Sherry Sterling

Dear friends,

It’s been two weeks since Maundy Thursday, remembering Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, and I’m still humming the antiphon sung during the Washing of the Feet. 

Peter and I were visiting Washington, D.C., and were able to attend the service at the National Cathedral. The choir sang Mandatum by Peter Latona, solemnly repeating the verse, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”

I’ve heard our choir sing this refrain, too, so after years of Maundy Thursday services, it’s soaking into my bones.

Repetition is the key.

Jesus repeated this new commandment with his disciples. He started early in his ministry by summing up the Ten Commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then during the Last Supper he gave this new commandment—to go beyond the old standard of treating others with equality to Jesus’ example of self-sacrifice. And in today’s Gospel reading, it shows up again, a few chapters later, in Jesus’ teachings preparing his disciples for his departure.

To really get it, some of us need to hear things, and do things, over and over again. 

And learning to serve, to give more than take, or even to give more than equal-equal, takes practice, too.

At the Maundy Thursday service, we were invited to have our feet washed, and to wash the feet of others. I’d not participated in that second part before. I found myself wanting to, and unsure how, even though it’s been done for me. So after my feet were washed, I sat and watched other lay people take their place at the basin. 

My focus shifted from the self-consciousness of receiving, through the fear of not doing it right, to preparing to serve. I took in the givers’ actions, and remembered receiving. And then I was ready to give. I took my place at the basin. 

Then something unexpected happened: All thoughts of doing it right fell away. Tenderness infused me. I felt close to those whose feet I washed—strangers became fellow travelers on this faith journey. 

Before I was ready to jump in and do, I needed to watch and learn from others. I am left with a deeper understanding, that we teach each other how to treat each other. We teach each other how to love.

Peace and love,

—Sherry