Foot washing

[Sam]

One of the most memorable footwashings I participated in was quite a few years back when I was going to a UPC church. I was in my thirties and I washed the feet of an old man. He was the father of a man who was a deacon in the church and of a daughter who was a missionary. He had been serving God for many years. I think he was an officer in the church but I don't remember now. His hands and feet were very deformed from arthritis. As I washed his feet I thought, "What if the rapture happened right now and I saw those gnarled feet transformed and straightened in my hand in the split second before we ascended to see Jesus?"

I have no battle or problem with footwashing. I just don't believe it was meant to be a ritual that we perform literally. If the church I am going to now had a footwashing service I would participate.

The only time I have seen footwashing in the couple years I have been going to this church was one Sunday morning when a young man was leaving Ohio to go to Florida for ministerial training. He was called up before the congregation so we could pray for him as he entered this new phase of life. He had his mother and father come to the front and he washed their feet. It was very touching.

Water baptism, communion, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, and foot washing are all old customs/traditions/rituals in the church which can carry messages and deep meanings for us today but I do not consider them salvational (just my opinion).