I am grateful to the volunteers who worked last Saturday to wash the walls of the rectory to get ready for our future tenants.
Jim shouting
let’s get this show on the road, Shirley wiping each venetian blind, Judy and
Linda scrubbing the dining room, Steve taking out the broken furniture on the
tractor to the dumpster, Roy sledge hammering the contents to fit, Ron helping
me scrap off the rubber backing on the porch floor and moving furniture downstairs; Tina wiping the walls, floors and refrigerator, Karen cleaning kitchen cabinets, Sue scrubbing the laundry
room, Jean working in the front pallor, Donna cleaning the sinks, Corey washing
upstairs bedrooms, Tom putting up the ceiling tiles, Bob bringing in the
supplies, Mary bringing the pizza
and wings and getting on her hands and knees in the kitchen.
You could tell
we were good Catholics, everyone was on their knees, cleaning the grit. This shepherd was humbled and grateful for a job done with such grace and grit. The rectory now smells like pine sol. There was a moment when I spotted
the guys chewing the fat by the garage door while all our ladies were
inside scrubbing the walls, so I shouted out the window ”break time over guys
lets get back to work.” Moments later they all scattered back to work.
Last Sunday,
Jesus cured some lepers and only one came back to say thanks. The lesson teaches us to get moving in gratitude for the love God gives us daily. So cleaning
a rectory, making baskets for the Spaghetti Dinner, teaching
about God’s love to our kids, decorating the altar, or singing our lungs out in praise of God is our thanks. God wants a personal relationship with each of us. In
return, we come each Sunday to thank God for the opportunities He has given us,
our life, our families, our farms, our faith, this church.
One last note,
before I left the rectory I was given a mission by the scrubbing team. Might I hussle the local
furniture store down the road for some free carpeting to put on the floor and maybe
even a donation to the Spaghetti Dinner. My new job description includes:
"professional beggar." So on my way home, I stopped at Harding Furniture Store
and talked to the owner. Without hesitation, he searched for the carpet and
wrote out a voucher to be raffled at the church dinner. Then he said this, “I
know who you are, and you are doing a wonderful job with that church in North Java.”
So I told him: "Many thanks for his donations and most important his compliment
of the people of the parish."
