Maintenance

The priest shall put on his linen vestments after putting on his linen undergarments, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt-offering. Then he shall put on other garments, and carry the ashes out to a clean place outside the camp. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it shall not go out. Every morning the priest shall add wood to it. – Leviticus 6:10-12a abridged (NRSV) 

I don’t know what Aaron and his sons thought they would be doing when God called them to serve as priests in the tabernacle, but as it turns out a big part of the job description is keeping a fire going. Clean up the ashes. Add more wood. Routine maintenance.  

Whenever I talk to someone who tried to read the Bible cover to cover, they usually report giving up somewhere in Leviticus.  

Genesis and Exodus are page-turners. Give me the cosmic excitement of creation. I am here for all the drama of humanity’s moral growing pains. But who wants to read instructions on scouring bronze vessels? Who has the patience for a detailed list of maladies that make an animal unsuitable for sacrifice? 

Our culture is dazzled by innovation, fascinated by whatever is creative, imaginative, and new. But I fear we have a quiet disdain for the slower layer of life: the ordinary institutions and boring procedures that simply keep good things working well.  

Rotate the tires. Clean the windows. Review the budget. Whether that is our bodies, our homes, a garden, a neighborhood, or even a democracy, everything needs maintenance. 

So if you get bored halfway through Leviticus, read on!  

There will be stuff that makes you cringe. And there’s plenty to remind us why we need visionaries to stretch the edges of tradition. But there is also the surprising beauty of maintenance, and the gifts in this often-hidden layer of life.  

After the stirring stories of creation and liberation comes an invitation to treat even ordinary work with reverence and care, a call to honor the slow layer of our common life that remembers, that maintains.  

Prayer
God, we are inspired by the blaze of your creativity. Inspire us also by the steadiness of your care. Amen.

About the Author
John Allen is the Senior Minister of First Parish Church UCC in Brunswick, Maine.