One of the things my wife Barbara remembers most about her "former life" in the Episcopal Church was the definition of the sacraments that she was taught as a young girl: " The sacraments are outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace."

Although Episcopalians and Presbyterians do not see eye to eye on everything, we are in full accord about that definition and we also agree that there are two sacraments which were instituted by Jesus Christ long ago and are still held sacred and celebrated in Christian worship all these centuries later: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Although our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers include five other sacraments - confirmation, marriage, ordination, penance and anointing the sick - we need not argue tonight about who is wrong or right about the number of sacraments. Because what is more important is how we can affirm as Christians that in these sacred events - these sacraments - we are drawn closer to the Lord as He draws close to us.

And yet, somehow, somewhere down through Christian history, I think that we in the church have lost one of the most sacred events of all. I don\rquote t know why it happened or how it was left out, but on this Ash Wednesday evening at the beginning of the Lenten Season, I want us to remember and to talk together about "The Forgotten Sacrament."

I.

In the 13th chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus and His disciples sat down in the Upper Room to share the Passover meal with one another. They didn't all know it then, but it was to be the final dinner, the Last Supper they would ever have together.

John tells us that during supper Jesus rose from the table, laid aside His garments, girded Himself with a towel, poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet.

It was not unusual, in fact it was a Jewish custom back then, that someone, often a servant, would wash the feet of dinner guests who had walked the dusty roads in their sandals, similar to the way that we wash our hands before eating a meal today. But Jesus and His followers had no servants, and none of the disciples volunteered to do the dirty work. Why?

Well, John doesn't tell us, but Luke does in the 22nd chapter of his gospel story. Luke reports that A dispute arose among the disciples as they came to supper, about which one of them was the greatest. (Luke 22:24) You see, they were arguing amongst themselves about prestige, position and the pecking order, and probably about who was going to sit closest to their leader and which one of them would be asked to say the blessing.

My hunch is that Jesus was fed up with them that night. He had tried to teach them the way of humility, tried to show them how to love each other and how to live together in community, but they still didn't get it. So ... knowing that His time was running out, Jesus decided to do something about it.

Pushing away from the table, He got up, took a water basin and a towel and bent down to wash His disciples' feet. Suddenly, the room was quiet as they watched Him do the dirty work, and finally Peter spoke up for all of them, breaking the silence of their embarrassment, saying Lord, you shall never wash my feet!

Jesus looked him right in the eye and replied, If I don't then you won't have any part of me. Well, that was the clincher, no one else resisted, and when He was finished, Jesus sat back down and drove the point home. Do you know, can you understand, what I have done for you? If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another's feet. And Luke, in his version of the story, tells us that Jesus concluded the lesson, saying I am among you as one who serves. (Luke 22:27)

II.

Next to Bethlehem's manger, Calvary's cross and Easter's empty tomb, we may be looking here at the most important scene in all of New Testament scripture. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with all the power of the universe in the palms of His hands, took into those hands a basin and a towel and bent down to wash His disciples' feet.

So why have we, down through the centuries of Christian history, almost completely forgotten this sacred event, this act of humility and service, this sacrament? I can't say for certain, but it could be that we, who have grown familiar and somewhat comfortable with baptism, the Lord's Supper and perhaps even some of the other signs of grace, it could be that we are just as embarrassed and uncomfortable today with this foot washing business as were those first disciples long ago.

Think about it for a moment. What would you do if tonight, instead of asking you to come forward for communion, we invited you instead to take off your shoes and socks, your high heels and stockings and then come to these chancel steps so that we could wash your feet?

If we had put such a notice in the Chimes newsletter, you might have washed your own feet in advance! You may have cleaned your socks, or put on a new pair of stockings, or perhaps decided to stay home because it just wasn't appropriate for a Presbyterian worship service. And those of us up front here, we might have felt the same way!

Maybe that's why this sacrament has been forgotten - it all seems so dirty, so sordid, so downright embarrassing.

III.

Well, if that is so, then let's not try it. Instead, let us remember and try to apply the lesson Jesus taught His first disciples which He still seeks to teach us tonight. Our lives are not as clean as they could be or should be. The Bible calls it sin, and if we are honest, so do we, recognizing and confessing, as the apostle Paul did, that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23)

In her most recent book "Speaking of Sin", the Episcopal priest and author Barbara Brown Taylor puts it this way: "The recognition of sin in our lives...acknowledges the full distance between where we are and who God created us to be...deep down in human existence there is the memory of having been treated cruelly...or of having treated someone else cruelly as well...There is an experience of seeing the light and turning away from it...of reaching out for forbidden fruit, of pushing away loving arms, of breaking something (or being broken)...For ages and ages this experience has been called sin." (From "Speaking of Sin" by Barbara Brown Taylor, Cowley Publications, 2000, pages 62-63)

And that is what needs to be cleansed, to be washed away by Jesus Christ who alone has the power to forgive us and to help us forgive others. The old Episcopal Book of Common Prayer includes a confession about our "sins of commission and our sins of omission" and tonight, I invite you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to quietly, but honestly bring those sins to Him as you come forward to this table for communion. And as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, ask Him to wash clean your body, mind and soul, to forgive you, to heal you and to help you become a healthy and whole person again.

CONCLUSION

If you are ready and willing to do that, then let me remind you that being cleansed, forgiven and restored is a gift we are not supposed to keep to ourselves. So remember tonight what Jesus said to His first disciples long ago: I am among you as one who serves. Do you know someone who needs your support, someone who needs to be loved, a family member or friend who needs your help, or perhaps a person who is sick or suffering or poor? If you can name at least one, then as you come to this table, offer your silent promise to God that during this Lenten Season, you will reach out to them in the name of Jesus.

Now if for any reason, you cannot think of a person who needs that kind of support, then I invite you to join a small group of people in this church who have not forgotten the sacrament of foot washing. They meet every Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 in our Christian Community Center to bathe and soothe and put ointment on the feet of homeless men and women who come to us off the streets of this city.

And should you decide to become involved in this ministry, I pray that as you bend down, take a basin of water and a towel and wash those human feet, if you listen, ever so carefully, you will hear the whisper of a voice saying, I am among you as one who serves.

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.