Find a bowl large enough for your hands to find space in and also, a towel. Partially fill the bowl with water. Set these in a place where you can sit quietly.
This ritual was created for Maundy Thursday but you can listen any time you feel the need to ground yourself, to discern where love is calling you, to be comforted in loneliness or grief or fear.
You may want to read these words from John 13 before you begin.
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The Devil had already convinced Judas Isacariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. So during supper, Jesus – knowing that God had put all things into his own hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God – rose from the table, took off his outer clothes and wrapped a towel around his waist. He then poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and dry them with the towel that was around his waist. . . .
I give you a new commandment:
Love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
If you have love for one another.
