Footwashing

Today's devotional prayer at Sacred Space reflects on our freedom to serve each other:

Freedom--God is not foreign to my freedom.
Instead the Spirit breathes life into my most intimate desires,
gently nudging me towards all that is good.
I ask for the grace to let myself be enfolded by the Spirit.

Today's verse, to read slowly and meditate upon:
John 13:16-17

After Jesus had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

Some thoughts on today's scripture:

Lord, you are teaching me here: it is not what you say that stays with me, so much as the sight of you doing a slave's job and loving it. As you kneel at our feet, you put all hierarchies into perspective. This is the ultimate ecumenism, the unity of those who serve with love. In that unity we are guided, not by rules or rituals, but by the needs of others.