FEET..................

The worship service was ¾ over - and now it was time for communion.   I got up and followed the people in front of me  - head down, hands cupped ready to receive - my mind still, footsteps slow. I receive the bread and wine and walked back to my seat.  I’m at the end of the row - but close enough to the front that I can see almost everyone who was behind me walk forward just as I did. But now all I see are their feet.

Feet, like hands, come in all shapes and sizes. Most of the worshipers have shoes on - and they too come in all shapes, sizes and colors.  Some are barefoot.  Because these are my colleges, I recognize some of the shoes and some of the feet.

Flash forward to the Via de Cristo overnight training session.   It’s late - we are all tired - but we gather in a circle around 2 chairs situated in the middle of the room -a candle is lit and sitting on the small low table next to the open bible.  At each place are a basin of water and towels neatly folded.   

Instructions are given and the story is read.  And then one buy one, men on one side , women on the other - we get up and sit - to have our feet washed and dried by a stranger.   We do know each other - but enough to be this intimate?  

Feet are amazing things - they carry us around - wherever we decide to go - sometimes without complaint - and many times with. Blisters, bruises, sore muscles, fallen arches, bunions, calluses, toe nails too long or too short.  We tend to take them for granted - until they scream in pain.

They walk in all kinds of things - both barefoot and otherwise.  You never really know what is on the ground  - that icky something might get caught between your toes - or stuck on the bottom of your shoe.  Bare and walking on holy ground - or shod with leather to get them thru the muck.

And like our hands - they come in all shapes sizes and colors.  From the plump  and soft feet with sausage toes of the 6 month old to the knarly and worn out feet of the elder.

But feet, like our hands, are needed.  Not only by the body that they support - but by God  - how else will the hands get to the places they need to be in order to do the work God has called them to do?

Worship - serving - resting - running -  walking - 

God’s work our hands -  God’s work our feet.  Amen