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Good Morning. I wonder when you last had your feet washed by someone else? If you come to the cathedral in Canterbury later today you will find 12 people doing just that – having their feet washed by the Archbishop. And they will not be alone. Today up and down the country bishops and clergy will be washing feet.  Why?  To remind us that at the Last Supper, on the night before he died, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, his closest followers .  The immediate reaction was horror - the disciples could not believe that their leader was willingly performing this humblest of actions, a slave’s job in their time. 

Those having their feet washed in churches tonight will be volunteers chosen to represent their congregations.  Forewarned of what is coming, they are likely to feel privileged, if slightly nervous, at taking part in the action. It’s a solemn, intimate, though very public moment. They know it points to the Jesus who was acting out a new kind of leadership, God’s kind of leadership – no airs and graces just focussed on the needs of others. That is what the dramatic action is about. 

Years ago one friend of ours took it further. Instead of asking for volunteers for the foot washing, he individually invited those with whom he had been at odds during the year to allow him to wash their feet as a sign of reconciliation. Whose feet do we need to wash today – or whom do we need to allow to wash our feet?

A prayer of Charles Kingsley: Take from us, O God, all pride and vanity, all boasting and self-assertion, and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness, the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity, and the true power that shows itself in modesty.  Amen