Anglican Communion News Service

[Anglican Media Melbourne] Why would an MP, a city councilor or a judge get down on their hands and knees and wash the feet of a total stranger?

It's all part of the St Paul's Cathedral's Maundy Thursday service at 6pm on 12 April.

The foot-washers will be:

• The Hon Ross Smith, MP for Glen Waverley
• Justice Clive Tadgell, High Court Judge
• Cr Joanna Pace, JP, City of Melbourne
• Mr Rick Tudor, Headmaster Trinity Grammar School, Kew
• Acting Police Sergeant Lisa Rooney
• Mr John Sweetman, Group General Manager VECCI
• The Very Revd David Richardson, Dean of Melbourne

The "footwash-ees" will be members of the St Paul's Congregation.

According to the Dean, the Maundy Thursday service commemorates Jesus' Last Supper before his Crucifixion. He washed his disciples' feet as a symbol of being a leader who is also a servant.

The participation of community leaders is a first for St Paul's and is designed to symbolise their willingness to lead by serving others, rather than a specifically religious act, he said.

The company that produced the sign advertising St Paul's Easter services couldn't believe that community leaders would wash people's feet either. According to the Dean, they changed the sign from "foot-washing" to read "floor-washing" instead!

Maundy Thursday is the first of the three significant days of Easter, the others being Good Friday and Easter Sunday. At the end of the service, all ornaments are stripped from the altar and the lights are turned down, while the choir sings. People are invited to watch and pray until midnight in a side chapel which is decorated to symbolise the Garden where Jesus prayed before his arrest.