WELCOME TO

Bethany English Lutheran Church

 Believe. Engage. Learn. Care.

Bethany is a member of the ELCA
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

15460 TRISKETT ROAD, CLEVELAND OH 44111

Weekly Sunday Morning Services are at 8:30 and 11:00 am.
Live Sunday Service streaming at 11:00am each week.

Education Hour and Adult Forum is at 9:45 am,
A professionally staffed nursery has resumed and is available for our young worshipers during the 8:30 and 11:00 am worship services.
The church office hours: 9am to 4pm Tuesday - Friday. You can call the office 216-941- 7880

Maundy Thursday

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34

The fifth day of Holy Week is called Maundy Thursday. It commemorates the day Jesus met with his disciples in the Upper Room to celebrate the Passover before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word “mandatum” which means “mandate” or “commandment”. And derives from Jesus telling his disciples that he gives them a new commandment that they are to love one another as he has loved them. The word Maundy has also been the name given specifically by the Church to the rite of Footwashing.

In Luke’s gospel it says that during the Passover meal a dispute arose among the disciples over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. Jesus then tells them that the greatest is the one who serves. His statement did not seem to have ended the discussion, because in John’s Gospel it says that Jesus got up from the table and began to wash the disciple’s feet, the job of slaves. Footwashing was regarded as so low and demeaning that some Rabbis claimed it was unacceptable for even Jewish slaves to do it. And yet Jesus took the initiative to do the work of a slave to prove his point.

Peter objected to what Jesus was doing, but Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Later Jesus told all the disciples, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” Although Footwashing has never been considered a sacrament by the Church, over the years it has become more common as a rite performed on Maundy Thursday in remembrance of Jesus’ actions.

Although some churches have Footwashing as a regular part of their Holy Week observance, that has not been the case at Bethany, but we have done it a few times during my ministry here. The last time we included Footwashing in the liturgy was in 2018.

I admit that I have often reacted like Peter to the whole idea of Footwashing. I would rather just forget about it, and yet I can not get beyond Jesus’ words, “For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” Although I have been resistant, whenever we have included Footwashing in the service it has been profoundly moving for myself and for those who have participated. Maybe the very reasons why we do not want to do it, is why specifically Jesus told us to do it. It could be that the physical act of washing another person’s feet helps us to experience God’s love for us more deeply and to live out his command to love one another.

God's Blessings,
Pastor Robert Ferro

WE ARE A COMMUNITY OF FAITH THAT HAS BEEN WORSHIPING, LEARNING, SERVING, AND SOCIALIZING FOR OVER 100 YEARS.