"Clean" | Reflection by Katharine Luce

Clean: free from dirt or pollution; free from contamination or disease; unadulterated, pure; thorough, complete

I don’t know about you, but I have done a good deal more cleaning than usual during this past year. Yet instead of granting reassurance, my zealous countertop scrubbing and fastidious handwashing has only revealed how impossibly, irredeemably messy my surroundings are. Much as we might like, we cannot fully protect ourselves from that which sickens simply by scouring everything in sight.  Cleaning is important, but it remains a temporary way to combat the mess of everyday life. A more permanent, sustainable solution is needed. 

I am starting to breathe a sigh of relief as family members and loved ones have been vaccinated against COVID-19. This vaccine offers a more permanent, sustainable solution to the pandemic than our ritual cleansings with hand sanitizer, alcohol wipes, and antibacterial spray. A way forward has emerged for us to begin to reclaim our fellowship together, to resume the most treasured parts of our lives: time with one another. The feeling I am left with is one of catharsis, instead of cleanliness.

Similarly, Psalm 51 is a meditation on one’s desire to be cleansed from sin and made truly pure, and the recognition that such permanent cleansing cannot be done on one’s own. The psalmist pleads with God: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!...Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow….Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” These requests reflect a spiritual longing for release and relief from the grief of sin.  More than a good scrubbing with soap and water, the catharsis of forgiveness and renewal seems to be the aim of this psalm.  As we look toward Easter, may we cling to the knowledge of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as our way forward—an act granting us forgiveness, catharsis, and renewal once and for all.

Words in the Wilderness - Walk through the season of Lent with Trinity, one word at a time. Every day (except on Sundays) we will post a photo and a brief refection written by someone in our Trinity community. https://www.trinitynewhaven.org/words-in-the-wilderness