God asks Moses to build him a tent - the "tabernacle", so he can be present with his people. Now God gives instructions on the initiation of the priests.
In the animal sacrifice ritual, a person "transfer" their sin onto the animal by placing their hands on the animal's head. The animal is then killed; it's blood smeared on the altar and on the person. As good as it feels to be forgiven, the ritual is not a feel good exercise. It's messy.
And while the priest is a helper in the process, the bloody mess gets all over him too. This is not a job for people who feel "dizzy" at the sight of blood.
So it is with us in being God's priests in the world, in our work spaces. When we take on the role of a blessing courier for God, and when God does surgery to heal someone's soul, often the mess gets on us too. This is not a job for someone who wants a sitcom life - where problems are smoothed out within a half hour, over four minute commercial breaks. Spiritual surgery is messy, and the mess get on people who stand close.
Yet this is precisely where God sends his priests, just like the way he sends his own son. Jesus came into a messy world. Jesus himself falls victim to human sinfulness. And he instructs us to follow his footsteps.
Write
Think about your faith story: how have you experienced the messiness of real life? How have you experience God's Spirit doing life saving surgery in the world - in you and the people near you?
In your life presently, what messy thing is God working out?
Who is God asking you to stand by while he does surgery?
Pray
What
is God saying to you today? What's Good News to you?
Talk to God about your experience of His Spirit work in the messy worldt. Thank God for the way he is not put off by the messiness of our lives, and the way he helps us to brave messiness as he uses us..
Pray about the surgery God is doing in your life. Ask God for the wisdom and support to cooperate so he can heal you.
Pray for the people whose messy world God is asking you to enter. Ask God for the courage and opportunity to love and bless them.
Pray for an experience of God's love, grace and mercy in the way he enters your messy world, and the way he sends you into the messy world of others so he can bless them through you.