St. Paul's Episcopal Church issued the following announcement on April 14.
I do not enjoy washing other people’s feet, but I especially do not like having my own feet washed. I suspect many of you feel the same. Tonight, we will gather at the beginning of the Paschal Triduum—the holiest three days of the Christian year—to embark on the sacred journey from the Last Supper to the empty tomb, and it starts with the washing of the feet. Why?
At staff meeting last week, we discussed whether we should include the ceremonial foot-washing in our liturgy this year. Because of Covid, we have omitted it for two years in a row, and the prayer book makes it clear that it is not necessary. We could skip it again this year. Soon, maybe no one will miss it at all. Maybe, without the emphasis on feet, more people will want to come to church on Maundy Thursday, a service at which our attendance is shockingly small. Among the staff, all who spoke out acknowledged that they would be quite happy to let it go, including me. Reluctantly, however, I admitted that, as much as I do not like participating in the washing of feet, I like being a part of a congregation that makes that sacred practice central to its Holy Week rituals.
As we will hear again in the gospel reading tonight, Jesus said to his disciples, “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.” It is that commandment—that mandate—from which Maundy Thursday gets its name. Although that does not mean that we must wash each other’s feet, it does mean that we must love each other with the kind of self-sacrificing love with which Jesus loves us. Thankfully, the foot-washing part of our Maundy Thursday service is completely optional, and you can absolutely be a follower of Jesus without ever taking part, but I think that beginning the Triduum with this humiliating gesture of love helps us understand everything that follows.
Original source can be found here.
Source: St. Paul's Episcopal Church
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