Whenever I sweep under my dining room table, I wonder, “How could this much dirt accumulate so quickly?”
I actually took the time to ponder the answer today, and the answer is that our family sits there a lot. We eat there. We worship there. We learn there. We craft there. We cry and laugh there. You could say we live at the table.
That made me smile a little at my full dust pan. You know, sweeping everyday is a small price to pay for the richness of life lived at this table.
As I emptied it into the garbage bin, I thought about our church.
Our faith family gathers there a lot. We eat there. We worship there. We learn there. We craft there. We cry and laugh there. You could say we live at the church.
It creates a lot of dirt under the table.
I’m not talking about physical dirt now, though the custodian may tell you differently. I’m talking about the dirt of life- marriage difficulties, demon oppression, financial strain, relationship junk, theological discrepancy, and backslidden brothers and sisters.
We are a group of people who have been transformed by Christ. We were formerly addicts, prostitutes, pharisees, liars, swindlers, and thieves. Now, we are Christians, but we still struggle with sin, and when we get together, a lot of dirt accumulates under the table.
As I watched my pastor sweep and mop the sanctuary last week, I thought about the heavy burden of the other type of sweeping he does when he counsels, answers the emergency calls, and visits the sick (physically and spiritually). I thought about the additional burden it is to our deacons when they minister, listen, care, and show compassion.
I thought about you, dear Christian, because don’t we all do this heavy job of sweeping together? When God’s Word says, “Bear one another’s burdens,” He knew what He was getting us into.
He knew the burden of one another’s dirt would be too heavy for us to bear. He had seen the pharisees do that very thing within Judaism. (Remember when He said, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.”?)
Well, Jesus lifts more than just a finger.
As we sing:
Come to the table!
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
Come to the table! ©
He is here, sitting too, allowing His feet to join ours under the table where all the dirt is. Maybe He turns to whoever is sweeping and says, “Come to Me, you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Instead of abandoning the church, His bride, He calls us to be the church more and more all the time.
When we bear one another’s burdens, we never do it alone because Jesus knows that the daily task of sweeping is a small price to pay for the richness of His life that is lived through His people who gather at His table.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Sarah Dixon Young 