New Year’s Eve foot washing was as much a part of my church upbringing as was the Watch Night Service itself. Proper men and women who came to church service dressed in their finest suits and dresses would end the eveningin abject humility by removing their shoes and socks, rolling up their sleeves, taking a pan of warm water, and kneeling before a fellow church member to wash their feet.
It was a solemn and hallowed experience as men washed other men’s feet in the sanctuary, while women did the same with other women in the fellowship hall.
In my church there was a dear, precious older saint, that I will call Sister Mawsly, who was in charge of preparing the foot washing room. She weighed at least 300 pounds, walked like she had pebbles in her shoes, and, at times, struggled with her personal hygiene. She wasn’t so much dirty, but messy and unkempt. Herdishwater-gray hair wasusually in a very loose French twist that looked as if it would spring apart at any moment. She wore the most unusual combination of clothes, and her teeth were yellowed and broken in places.
Sister Mawsly lived in one of the only trailer parks in town. She didn’t drive, so would often catch a ride to church on the bus that frequented her low-income neighborhood.
The New Year’s Eve Watch Night Service and Foot Washing was very special to Sister Mawsly. She would arrive several hours ahead of time to line up the metal folding chairs in rows that faced one another, making sure there was enough room in between for the women to comfortably kneel and wash their partner’s feet and to clean and prepare the mauve and blue plastic foot tubs and to pray. Always to pray.
As the barefooted women took their places across from each other, it would become painfully obvious that nobody wanted to sit across from Sister Mawsly. Many women would sit nervously across from their sister, or best friend so as to be sure to wash the feet of someone they felt comfortable with. Some would go to the bathroom so as to be able to choose a differentpartner when they returned.
But nobody, absolutely nobody, sat across from Sister Mawsly.
As a teenager, my heart ached for her; but peer pressure, or perhaps pride, prevented me from taking a seat across from her.
But Sister Mawsly appeared not to notice the rejections.
She had been in prayer for hours before we arrived. Perhaps she realized the breaking down of pride and the rebirthing of humility that often occurred during these foot washing services. Or perhaps she loved us enough to allow us to hurt her as we learned God’s ways.
Whatever her reasons were, she kept them to herself and never let on that she was affected in anyway by our mistreatment of her.
Instead,Sister Mawslywould start to sing in her low, melodic voice…Bind us together Lord, Bind us together…, Bind us together with love…
Then shewould take a pan of warm water that was at the beginning of the row, (in those days the same pan of water was passed down the line as foot after foot was washed) and gently kneelbefore the first person she saw without a partner to washtheir feet.But never would she make any gestures to put pressure on the other person to wash her feet.
Instead she would pray and encourageus as we each knelt before our respective partners.
But eventually, as the Holy Spirit broke down our pride,one andthen anotherwould take a pan of water and ever so gently and sweetly kneel before Sister Mawsly and wash her feet. Then and only then, did theanointingfall like a sweet gentle rain, and suddenly we would realize that she had been an angel planted in our midst sent by God to teach us, to train us, and to test the depth of pride that had built up in our heart since the last time we had been broken.
Epilogue
ou would think that after our first aha moment with Sister Mawsly that in subsequent years everyone would be eager to wash her feet. But it didn’t work that way. It was if as the year progressed pride would once again fill our hearts, and we would need to learn the lesson of humility and brokenness all over again each New Year’s Eve.
“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13)