CRC Pastor Washes Feet

Pastor Eric Dirksen says he was still groggy and sipping coffee on a recent Saturday morning when he stepped onto the campus of Sacramento City College to participate in the city’s annual Homeless Connect day.

A church planter for Christian Reformed Home Missions, Dirksen made his way slowly to the Service Provider’s gazebo to learn the location of where he and a few others would be washing the feet of homeless people that day.

He had done this the year before—showing people, in a primarily secular setting, what Jesus Christ did on the night before his death.

In part as a sign of humility and also as a way of reflecting the washing away of sin, Christ took water and a towel and washed the feet of his apostles, cleaning them of dirt and dust..

When Dirksen reached the gazebo in the center of campus, he discovered that "two incredibly chipper women were handling the station and asked what service my group was providing."

Immediately after he managed to mumble out the words "foot washing," one of the women behind the desk said, "Oh, I've been waiting to talk to you. You need to remove your sunglasses so I can see the face of someone who is here to wash people's feet."

Needless to say, Dirksen wrote in a prayer letter to supporters of Christ Church, the new congregation he is starting in Davis, Calif., it was "a rather humbling way to begin your day."

Modeled after San Francisco's Project Homeless Connect, this one-day resource fair brings together a wide range of services for homeless people in a consumer-friendly, "one-stop shop" format.

After San Francisco pioneered this event in 2004, similar programs have occurred in over 100 communities across the United States and abroad, according to news accounts.

About 750 people attended the event, which provided food, legal services, job and Social Security Administration information, sleeping bags, and medical screening, treatment, and prescriptions. Many of the people got haircuts, had bicycles repaired, and received assistance filling out applications for housing.

A friend of Dirksen's works for AmeriCorps and was one of the main planners of the event. Dirksen's friend also helped coordinate volunteers from a church that had washed people’s feet last year and was committed to doing so again.

When the church had a scheduling conflict at the last minute, Dirksen’s friend emailed a bunch of people asking for help to run the foot-washing station. The Christian Reformed Church pastor agreed to put a group together.

There were six people from four different churches and one or two helpers with no church connection at the foot-washing station.

Some 60 people stopped by to get their feet washed.

"Our motley crew of folks from various churches (and a few helpers with no interest in church whatsoever) was just glad to be there, and many folks expressed their gratitude that we were," says Dirksen.

"Most of the day we felt as inadequate as I felt walking up to that station in the early morning, apologizing for not bringing more volunteers."

In the grand scheme of things, says Dirksen, it seemed that the other services, especially given California’s current budget crisis, were of greater significance to the everyday lives of people.

Nonetheless, he says, quite a number of people reminded him on that day, and for a few days afterward, that "to simply be there, to stand in solidarity with those who are already now and are becoming increasingly marginalized, is a mighty important task. In other words, the comment of the saintly check-in woman continues to ring in my ears: 'We're just glad you’re here at all.'"

Thinking back on that day, Dirksen says he found it "instructive to me that in order to stand in solidarity with these good folks, our meager team of folks from various churches had to kneel in front of them in order to wash their feet. . . . I am being reminded to kneel, and just be there at all."

Responses were always incredibly gracious and grateful. "We were lavished with thanks most of the day," says Dirksen. "The Homeless Connect event is phenomenal and organized so well. It’s a great honor to be a part of it."