An­ge­lo Mar­celle

The end of the Lenten sea­son is draw­ing nigh and many faith­ful Ro­man Catholics are us­ing this oc­ca­sion to re­flect. Since Ash Wednes­day, many have giv­en up habits that would be deemed self de­struc­tive if abused. Smok­ing, drink­ing al­co­holic bev­er­ages, par­ty­ing, cov­et­ing and even sex may be among some vices peo­ple may have con­sid­ered to be on their list to give up dur­ing Lent. While many will fast from their habits all day, oth­ers have de­cid­ed to use a twelve hour pe­ri­od.

At the end of the 40 days of Lent, be­liev­ers take part in an East­er Sun­day Mass, with a com­mu­nion ser­vice. The Sev­enth Day Ad­ven­tist Church does not cel­e­brate the Lenten sea­son but, us­ing the King James ver­sion of the Holy Bible, have in­sti­tut­ed a sim­i­lar cer­e­mo­ny.

On March 20, the Tumpuna Road Sev­enth Day Ad­ven­tist Church in Ari­ma held its first com­mu­nion ser­vice for the year. All who had com­mit­ted their lives to Je­sus Christ and those con­sid­er­ing mak­ing the com­mit­ment were in­vit­ed to par­tic­i­pate. Cus­tom­ar­i­ly cel­e­brat­ed once per quar­ter, the ser­vice in­clud­ed the wash­ing of feet and the Lord's Sup­per.

It was a most sa­cred and joy­ous oc­ca­sion to the con­gre­ga­tion, as well as to the min­is­ters, dea­cons and el­ders. The Ad­ven­tist Chris­tians use un­leav­ened bread and un­fer­ment­ed fruit of the vine (grape juice) to rep­re­sent the body and blood of Je­sus, since, they say, the Lord Him­self se­lect­ed them. At the time of Christ, many walked bare­foot and thus their feet be­came ex­treme­ly dirty.

The wash­ing of feet was done by ser­vant to mas­ters, chil­dren to their fa­thers and wives to their hus­bands. Je­sus broke that tra­di­tion and showed his hu­mil­i­ty by wash­ing the feet of his dis­ci­ples.