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A lenten reflection by Lyndsey Godwin (she, her, hers), Assistant Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality.<\/em><\/p>\n Foot-washing is a practice of mutuality, embodied.<\/p>\n It represents, for me at least, the whole of Jesus\u2019 ministry. This ritual, this practice is the cornerstone of my faith. Though we cannot practice the ritual collectively, it felt important to mark it in some way.<\/strong><\/p>\n The act of foot-washing requires confronting the shames that have been forced upon us, and the shames that separate us from true community with others. It requires that we trust ourselves and each other enough to receive care. It requires that we risk in out of the ordinary ways to give care. It requires that we practice mutuality, humility, and possibility.<\/p>\n This is not simply an interpersonal practice. The ritual of foot-washing and the words in the book of John point to ways of being in relationship that would build a radically different world. \u201cIf I, your leader and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other\u2019s feet. I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. I assure you, servants aren\u2019t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them.\u201d<\/p>\n The realities of COVID-19 make obvious that we have not yet built a world where those who are sent are equal to those who do the sending. To that, I offer this prayer:<\/p>\n Divine Imaginer, holder of endless possibility, remind us through this ritual, through our holy observances, and through our every-day-ness, that you are calling us to act in mutuality. That you have modeled for us a radically different world, and that it is up to us to do the building.<\/p>\n May this time of anxiety, fear, and grief, be a turning point, and uncovering, an apocalypse that calls us to set aside our limits and join with you in imagining a new world, and joining in with those who are already crafting it.<\/p>\n A world that ensures that every human had a home to \u201cshelter in place.\u201d A world would ensure that no one feared losing their home or going hungry.<\/p>\n A world that ensures that no one was forced to work, risking their lives, and that those who are working have more than adequate protections, health care, child care, and pay. A world where the invisibilized and devalued work of immigrants and those impoverished by capitalism\u200a\u2014\u200afarm laborers, kitchen cooks, custodial staff, day laborers, construction workers, cashiers\u200a\u2014\u200awas celebrated and honored as the foundational work from which we all live.<\/p>\n A world where \u201cshelter in place\u201d didn\u2019t also mean the increase of violence from abuse or neglect; or where \u201csafer at home\u201d was impossible because of one\u2019s gender or sexuality.<\/p>\n A world where all had access to health care, without hesitation or paternalism. That care was not seen as a scarce resource to be rationed for those deemed most \u201cproductive\u201d and \u201chealthy\u201d and weaponized against those who are disabled.<\/p>\n A world that no longer views surveillance and incarceration as tools of so-called freedom, but instead knows that we keep each other safe in community, transparency, vulnerability, and doing the hard, transformative work together.<\/p>\n A world of reparations, where black, indigenous, brown, or other communities of color no longer carry the heaviest burden of the pandemic, because the realities of systematic and intergenerational racism have been rectified and healed. Where no one was threatened, assaulted, or arrested for being Asian and walking down the street, or being black and assumed a criminal as they follow the CDC\u2019s request that we all wear masks.<\/p>\n A world where focusing on our emotional and physical well being and showing up well for each other was prioritized over getting back to being \u201cproductive\u201d for the economy\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n Through Jesus\u2019 example, we are explicitly called to this work. It is unequivocal. \u201cIf I, your leader and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other\u2019s feet. I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. I assure you, servants aren\u2019t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them.\u201d May we remember to live this out every day. Amen.<\/p>\n