Contemplative Writing Prompts for Lent: 38

Today is Maundy Thursday (don’t ask me what that word means.) The traditional ritual associated with today is foot washing, because Jesus did that at the last supper which happened on a Thursday, apparently. Some churches–not many of my Episcopal tradition–recreate this experience on this Thursday of Holy Week. A church I belonged to did it once. We shucked our shoes and let someone we went to church with wash our feet. Then we did it for them. I found it discombobulating. Not getting my foot washed. I was okay with that. Washing someone else’s feet kind of undid me. It was such an unexpectedly intimate act, it brought tears to my eyes. That’s what we will write into for today’s contemplative writing prompts for Lent: 38.

Think about a time you performed an act of service for someone else. It’s best if that someone else was a stranger. And your act of service required physical touch. Such as offering your forearm for someone to make it up the curb. Brushing cat hair from someone’s suit jacket. Holding your thumb on theirs so they could tie a knot. Write the physical act itself first. Then what it felt like for you. Spend equal amounts of time on each. Would you willingly recreate that moment?