Holy week is here! As a minister this is an incredibly busy week and I fear that in the “stuff” of this week I may lose the sense of wonder and awe this week should contain.

So, I pause to write this morning. I left Men’s Bible study where we looked at John 13 – the foot washing that took place in the upper room on Thursday of Holy Week. We call it Maundy Thursday – Maundy comes from a Latin word meaning commandment. The commandment was to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

This commandment was demonstrated in the foot washing, in Jesus’ treatment of Judas, and in the words and actions that followed this evening.

I left having had my feet washed by my brothers (not literally, but spiritually). I left challenged to look for opportunities to wash the feet of others.

Then I read the account in Mark 13:32-37. Jesus has left the temple where he had confounded many. They discussed many things there, including which commandment was the first and greatest.

As they leave the temple Jesus talks about it being destroyed. The question on the minds of the disciples was “when will this happen?”  The answer from Jesus is to be awake and alert for you do not know what the future holds.

I read these words from Brian Coulter in a devotional called “Be Holy.” He writes: “…Jesus asks us to keep alert in the midst of this uncertainty. He tells us to keep this kind  of holy focus…Often, though, we are pulled into the anxieties and distractions of our world. We stop trying to be holy because we are busy…or we’re scared.”

As he concludes “we do not know with certainty what the future will bring, we do know with certainty that our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” So, let’s keep awake and alert and wash some feet while we have opportunity!