Church Cleaning

The other day, our school had a luncheon for volunteers, but I was not invited. Ouch. As a former volunteerist, that hurt. Sure, I have helped out in a few small ways at our new parish when seasonal help has been sought – setting up booths for the fall festival, divvying up toys for the Christmas distribution, - but I’m not in charge of anything. I’m not teaching or facilitating anything. I used to volunteer to do things like teach CCD or run marriage prep workshops or give witness talks about NFP, stuff that allowed me to show off what I’d learned.




But since I had overextended myself the last few years, I am trying to not to raise my hand for everything, but to find ways to do smaller things. My most regular ministry has been helping clean the church on Sunday evenings. As my friend who is in charge of the cleaners commented, this is not a glamorous job, but it is valuable work. Being from Colombia, she has been subject to some racial stereotyping and offered jobs by a few people who find out she cleans the church, even though she has a postgraduate degree in psychology. Cleaning someone else’s bathrooms for pay is different from cleaning the church’s toilets as an act of service, but neither is going to win you much attention.




The cleaning crew gets to go into the quiet and partially darkened sanctuary and run vacuums back and forth, back and forth, while the sanctuary lamp burns more noticeably in the dimness. With a Lysol wipe in each hand, I glide at a monk’s pace between the pews, wiping their backs, cleaning off the remains of sneezes, sticky finger marks, baby saliva. Ready for the next teether. I even sort of like cleaning the bathroom where I get to be a combat specialist in the battle with those devilish germs. Mopping takes on the rhythm of a chant, with its scrub, scrub, pull, pull movements.



I can’t say that cleaning the church has helped me to be a better housekeeper. Despite being someone who likes to help out, I don’t really like to do my own work. Cleaning God’s house is a small way of saying thanks be to God and spending a little extra time with Him. And not stepping up to do something more visible is a way of trying to be a little more humble and to see the contemplative aspect of cleaning as a ministry to those we love.