Maundy Thursday

The following poem, by Macrina Wiederkehr, published in Seasons of Your Heart, arrived in my email "in box" today:

Supper was special that night
There was both a heaviness and a holiness hanging in the air
We couldn’t explain the mood It was sacred, yet sorrowful.
Gathered around that table eating that solemn, holy meal
seemed to us the most important meal we ever sat down to eat
We were dwelling in the heart of mystery
Though dark the night
Hope felt right as if something evil was about to be conquered.
And then suddenly the One we loved startled us all.
he got up from the table and put on an apron
Can you imagine how we felt?
God in an apron!
Tenderness encircled us as He bowed before us.
He knelt and said, “I choose to wash your feet because I love you.”
God in an apron, kneeling I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I was embarrassed until his eyes met mine. I sensed my value then.
He touched my feet He held them in his strong, brown hands
He washed them.
I can still feel the water, the touch of his hands, see the look in his eyes
Then he handed me the towel and said,
“As I have done so you must do.” Learn to bow Learn to kneel.
Let your tenderness encircle everyone you meet
Wash their feet not because you have to, because you want to.
It seems I’ve stood two thousand years holding the towel in my hands,
“As I have done so you must do,” keeps echoing in my heart.
“There are so many feet to wash,” I keep saying.
“No,” I hear God’s voice resounding through the years
“There are only my feet
What you do for them you do for me.”