“ ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter, ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘no one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over….’ ”John 13:1-16

Yes, “the cross is still there,” especially when we eat and drink the Lord’s supper; that meal is always a repast that takes place for us on the water’s edge. Baptism admits us to the holy communion, and every time we partake of the Eucharist the gifts we received in holy baptism -- the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from the devil, and the promise of eternal life -- are renewed. On Holy Thursday, especially, we eat our supper by the water. We know this because the cross takes us there.

Back at the beginning of December a couple of years ago, my …