Now as a pastor in the Adventist denomination, I am not allowed to say these words out loud for fear that the GC will hear me and cast me out like the chaff I already represent in my "oxymoronic" existence as an SDA preacher from La Sierra University. But I think that there is more merit in the idea of hawking foot washing on the main roads in the city (like a carwash) where people are not warned a week in advance that they should scrub in between their toes and toss an extra puff of sneaker deodorant into their polished kicks that very morning, literally hours before they are to be little more than symbolically cleansed at church. It's nothing more than a show. And more often than not, we get reports that people avoid this week in church more than any other. (It should be noted that people claim that they are uncomfortable with the confessionary intention of the communion service than the foot washing, but it doesn't help the cause if they are scared to remove their shoes as well as partaking of the offering of the Conference mandated quarterly snack time with Christ.)
I'm convicted that we could do away with foot washing all together and replace it with some other mission work of Christ instead. Sure the story feels more complete because you don't have to read from some other section of the bible and get to read straight through the story of the Last Supper, but I think we miss the point when we try and affix the message of Christ's humility when we stoop to rinse off a fresh and clean foot and say that we did as Christ did simply because that's what the book describes. Next we will be able to put on our resumes that because we participated in the actual crucifixion story just because we watched an Easter Passion play. It just isn't the same to witness a reenactment as it is to get to the grimy truth.
Those disciples were cramped in an attic by candle light sitting with someone who was about die the next afternoon. They had walked for hours on flimsy leather thongs and they were cautiously chowing down on a meal of unleavened bread and wine. We sit in a warm and spacious church building on a cushioned pew bench. We remove our expensive shoes and dip our feet into warm and fresh water held in an individual tub that has been vigorously scrubbed and sanitized for its single use. We are given personal towels that are discarded after their single use. And after we massage the water into our friend's feet, we call the mission a success. And with that we are rewarded with an individual portioned cracker and an individual disposable plastic cup of grape juice. I wonder at which point we look around and ask, "Are you kidding me with this?"
I love the church and its mission, but I have since lost the enchantment of the song and dance of a quarterly formatted mockery of the Gospel tale. I was invited to speak for a week at a Conference's Junior Bible Conference in California last year. I made a request a week in advance if it was cool that I did a biblical sermon on Communion that would end in an actual Communion service. My request was denied because the woman who "makes the official special Communion bread needed more time to fill an order". I think if I could have done so without losing my job, I'd have sat this event out after that news. So, in a way, I'm with anyone says that they're not onboard with the whole thing as they sit alone in the pews as the rest of the faithful wander into special rooms the day of communal foot bathing.
But in the meantime, I stick around and find every single excuse to hold Communion when it's not on the Conference schedule. If for no other reason than to do exactly what the Bible calls for and give people a chance to experience the activity as it is read as much as possible (I still haven't been green-lighted to use actual wine. I don't think I'll hold my breath on that one.). So when I officiate Communion, I try to give a smaller window of notification. To serve bread from one communal loaf that everyone has to share. And there is one cup that everyone pulls from. There is nothing individual about Communion and no one should be as comfortable as they have been allowed to be by pretending that it is.
I still can't figure out how to "fix" foot washing, but I'm working on remixing the idea. And not to solely stand up and complain, here's an idea: What if we have everyone remove one of their shoes and leave it at the door as they walk in. Then during the "foot washing" section, everyone goes and picks up a shoe that isn't theirs. Effectively finding the only part of a person that probably smells and is dirty that morning. And then they have to search for the person that it belongs to. And after they have been matched up, they introduce themselves, pray with that person, and only then they get their shoe back. Thus helping them not walk so crooked, warm up their foot, and giving them a chance to meet at least two new people they probably would not have met without this exercise in discomfort.
Or what would it take to bring Communion to the streets like a car wash would. Kids standing on the corners of busy intersections with signs brightly decorated with the words "FOOT WASH" emblazoned on the front directing cars to the parking lot behind the busiest bus depot in the city. And instead of catching people in their Sunday best at 11AM, we find people at 5:00PM just leaving work and dead tired in need of a massage, a rest on weary feet, and a chance to eat a simple meal. Pull over or unload from the mass transit and for a few minutes take a load off and kick your feet up. Let someone you've never met talk to you about how your day went. Put one of those "Free Hugs" signs up if you must, but put it right next next to a table full of breads from every country imaginable and a cup full of juice (maybe tanking up on alcohol here is not the best laid plan, so Welch's wins out). Let's wash the feet of the tired weary traveler who didn't intend to meet humility and a listening ear. A quick meal and a reminder that there is some decency in the world.
Maybe not the answer, but to say that we've figured it out the way we are doing it makes me wonder why we've settled for formatted communal confusion.
