Dear St. Luke’s,

Last week, a group of dedicated parishioners helped clean every single table that will repopulate the parish hall. To prepare for this significant project, I brought my power washer and borrowed one from the McPeeks. We scrubbed, sprayed, hauled, and dried dozens of tables and chairs for about three hours and got them to fit neatly into the closet in our newly renovated space.

While we were cleaning up, I did something stupid. I had never noticed it before, but our sidewalk was dirty, and when the power washer hit it, you could see the mark, so I wrote a couple of silly messages like, “Nick <3 Church” and “Don’t forget to pledge.” At the time, I thought this was funny and cute, but when I saw it on Sunday, it just looked tacky, so I knew the power washer needed to come back so I could erase my mistake.

It has been a hectic couple of weeks, and the pace sometimes feels manic. During Advent, you are supposed to cultivate inner peace to prepare your souls for the coming of the Lord. Unfortunately, there was none of that happening in my life. This afternoon was freezing, so I lugged the power washer back to the church, hooked everything up, and spent nearly an hour washing the eight big slabs of concrete outside of the Church entrance. Weirdly, my desire to erase a mistake turned into the peaceful time my soul had been craving.

I still had much on my agenda, but the thing is, that list is never complete, and I managed to step away for a good chunk of time and methodically blasted away the scum that had been discretely collecting in front of our church. Seeing the stark contrast on the sidewalk made me feel good, and I honestly don’t think I thought of anything, in particular, that entire time. It was accidental productive meditation.

Taking the time to step away and re-center takes the commitment to make the time and requires trust. Stepping away and knowing that Sue, Kate, and Victoria (our amazing staff!) had things under control was a real gift. It made me think of the past Christmases I’ve prepared for, and I wonder if the manic pace and heaps of prep work I put in were more for my benefit than anything else. Five services in three days is a lot. I can prepare by drowning myself in sermon preparation and going over every detail, or I can start taking my advice and preparing my soul by trusting in my church, trusting in God, and letting go to power wash.

Blessings,

Nick