{"id":8812,"date":"2014-07-04T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-04T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=8812"},"modified":"2018-11-03T20:22:22","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:22:22","slug":"learning-to-wash-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2014\/learning-to-wash-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Wash Feet Is Theme of Brethren Journal Association Luncheon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Glenn Riegel<\/small>
Joshua Brockway speaks on discipleship and the love feast for the Brethren Journal Association luncheon<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBrethren have adopted the language of just doing things,\u201d said Joshua Brockway at the annual meeting of the Brethren Journal Association. \u201cWe have emphasized obedience, especially with regards to our ordinances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feetwashing and the Love Feast have helped Brethren internalize \u201cknowing and doing the right thing. We heard the values of service, we embody the Priesthood of all believers\u2026in our Love Feast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brockway is director of Spiritual Life and Discipleship for the Church of the Brethren and a member of the Congregational Life Ministries staff. He spoke on the topic \u201cLearning to Wash Feet: A Discussion of Brethren Discipleship.\u201d<\/p>\n

He began by defining discipleship. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those words everyone uses but don\u2019t know what it means.\u201d Brockway suggested that discipleship may simply be expressed as \u201cFollowing Jesus\u201d–but that doesn\u2019t say who follows Jesus, nor how they do it. So he tried again: \u201cDiscipleship is the formation of a person or community into the likeness of Christ through practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And later he added, \u201cDiscipleship changes who we are, how we see the world, and how we relate to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Brethren Love Feast is an intentional means of internalizing what it means to follow Jesus. Brockway told a story about a Love Feast he experienced as a young person. It was, he said, \u201csop in silence,\u201d with metal spoons clanking on glass bowls in a dimly lit fellowship hall. One of the church members who was struggling with Parkinson\u2019s interrupted the \u201csoothing rhythm.\u201d Frustration was visible on his face as he tried to control his spoon from making a rattling noise on the bowl. One of the deacons rose, without instruction, taking the spoon in hand and, with the whole congregation taking note, began to feed his brother in Christ.<\/p>\n

Noting that there were many tears in that room, Brockway said, \u201cThat deacon had internalized the lesson of the ordinance.\u201d Having learned by washing feet, he automatically presented the person and character of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Although nothing magical happens in Brethren communion, Brockway said, \u201cthe practice inculturates a person into the group.\u201d Our Brethren ordinances \u201cgive shape to the reign of Christ\u2019s life among us\u2026and sends us forth\u201d as disciples of Jesus.<\/p>\n

— Frank Ramirez provided this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBrethren have adopted the language of just doing things,\u201d said Joshua Brockway at the annual meeting of the Brethren Journal Association. \u201cWe have emphasized obedience, especially with regards to our ordinances.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1258,673,806],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-8812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annual-conference","tag-brethren-journal-association","tag-congregational-life-ministries"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8814,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8812\/revisions\/8814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8812"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}