A Sermon for the Service of Washing of Feet 2021

The closest thing we have to a sacramental renewal of our baptisms is tonight’s service of the washing of feet, Votnlva. Votnlva is of course similar to baptism in its use of water and oil and its imagery of repentance and cleansing.  But it also continues right where baptism and confirmation left us off in its theology and prayers.  Our baptism ends by sealing nine parts of our bodies in Christ with special prayers; on our ears so that we might always heed God’s Word, and on our lips that we might always speak well of others. But which is the last member that we seal?  We seal our feet with a cross, and the priest prays: Կնիքս աստուածային՝ ուղղեսցէ զգնացս քո ի կեանսն յաւիտենից, զի մի՜ սասանեսցիս:  “May this divine seal direct your every step unto life everlasting that you may not be shaken.”  Our baptism culminates in Christ sending us on our way, sacramentally empowered to do good works with our hands and run to the aid of others with our feet.  Just as in marriage, we were young and idealistic when we heard these vows. Now we come before our Lord older, like the disciples on that fateful Thursday, and are ready to step out of the classroom and into the world.