The rest of "this" (do this in remembrance)

       I attended a several foot washing service one afternoon that was actually for a group of our guests. It was held in a small chapel behind the Abbey and my interest was peaked in two regards; that particular chapel has a special place in my heart and being a deacon, the basin and towel also has a special place in my heart.  The guests were a group that I had grown particularly close to, which you can do in a surprisingly short amount of time when you share meals, worship and living quarters, and they were comfortable with my joining them.

         The worship leader used the text from the Gospel of John from the night of Jesus' arrest where John records the washing of the feet rather than the Last supper. All of the other gospels relate the sharing of bread and wine, and John tells of the foot washing which we typically repeat on Maundy Thursday. But if we take the phrase from Luke seriously, do this in remembrance of me; shouldn't we celebrate the foot washing with greater regularity?  This was the question put to the participants by the worship leader.  We want to celebrate communion with greater frequency (being good Wesleyans as often as we can), but the foot washing we shy away from.  Now it could be the awkwardness of the whole foot washing task, but if it was something that Jesus did, and as disciples we are about what Jesus did, then ought we not actually engage in this ministry.  More importantly maybe we need to engage in what footwashing represents.

       What other things might we find "too difficult" to follow the example of Jesus?  And what does that say about us and our discipleship?

This needs to become a thinner place