Spring Cleaning

Good morning all!

Today’s scripture:

2 Chronicles 29:12-19 (Message)

12-17 The Levites stood at attention. They presented themselves and their brothers, consecrated themselves, and set to work cleaning up The Temple of God as the king had directed—as God directed! The priests started from the inside and worked out; they emptied the place of the accumulation of defiling junk—pagan rubbish that had no business in that holy place—and the Levites hauled it off to the Kidron Valley. They began the Temple cleaning on the first day of the first month and by the eighth day they had worked their way out to the porch—eight days it took them to clean and consecrate The Temple itself, and in eight more days they had finished with the entire Temple complex.

18-19 Then they reported to Hezekiah the king, “We have cleaned up the entire Temple of God, including the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and the Table of the Bread of the Presence with their furnishings. We have also cleaned up and consecrated all the vessels which King Ahaz had gotten rid of during his misrule. Take a look; we have repaired them. They’re all there in front of the Altar of God.”

clean-up-day-7

I am starting to get the itch.

You know the one. It happens right around this time of year.

I look around our house and realize that clutter has started to pile.  Places could use a deep cleaning. I could get rid of stuff and it’s Lent.

When this starts to happen, I can for a dance party in our house.

Dance party is code for…a massive cleaning, organizing and get rid of stuff day. We put on music really loudly in the house, danceable music, and just go to town.

Here is where you have to be a little bit careful. If you aren’t too careful, pretty soon it becomes dancing, not cleaning.  Not too much Stevie Wonder I find or Lady Gaga because then it is just too easy to slip into just dancing minus the cleaning.  You have to aim for Aretha Franklin and Fleetwood Mac and a bit of hip hop you don’t know by heart to really get the job done. There is a fine balance.

But during Lent is a perfect time to get to that cleaning that you have really needed to get done.  It is time to clear away the clutter to prepare for new life. It is time to take stock of what you need to keep and what needs to go.  We are just a little under a month away from new life bursting forth from us and we are going to need space for it to thrive.  We are just past the point of pruning all of the plants around us and now it is time to prune the stuff from our lives.  Sort through the books.  Clean out the closets. What haven’t you worn for the year? It might be time for that item to go.

This is about the time when churches have spring cleaning too.  We have a model for this from ancient times.  We not only need that kind of clearing and cleaning, so does the church.  The church needs space for what God is doing new.  It is time to scrub the windows and floors, to take stock of what will be. It is time to revision where we might be going.

Today is a spring cleaning kind of day. What do you need to clean and dance party away?
Peace.
C

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