TEAM WORK (Exodus 39)

Half of Exodus describes the work involved in building the Tabernacle and creating priestly garments. Only three people are mentioned by name: Bezalel, Oholiab, and Moses. Bezalel and Oholiab led a host of other craftsmen in the construction; Moses was relegated to day laborer, assembling the furnishings inside the Tabernacle according to God's instruction.

In addition to the anonymous craftsmen, anonymous women served at the entrance to the Tabernacle and wove linen and spun thread. 

Still--not everyone actually made something for service in the Tabernacle. Perhaps everyone gave to the building; they brought so much that the treasurers told them to stop with the offerings! (I doubt any building fund since then has had the same problem.)

But when time came to give credit for the job, Moses recorded, "The People of Israel . . . did it all."

Of course the major point is that they finished the job; not a detail was ignored.

But. . . they didn't all do it. And they certainly all do it all.

Maybe it's my American individualism. Even when I say "we went to the NBA finals last year!" I don't mean I, or the people of Oklahoma, went to the finals. The Thunder players and coaches' success rested on their talent and hard work. 

Maybe it's closer to the sense of "We won World War II." Everyone from the soldier on the front lines to the child collecting tin felt they were a part of the war effort. 

But do we think of church activities and worship as a team sport? That it takes everyone's participation to do it "all" and be blessed for it?

And what part do I play, bound to a nursing home as I am?

Let us each do something--so that together we can do it all.