"Wash Me!"

How does a car get so dirty that someone finally decides they need to write in the automobile’s accumulated dirt, “Wash Me!”?

I discovered this question in Peter W. Marty’s column in Christian Century. (February 26, 2020, “Gradual Grime”)  Rev. Marty makes the point that it happens gradually. The owner of the vehicle may be too lazy or too frugal to wash a vehicle that is just going to get dirty again, especially in winter, driving on salt-laden roads.  It’s not that the owner wanted the filth there, but it gathered little by little.

You get used to the dirt after a while. You think, ‘I’ll wash it later, when it’s more convenient.” Then someone comes along who is embarrassed for you (I assume they are not feeling sorry for the car) and shames you with the infamous finger-inscribed plea to bless your car with some water.

Friends, I don’t want to be the one to tell you (or I guess I do, actually): we all badly need a bath! You should care about the accumulated grime. The dirt and grime of our sin accumulates, not necessarily because we want it to, but just because we live in a sin-infested world. Do something about it now. The longer you wait the less likely it is you will get it done.

Why bother with church during Lent? It’s like walking through a fountain flowing with water. It doesn’t’ hurt, I promise. You want to be clean for Easter, right? Now is the time to let the baptismal waters get to work on that grime.  Use Lent to write a message in the dirt: ‘Wash Me!’  Jesus offers free washes every Sunday!