of a Presbyterian church in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, used the foot-washing story to make two complaints against the task force. First, he said, the task force had made no plans to translate its resources and material into Spanish and Korean. And he pointed out that no one had provided him with a worship book at the Wednesday evening service.

The PCUSA's problems are "our problem," he said. "We want to be part of the solution. We have to leave no one behind."

John "Mike" Loudon, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, Fla., agreed that the task force should provide Spanish and Korean copies of the material, but also admonished Torres-Milan, saying, "You've got legs. You can get a worship booklet."

Barbara Wheeler, president of Auburn Theological Seminary, cited the "oscillation in this story," paraphrasing Peter's first response to Christ's gesture as "there's nothing you can do for me," and his later response asking for a full bath. "This sounds like the mixed messages we are getting from the church. There's nothing we can do if the church won't accept it."

Martha Sadongei, a Native American Presbyterian minister in Phoenix, said Native American people had no problems with the inclusiveness of the foot-washing ritual. "To say it bluntly, it's a white fear," she added.

And Gary Demarest, co-moderator of the task force and a retired California minister, gave a personal testimony in agreement with Sadongei's conclusion. Speaking of others, such as Hispanics and Native Americans, Demarest said, "I tend to say, just become like me." But he said he is realizing that he needs to be able to learn from those from other cultures, "from people who, all of our lives, we were told were inferior."

Scott Anderson, a former co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians who recently became executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, took sides with the "vulnerable." "The degree of our faithfulness is to someone dependent on our being vulnerable," he said.

Coalter described the footwashing as a "very powerful ritual. It addresses one of our problems. It's awfully hard to get up from a footwashing and get nasty."

To which Barbara Everitt Bryant, a research scientist at the University of Michigan Business School who served as director of the U.S. Bureau of Census under former President George H.W. Bush, replied: "Footwashing is contrary to some of those of us who are uptight WASPs."

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lambslove said:

As a former member of the Mennonite church, and a occassional attendee of a Grace Brethern Church, I have participated in foot-washing many times. It's not odd or icky, it's a commandment from the Lord.

John 13


Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

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lambslove said:

And actually, it's not icky at all. Getting down on the floor, removing the shoes of the person you are serving, touching their feet, washing them and drying them, it's all really a powerful symbol of how Christ condesended to come to earth and be our servant/savior for 33 years before sacrificing himself for us. It's so powerful that there are often tears of humility and love in the eyes of the person doing the foot washing.

When you do it, you know how humble we are to be to one another.

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Lotar said:

1 Timothy 2:9
Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,

Are you going to tell women who braid their hair that they are in sin?

1 Corinthians 11:6
For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.

Do women at your church cover their heads?

Matthew 18:3
and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Do you go around acting like a child?

I can give you more examples. Washing of feet was something that was done by servants in the culture of the day. Jesus was showing that we must humble ourselves before eachother, not to be prideful or boast of yourself in spiritual matters. It was an illistration.

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Lotar said:

Then do you claim that Paul's writings were not the inspired word of God? That he was just giving his oppinion?

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