OK, we have a housekeeper who comes once or twice a week, otherwise Megan and I share a lot of chores, today I did some plates and cutlery (it drives me nuts if stuff builds up in the sink! Yuck!) I was looking at something this made mention of Sabbath breaking, and that is probably stupid, but is that a breach?

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~etexas~

depends who you ask

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http://www.myspace.com/aleavelle
"Speak wisdom to a fool and he'll think you have no sense at all"

True! Thought I would throw it out though, feeling risky!

A better question to ask is, "Are these things I'm doing something I could have done yesterday, or that can wait until tomorrow, so that I can have today as one set apart from all the things I do on other days?"

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules-Signature Requirements-Suggestions?

I think of what Jesus said about getting the oxen out of the ditch. If your animal is stuck in the ditch or it is an urgent matter, you should not feel guilty for doing something about it.

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

No, not at all. Dishes in the sink are just like donkeys in the ditch...they need to be rescued and put back home.

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R.Vic Bottomly
Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

No it is not a breach, becasue you do not do the dishes the 6 other days of the week. Plus dirty dishes will create a petri dish of bacteria.

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

No, I could not have done them yesterday, we had a dinner party and things were piled up, No, I could not have waited until Monday, because Vivian will be here and the "pile up" would have interfered with her work.

Oops, I posted right after you on the same thing. I guess we think alike on this!

Great Minds!

Really, washing dishes is a part of eating. I think worrying about washing dishes is about the same as worrying about the labor of lifting a fork to eat.

In other words, it is not worth worrying about.

stop obsessing over sabbath breaking. just enjoy the day and meditate on God's goodness. I just had some grape soda, fried rice and some fried fish.

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~Keon Garraway~ Brooklyn, NY

Love for God demonstrated by the love for our children in giving them a God centered education is the only hope for our country. by David Morrow
Pslam 71:20 [Thou], which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

Yes we must

BUT that REALLY sounds good! Back to our program!

I agree that we must be careful here. If washing a couple of dishes is wrong then what about clearing the table? My wife and I will usually just load the dishes in the dishwasher though.

That being said, one must be careful not to make the Lord's day a day for cleaning either. While cleaning up the dishes may fall under a sort of daily necessity, scrubbing the toilet probably doesn't.

The principle remains the same...is it a work of necessity or mercy? These words need some interpretation.

And this is the point I was trying to make. IMHO, there's a difference between washing dishes that you've just used for a meal on the Lord's Day, and then cleaning up dishes from yesterday's meals because you didn't want to wash them then.

Jeff thanks, you bring to mind an interesting point. As I stated, the housekeeper will be here Monday, if I do NOT do the dishes it will cut into her work! She has a husband who was just wounded and is need both of time and money. So. With that in mind, might it be a "lesser" "evil" to start a load, than pile work on one who is sore pressed as is? Is it not better for me to chance it and be Merciful?

Josh,

I agree. Preparing for the Sabbath is often forgotten in today's day. Saturday is our house cleaning/grocery shopping/etc. day just for this reason. I'm the kind of guy who likes the house on order as well, and even if I didn't actually clean on the Sabbath, I would be tempted to if I did not do it beforehand.

etexas,

Not to sound rude, but I have a hard time thinking that washing your own dirty dishes is "merciful" in the biblical sense.

Max -- I think washing your dishes following a meal on the Lord's Day, if it cannot be left until Monday morning, as a matter of sanitation and health, is a reasonable work of necessity. That being said, each of us should endeavor to make what preparations we can beforehand to minimize "servile works" required on the Lord's Day (for example, think of using disposable paper plates, if possible). Moreover, when going about the business of cleaning up after a meal, you can always concurrently meditate upon the sermon or what you read in family or private worship, or other divine matters, or sing a psalm, or listen to a psalm sung or a scripture read on audio tape or some other means (I haven't entered the ipod age so I think in terms of a stereo or...a walkman). As William Gouge says in The Sabbath's Sanctification, p. 14:

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

Not to sound rude either, but at the moment she is the sole bread winner and will not take "charity" she cooks and preps meals on Monday. A dirty kitchen would add to her burden. If aiding her by pushing the Start button on the washer is breaking the sabbath I shall risk it. I do feel that is merciful, in a Biblical sense. Stone me.