On the many trips to the landfill or the recycle center I have made, I like to travel on a winding country road with less traffic. And each time as I hauled debris from this building site I would notice a small 3-word sign along the road that always caught my attention. It says “Clean - Dirt - Wanted”! I always thought clean is clean and dirt was dirty, from my memories of Grandma Hazel always sending me back the bathroom to scrub the dirt and filth off again and again until I was clean! Seems I always missed some spots! And of course if your kids have been playing in the dirt they will certainly need at least a bird bath before bedtime if not a hot soaking bath. I know I sure did leave some rings in the bathtub!!
Of course I know this sign’s creator actually wants dirt without large rocks, tree stumps and thistles within his oxymoron advertisement. But the arrangement of words on this sign always grabs my attention. Our epistle reading today reminds us: “Keep on watching, standing fast in the faith, conducting yourselves in a courageous way, and being strong. Let all your things be done in love.” [1 Cor. 16:13-14]
When it comes to dirt, we all seem to be addicted to some flavor, and I don’t think that is part of the love spoken of today! Wither we are blackening our lungs with smoking, draining bottle after bottle of booze, darkening our spiritual luminosity on screen time as we invite unholy things into our brain, seeking non-Christian relationships, and practicing hatred of our brothers and sisters with gossip, text messages and dirty looks! Our straight and narrow tends to be a bit obstructed with detours as we distract ourselves from the work that we need to do inwardly on our path to salvation. Aren’t we missing some spots?
In contrast to the clean dirt wanted sign, I was thinking our Lord would advertise something like: dirt wanted, I will clean it! We all remember from Psalm 50: “Thou shall sprinkle with hyssop, and I shall be made clean; Thou shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.” You see, it is always a choice for us so called intelligent creatures. But I think it is more of answering the question our Savior asks the Apostle Peter three times in the Gospel of John 21: “Do you love me”, but not just love, a sacrificial type of love. Can you love Me more than dirt?
You see, we, who are selfishly free, struggle becoming a servant, we always miss some spots! But our freedom always leads us to a fork in the road; one way is worldly and directs us towards our demise, and the other leads to a life that has no ending, no expiration date! And hopefully we chose the road to life, but just like our roads around here, they will always be under construction and refurbishment! Repairs need to be made, because of the damage or injuries we have received in parts of the dirty world we have traveled, and as we yearn for a sacrificial love. St. Paul instructs the Hebrews: “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14)
Dead works are the detours in life we take as we listen to our unharnessed free-will running off the twisting road of life into another dirty ditch. The prophet Isaiah asks us to: “Come now, and let us reason together, Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18) How can this happen? The answer is love. Love the lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:30-31) And be scrubbing the filth off week after week by: “confessing our sins, faithful is He and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [1 Jn. 1:9], again and again! The bottom line is, He wants us, and as we surrender, dirt and all, He will Clean our Dirt with His blood, because He loves you! “A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a broken and a humbled heart, God, wilt not despise.”(Psalm 50:19) Fr. Gabriel Weller 8-30-2026
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