I purchased a high powered vacuum cleaner about a year and a half ago.

The description promised no-loss of suction for the life of the vacuum cleaner.

The description foretold of a vacuum cleaner able to withstand even the dirtiest of carpets.

The description declared the suction would trap all grim, dirt, and particles trapped in my carpet.

I recall at the time going over the description several times, because I had received the same promise from other vacuum cleaners in the past and been sadly disappointment with the outcome.

I must have spent almost an hour looking and comparing the various vacuum cleaners on display.

I left the aisle, I returned to the aisle, I left the aisle, I returned to the aisle, and I left the aisle again.

Finally, I returned to the aisle and settled on a high powered vacuum cleaner with the promise of no-loss of suction.

It lasted a week.

I cleared the clogged-up hose.

It lasted maybe two weeks.

Then one day the suction stopped all together.

I would go over the carpet multiple times, only to see the same strands of hair, dirt, and grim settling in my carpet.

One day so frustrated with the lackluster results of the vacuum cleaner, I broke out my trusted tool set.

I took the vacuum apart all the way down to the motor.

I cleaned every crevice I could reach on the vacuum cleaner.

I put the vacuum cleaner back together.

The suction returned, but not at the vacuum cleaner’s original level.

I suffered with this vacuum cleaner for almost a year and a half.

I would take it apart, pull out my trusted wire hanger, and complete the process over and over again.

It would work for a while and then stop at the most inopportune times.

It got so bad at one point; I had to speed-vacuum, because the vacuum cleaner would constantly over heat.

I would try and vacuum an entire apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 full size bathrooms covering approximately 1200 sq. feet in five or ten minutes before the motor would overheat.

Yet, I persisted with the vacuum cleaner.

Finally, I could not take it anymore.

I went out and purchased a new vacuum cleaner.

I went through the same process as with the last vacuum cleaner.

However, this time, I was more suspect about the promises layout in the description on the box.

I opted for the most expensive vacuum cleaner on the shelf.

I brought the vacuum cleaner home.

I diligently put all the pieces together.

I vacuum first the living room and then the bedroom.

The picture above depicts all the grim, dirty, and particles in those rooms. My new apartment is almost half the size of my last apartment.

I was shocked.

I was disgusted.

I was taken aback by how much filth had acuminated in just the few months, we had been in our new apartment.

By the way, we were still using the old vacuum cleaner.

I took the picture.

I looked at the collection of dirty.

I looked at how much dirty the new vacuum cleaner had picked up.

I was astonished.

I was sickened.

It made me consider how much dirt people carry on themselves every day.

It made me consider how much dirt exists in this world.

It made me consider how dirty our minds are even as we speak on how cleansed, purified, and holy we are in our pulpits, in our sanctuaries, in our synagogues, and in our mosques.

It made me consider the stains of unbelief, doubt, hypocrisy, deceit, deception, lies, and so much more we as preachers and teachers bring into our congregations, week after week.

We look at our struggling congregations.

We look at the brokenness of our congregations.

We look at the mounting, unemployed members of our congregations.

We look at the broken relationships in our congregations.

We look at the fragmented souls of our congregations.

When everything is breaking in the congregation, it should signify the move of God, is hindered.

When everything is breaking in the congregation, it should signify the operation of God, is lacking.

When everything is breaking in the congregation, it should signify the reign of God has been usurped by man and not God.

We bring a message of hope.

We bring a message of perseverance.

We bring a message of long suffering.

We bring a message of belief, when we do not believe ourselves.

We go home to our McMansions.

We go home to our paid for homes, by the very same congregations unable to pay their own rents.

We go to the five star steakhouse and order the biggest steak on the menu. Please do not forget the best red wine on the menu, so we can feel closer to Christ.

We lavish up the medium rare porterhouse steaks.

We toast to our success, Christ’s has bestowed upon our household.

We are satisfied with all the Lord has done for us.

And, we wonder, why, oh why, can we not bring the people up to our levels.

We pray to God for new understanding.

We pray to God to open their eyes.

We pray to God to clear their minds.

We pray to God to help us, help them.

We pray.

Some of us even offer a struggling member a few dollars, but then we talk about it later in the privacy among other clergy members.

We make a show of it all.

Our vacuum cleaners have lost their suction.

Our vacuum cleaners have lost their promise of cleanliness.

Our vacuum cleaners no longer read like the description of Christ.

Our vacuum cleaners no longer demonstrate the ability to cleanse the hearts, the minds, or the souls of the people.

Our vacuum cleaners are sucking the people dry and the people are too blind to see it.

Our vacuum cleaners are broken.

Our vacuum cleaners filters are clogged.

Our vacuum cleaner motors are damaged.

We are spewing more dirt, than we are clearing from the hearts, the minds, and the souls of the people.

We have our champion causes for the welfare of our communities, but we create minimal changes in their lives.

We are no longer acting as the wife of Christ.

We are no longer acting as the pure bride.

We are no longer acting in solidarity with the covenant we made with Christ.

We have become the problem and not the solution.

We need new vacuum cleaners.

We need new filters.

We need new motors.

We need to remember, a vacuum cleaner is only as good the suction power, it emits.

I am happy with my new vacuum cleaner.

It delivers as promised.

I am saddened by the vacuum cleaners in many of our churches.

They fail to deliver the promise entrusted into their care.

Their bellies, their pockets, their bank accounts, their cupboards, their storage chests, and their castles are full, but their hearts are empty.

In the words of our savior, forgive them father, for they know not what they do.

For those, who actually do understand the true message of Christ, and continually violates the message, the people, and the covenant relationship, I pray every curse upon your head and upon your household as Christ decreed in his message to the disciples on countless occasions. Just as God did in the Old Testament, see Ezekiel.

To God Be the Glory!

Amen!!!

Matthew 24: 9-14

9-10 “They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other.

11-12 “In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.

13-14 “Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.

EYHCS

The  ”Day 72: The Tale of a Vacuum-less Pulpit” (text) by EYHCS published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

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