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Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Tim 2:20-21)


Recently a song in a musical Les Misérables is haunting in my mind. The song’s name is Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Below is part of it lyrics:

There's a grief that can't be spoken,
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables,
Now my friends are dead and gone.

The context of the song is French Revolution. The friends of the singer passed away in the revolution, leaving only empty chairs and empty tables.

The reason that I recall this song is that our church activities have to stop under the pandemic situation. The tables, the chairs, and the vessels are now only lying in the church quietly. The scene feels like what is said in Rom 8:20, “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it…”

Yet, today’s Scripture gives me a hope. The real vessels in the house of our God is us. The material vessels may be put away, but “if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” God in any time is able to use the vessels who cleanse themselves from what is dishonorable!  Today, our church is not empty, because the vessels in it are us. We are prepared to be used.