Tonight's liturgy is most powerful, it is commemorating the inception of the Eucharist; we all have images of Holy Thursday, the Lord's Supper or the Last Supper. I spent my formative years in Boston, I was brought up in a strict Catholic household, I attended Mass daily with my father, I attended public schools and I was a girl. Holy Thursday was one of the church's holy day's that made it very apparent to me that I could not partake in yet another sacred ritual. At the time my father confirmed that because I was a girl, I would never be having my feet washed at this service; at the time only priests had their feet washed. I have gotten over most of that, but the church continues to exclude me as a gay woman from its sacraments and blessings.

I would like to share with you a simple poem about this sacred ritual that A.R. Ammons wrote.

"The Foot-Washing:"

This poem encapsulates the humility of the act that Christ performed; he did for the disciples what he expected them to do for others; he wanted no judgment involved; he washed the feet of the man who would betray him. Washing feet is a symbol of welcome to guests after a tiresome journey, it's a message of forgiveness and it's an opportunity to serve. My exclusion as a girl; a public school student who was banished to the back of the church bred some degree of humility; and tonight in this community not only had my feet washed at a Maundy Thursday service, I was able to wash the feet of others.

Today we renew the commitment that Christ made to us. That covenant is a solemn commitment between God and the people. This covenant we have with God is our own agreement. It is our agreement to love one another as Christ loved us. In this community, of Dignity, we have made a commitment, a covenant of some magnitude with each other. We support and care for each other. It is in the simple acts in this community of a contribution to the Neighborhood Action Council, in the world outside it is the act of recycling to save the environment, in our daily interactions it is a smile, a greeting, a touch Ñ all allow us to fulfill our part in the covenant. You can never underestimate the power of your loving actions and to use the words of Barbara Kingsolver in Small Wonder; "God is in the detail."