In observing Communion, my denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, includes the ritual of washing one another’s feet as Jesus did in John 13:3–13. This service, referred to as the ordinance of humility, we note as a meaningful way to remind ourselves how we should be humble enough to serve one another in all ways. Performing this ritual with someone who has a physical disability can become complicated. Here I discuss my experience with this ritual, being completely blind, and how I have developed simple ways of sharing this experience with someone in a wheel-chair. Learning how to do a ritual like this with a disabled person may help us understand more about what it means to truly be a humble servant.
Before I went to college, I simply washed feet with my immediate family with whom I was living. During college and seminary, though, I had to find partners for this ritual on my own. Sometimes someone would come over to me and offer to do the service with me. Other times, I would ask around and find someone. The trouble was that I had no idea who had partners and who didn’t. I would just have to randomly canvass the room, hoping I would find someone willing and able. Then, when I found someone, that person would get the towels and basins of water so that we could participate.
Once Sally and I got married, I had a regular foot-washing partner again. Then, a few years into our marriage, Sally’s mother began to need a wheel- chair. It was time for some creative thinking. Since, among the three of us, I had the strongest legs, I would be the one to hold my feet up in the air over Momma’s lap while Sally held the basin underneath. Then, Momma could wash my feet. I would kneel on the floor and wash Sally’s feet, and Sally would wash Momma’s feet. Sally and I could tell that Momma appreciated still being able to participate.
When Momma was no longer able to leave her adult foster care home to attend church, we would bring Communion to her. (Sally and I are ordained local elders.) Since we did not want to deal with three separate basins of water, we, again, resorted to creative thinking. We would bring one basin and several paper towels. Instead of actually placing someone’s foot into the basin, we would use the paper towels to sponge-bathe the feet, enveloping each foot with the water. We would then use a new towel for each person. The ritual was still performed, and everyone was happy to be involved.
After Momma passed away, Sally and I began attending a church where the men wash feet with the men and the women with the women. Since I am a rather orderly person, I would arrange with a man in advance to meet up at church to do the ritual with me. One time, the man I asked happened to be a gentleman who used an electric wheelchair and had mobility in only one hand. I had actually talked about wanting to do foot washing with this person, so I found this encounter quite providential.
On the morning of the service, my wife brought me over to him at church. I held my hands on the back of his wheelchair, and he led me to the room. For simplicity’s sake I opted to use the sponge-bath technique. I handed him a paper towel and put another over his lap. I then gave him one foot, and then the other, to wash. Then, I helped him out of his shoes and socks, and he instructed me on how to unstrap his feet from the wheelchair. I, using another towel, washed each of his feet. I helped him back into his shoes and socks, and we prayed together. He said that no one had ever washed feet with him before. He, the men who were helping us, and I all felt moved by the experience.
What, then, do these stories teach us? Everyone has the right to practice all church rituals, even if we have to adjust how they are done. True humility is not simply looking for someone who would be “easy” to wash feet with. We must be willing to take the time to creatively figure out how to help these people participate. With someone who is blind, it may simply be a matter of making sure they have a partner in advance of the service, if possible. With someone in a wheelchair, the ritual itself may need to be adapted in ways discussed above or others. In doing so, we can show the love of Jesus, who adapted Himself to become human in order to save all of us.
