One of the most challenging aspects of teaching high school
religion in a relatively expensive private high school is that the students are
often disconnected from the rituals of life in biblical times. Many students
learn best by doing, so as often as possible, I will have the students reenact
biblical scenes. In my first year of teaching, while learning about the last
supper in my 10th grade class, I though we should have a ritual
washing of the feet. Right before class I filled up a large bowl with warm water
and grabbed some small towels. I thought the girls would be excited about doing
an interactive lesson. I could not be more wrong. I had to spend most of my
energy convincing the students that it would be OK; there is nothing really
that weird about washing someone else’s feet.
Bernard Cooke and Gary Macy note in their book, “Humans
comprise such a diverse group that it is hard to state with certainty that all
cultures share certain experiences” (25). This is certainly true when comparing
typical 21st century teenagers with the 1st century
apostles. While in the context of 1st century Palestine Jesus
washing the feet of the apostles was a sign of humility, to my students, it was
just weird.
About a year later, some teachers (including myself) along with
eight students took an immersion strip to Guyana, South America. We happened to
be visiting a small Amerindian village with summer with some Ursuline sisters
at the same time they were getting a visit from their Mother General. Much to
my surprise, when the visitor came, the Ursuline sisters washed her feet.
After witnessing the washing of the feet in Guyana, I
realized the culture of the Amerindians was much more similar to that of 1st
century Palestine. Amerindians never wear socks, some wear sandals while others
wore no shoes at all. Nothing in the village is paved, so their feet are always
dirty. They spend a great deal of time washing feet; it is not weird to them.
Since we in the U.S. do not experience feet that are perpetually dirty, the washing
of the feet ceremony has little significance to us. Now I am in search of a new
way to convey to my students that the washing of the feet was a sign of
humility and service that they will understand. Any ideas?
Cooke, Bernard J., and Gary Macy. Christian Symbol and Ritual: An Introduction. Oxford: New York, 2005. Print.
Hi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI understand your dilemma of trying to find a ritual that would speak to teens of today and teach them the meaning behind the washing of feet. I couldn't help but think that most, if not all of your students, have experienced this in a very different way. It has been my experience with my own daughter and her friends that they all get pedicures before a dance and it is not at all considered weird. I was wondering if another approach would serve the same purpose. Tom's shoes http://www.toms.com/onedaywithoutshoes sponsors a day where they encourage people to go without shoes in an effort to raise awareness for Children's Health and Education. Perhaps they can sacrifice shoes for a period of the day and then the washing of their feet would have more meaning. Or maybe they can come up with a modern equivalent of humbling serving another (helping in the cafeteria, helping with school janitorial duties, etc.) I find when given the opportunity, kids can get very creative and learn more in adopting a group project of their own choosing. I applaud you in your effort to have them participate in a meaningful ritual and hopefully you can find away for them to learn this beautiful lesson .
Thanks for your insights, Iamtheclay.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. Thanks. Your commitment to acting out scripture reminds me of the theological animation practiced by Ched Myers and students in his bible studies at the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries semi-annual institute. I have learned a lot from friends who have attended.
ReplyDeleteYou are right to point out the cultural differences between first-century, Jewish Palestine and contemporary New Orleans, but I see connection points as well, as iamtheclay points outs. Much of what makes Jesus' actions in John's Gospel significant is the extent to which they upend social roles. What if iamtheclay's duaghter went to a salon and gave the workers a pedicure? When I taught highschool, a colleague had the idea for students to shine shoes as part of a mission drive. It was a humbling, exhilarating challenge to social conventions to for me to shine my students' shoes and for them to have them shined. Not quite the same degree of intimate knowledge of another as when touching another's feet, but headed in the same direction.
So while our experiences are profoundly different from culture to culture, there are also many connection points if we can distill meaning from experiences in search of commonalities if not "universal" human propositions, attempts at which may indeed fail. One that I have learned through the theological animation tha I referenecd is the radical notion of Jesus' table fellowship. He ate with all sorts of people and he reversed the host -guest dynamic as well as crossing taboos of gender, race, and creed. Our contemporary liturgical practice is more than a recreation of Jesus' ministry. However, how would a commitment to that radical sorted hospitality change the nature of our liturgical practice? Wolfgang Vondey's Model of Church as Bread offers some initial suggestions.
Dear KevinG,
ReplyDeleteThank you for getting the conversation started on this topic. I appreciate the connections raised about feet, yesterday and today, and the degree of normalcy/weirdness when it comes to touching or engaging with this part of the body.
To return to your original point, I agree that 1st century feet were probably dirtier than most of ours here today, and that it was part of the culture to get them washed as a sign of hospitality and service. To be fair though, there is a fair amount of weirdness in the Johannine account experienced by the apostles. Footwashing is part of their culture, but Peter and others are shocked and flabbergasted to have Jesus bend down to wash their feet, not because feet were weird but because it was a servant's job to do what he did. The challenge of their discomfort and their transformation to see deeper meaning is key to the ritual and to why we still do it today. In other words there is a sense of discomfort to build on when inviting people to experience this ritual today. For the apostles it was about the reversal of power structures, and for your students it may begin with feet, but there is something to build on there.
In addition, feet, yesterday or today carry a sense of privacy and intimacy. Sometimes "feet" was a euphemism used for gentialia in the Hebrew Scriptures (Ruth 3:7; 1 Sam 24:4; Is 6:2 possibly) which indicates that public comfort with feet was not as common as thought to be.
In terms of pastoral practice, I think it is ok to give people room when engaging with a ritual - sometimes handwashing for one another can also convey the idea without making participants uncomfortable or embarrassed.