Washing Feet

I occasionally accompany some families from my community to their church on Saturdays, the Adventists church in the next town over. I like connecting with them on the religious level and don't shy away from it like some volunteers do in order to stay as neutral as possible. As far as I'm concerned, spirituality is human nature and the spirituality of an indigenous Central American group of people can be analyzed in a fascinating way. The religions of western missionaries sometimes is awkwardly insisted in their culture and sometimes it is nicely blended.

Last Saturday communion was celebrated with a foot washing beforehand. I've seen this done before in America, a reproduction of the last supper, Jesus' act of service and humility. But in America - we remove our clean shoes and clean, if not a little sweaty socks, to reveal and wash freshly showered feet. Probably some occurences of  fungus but for someone not phobic to feet there is nothing to fear. But here? People rarely wear real shoes. Floors to homes are dirt, roads are dirt, sidewalks of concrete don't exist to make even paths. People are clean here, they are pridefully clean. They bathe and wash clothes regularly. But feet? In this environment, they get dirty. A friend recently asked me a "would you rather..." question involving Ngobe toes and something equally gross.

I pondered from a distance the foot washing proceedings and the symbology and new literal meaning to me. Some parts of western religion are awkward among a non western culture - but some, like the foot washing example of Jesus, fit better.