Now that the weather is nice, I am wearing black sandals, my toenails painted red from before our trip to Puerto Rico. I knew I needed shoes I could take off and on easily with foot-washing. The service this year is at Holy Trinity, a small congregation with an historic building on an odd piece of triangular land. The city is trying to swallow it up, and the hot dog place next door looms ominously.

It is time for the foot-washing. I slip off my sandals and pad over to the foot-washing station, the stone floor cool against my bare feet. The deacon and I are paired up, and I sit down in the chair, my feet hovering over the copper basin. I think that I should have remembered to shave my legs. Thankfully, the water is warm. He washes my feet and towels them off, and we switch places. He is much older than I am. I have never washed someone’s feet who I was not intimately involved with. My husband was called away at dinner beforehand when a liver became available for a patient. I pour the water into my hands and then over his feet, washing off the rough particles of dirt from his heels. I use the same towel, making sure his feet are completely dry. We do all of this in silence. We return to our seats, and I watch others come up. Friends and spouses wash each other’s feet with utmost care and love. I can see how the disciples would have been awe-struck by Jesus’ act.

Earlier that day, in our liturgy class, my professor asks a question. “Do you think that foot-washing should be a sacrament?” One student answers immediately in the affirmative. I think about the question while I watch people process up: old and young, black and white, professionally-dressed people and people with nose-piercings and ripped jeans. A server helps an elderly person to her knees so that she can wash the feet of another. I also watch the people who did not come up, looking uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. I decide that foot-washing should be a sacrament. It was instituted by Jesus, which is more than we can say about a good number of our current sacraments. Jesus commands us to wash each other’s feet, to love one another. Someone remarked in our class that they thought at Amish weddings that the bride and groom washed each other’s feet as part of the ceremony. I personally find that a lot more meaningful than a unity candle.

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