Laundry for Jesus

Earlier this month, I was in the wedding of one of my dear friends from Duke. It was a beautiful ceremony, but the hours and minutes leading up to it were predictably hectic. The maid of honor was late because the getaway car, which she was to park in front of the venue, wouldn't start; we forgot about the boutineers until the moment we were lining up to process in; and the wedding bands were left at the hotel and had to be retrieved by the significant others of myself and another bridesmaid while we assured the bride we had them on location. At some point, one of the groomsmen commented to me that a wedding seems a whole lot less organized when you're a part of the behind-the-scenes action.

That's not just true for weddings--it's true for worship in general. This year, I'm working as an intern with the chaplain's office in the Divinity School, so I get to help plan and lead worship in Goodson Chapel. This week, I've been helping out with services that are being held as a part of new student orientation. Yesterday morning's opening worship was wonderful, and I enjoyed simply being there. We sang great hymns and the third year student nominated to preach did an incredible job.

Perhaps my favorite part came after the service. I had just been on hand to help with whatever came up, and afterward I went back to the sacristy to assist in the cleanup. When I asked what I could do to help, I was handed a wad of linens from communion and a Clorox bleach pen. My major contribution to worship yesterday was to rub bleach on the grape juice stains on the napkins, then toss them in the laundry bag hanging on the closet door.

This wasn't the first time laundry had come up as a part of my job. This past Monday, we had our first worship planning meeting, and one official point of business was to decide who had a washer and dryer and would be responsible for laundering the linens as needed. I ended up being assigned laundry duty.

I love the fact that things like laundry are a significant part of the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into making worship happen. A wedding ceremony may look like a fairy tale to a guest and yet be fraught with all sorts of improvisation, mother-of-the-bride meltdowns and overlooked details; and worship may look glamorous and other-worldly to a congregation member, but it's really just a bunch of people doing what they can to honor the God to whom they owe their lives. Those people make typos in the bulletin or powerpoint, forget to take up the offering, and mispronounce Biblical names. We are children working together to produce a crayon drawing for our patient, loving father. And to him, that drawing is every inch a masterpiece of love.