When was the last time someone has bent down to wash your feet?
For some, it may have been at a nail salon not long ago. You take off your shoes as they draw a small warm bath for your feet, then put both feet in for just a few seconds before the nail technician takes your left foot out to clean it. Then you may all of a sudden become keenly aware of how dirty your feet are and feel the need to apologize about your not-so-clean feet.
Touching someone else’s feet (or having your own feet touched) is an intimate and vulnerable thing. It has the ability to make you feel uncomfortable and comforted all at the same time. In both the old testament and the new testament, it was custom to wash the feet of your guests to show them honor. And it’s something that Jesus modeled and asks us to do.
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14
FEET ON THE STREET
While this is no longer a common custom in today’s culture, the act of washing someone else’s feet models how we ought to be in our relationships to others - humble. For our friends who walk the streets daily and experience life in a vastly different way than many others, we want to honor them (and help their feet feel a little better) by washing their feet.
Letting someone wash your feet is a vulnerable thing to do, but we hope this can be a time for our many friendships with those on the street to grow and deepen.
Luke's Locker and Feetures are partnering with us by donating gently used shoes and new socks for the event. So, after their feet are washed, we will size them to find the perfect socks and pair of shoes to fit their feet.
With events like this, we are always looking for more volunteers. Come by the Austin Street basketball court on Saturday, June 22, to join us for our Feet on the Street event! Here’s what that Saturday will look like:
8am - Setup
9am - Feet washing begins
10am - Breakfast together
11am - Pack up