Home | About Us | Bishop's Office | 2024 Lenten Devotions | Thursday, March 28, 2024

BISHOP'S OFFICE

Today is Maundy Thursday also known as Holy Thursday in the Christian Tradition. I grew up in The United Methodist Church and on the evening of this day my home church observed the tradition of the Washing of the Feet and The Celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Everyone who attended the worship service, no matter their position, status, and title, was invited to wash the feet of someone and to allow someone to wash their feet. We were each given a bowl of water and a towel and then were invited to kneel and take turns serving each other. As we poured the water on each other’s feet we said, “Jesus loves you and you are a beloved child of God.” And after this ritual we celebrated the Lord’s Supper and again, had the opportunity to serve each other.

Washing someone’s feet and allowing them to wash yours is a sacred act of humility and service. Being able to be vulnerable with one another reminds us of our own humanness and how fragile we really are. Serving others and allowing others to serve us help us to recognize our own needs and help us see Christ in each other. How might we serve and treat people differently if we saw all people as God’s beloved children? How might we serve or receive from others differently if we considered the acts of love, kindness, and compassion, as sacred acts of humility and service?

Today we are reminded of our call to serve with humility and grace. As we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we are shown the way of love and to becoming beloved community. Jesus said that no servant is greater than the master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (vs. 16).

Holy Spirit, grow in us a desire to love and serve with grace and humility and, so we might reflect your goodness in the world.

Bishop Tracy S. Malone wrote this devotion for publication in The Upper Room Disciplines: A Book of Daily Devotions 2024, available at www.cokesbury.com.