A Prayer for Hands That Serve

Father, we come to you on this Friday with the picture of your Son kneeling before his friends still in our minds. He knew who he was and where he was going, and that knowledge sent him to the floor with a basin. We confess that we often know less and grasp more. We hold on to our place, our comfort, and our reputation, and we let others do the low work.

Teach us what Peter had to learn. Make us willing to be washed, to admit that we are not clean on our own and cannot become clean by protesting. Let us receive from you daily what we need, and let us receive from your people without embarrassment.

Then send us out with towels. Show us the feet in our homes, our workplaces, and our churches that are waiting to be washed, and give us the humility to notice them and the love to act. Let our service come from security in you and not from fear. Make us people who are blessed because we do these things, not merely because we know them. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who loved his own to the end. Amen.