SANCTIFICATION/HOLINESS

Exodus 19: 1-8; 2 Peter 1: 1-11

We really don’t know what to do with holy places or holy people, do we?  In human stumbling over holiness, in the holiest of services, I have had people with thoughtless or excited purposes, try to capture holiness with the whirring sound of a camera and the blinding light of its flash. There is no audio or video record of our Maundy Thursday service since its holiness can only be felt in person. As persons greeted Pope Benedict XVI last week, his smile warmed their hearts after well-wishers stumbled over ways to honor and properly greet him.  In cathedrals I have visited, people generally grow hushed in the caverns of beauty and awesome size; “I often think of the Psalm: “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.” At other times I have been reminded of the words that Jacob uttered at Bethel, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven!” (Gen. 28: 17) As I have entered those cathedrals, others have genuflected, some chatted in whispers, a few sang, and others listened to the amplified voices of tour guides that broke the holy silence. What do we do with holy places? Over the site in Bethlehem, presumed by all Christian faiths to be the birthplace of Jesus, there is a big Church of the Nativity that marks the rustic spot where our Lord was born. In Nazareth, where it is believed that Mary heard the announcement of a son being born to her, there is the Church of the Annunciation. On the site where Jesus shared perhaps his greatest sermons is the Church of the Beatitudes; and over Calvary, the crucifixion site, is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a site of conflict between Christians showing their human sides of jealousy and envy. We make a mess of holy sites, making some believe that humanness and holiness are almost like oil and water. 

Back in the 1930s there was a movement that started at Princeton Seminary to purify the church from its sinful ways.  Like the Essences of the first century, the Rev. Arthur Ryan and others formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and started its own school, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Dr. Ryan of the OPC came to my reformed worship class at Princeton and said, “I want to confess to you that I was wrong. Division is NOT the way to purify the church. The minute a human being steps into a holy place, it becomes tainted with humanness which, it seems to me, is as it should be.”

There have been people who have sought to live a holy life- one devoted to serving God. The Roman Catholic church names them as Saints with a capital “S;” we usually use a small “s” to describe all who sincerely try to fulfill God’s will. While we were in Italy on our tour of holy sites in November, one of our favorite stops was at Assisi, where, in spite of the church’s overdoing a simple chapel devoted to God by a simple man, we felt charmed and filled with wonder. The man who made Assisi so famous is described with these words: “Francis was a native of Assisi.  He was born in 1182 in his father’s absence and named Giovanni, but upon his father’s arrival from a journey to France he renamed him Francis. As a young man with a lively intelligence he began working in his father’s profession, dealing with cloth, but spent his time differently from his father: he was far more cheerful and generous; he liked to be with his friends and to sing and to party. But one day as he walked past the church of San Damiano, he went in prayed before a  crucifix, and a voice, which he believed to be Jesus, spoke to him and started Francis on a path of generosity to  all whom Jesus loved. Later in his life, St. Francis heard Jesus’ voice again with his sending words to Peter, James, John and the others: ‘take nothing for your journey, not gold or silver or bread or footwear or a change of clothing.’ He responded with joy, saying that he would do as his Lord asked. Labeled as crazy by some, he and his order later known as Franciscans were known for extremely austere living, burlap type clothing, and good works toward others.  He created the tiny Porziuncola and got the pope to agree that once a year, anyone traveling there to ask for forgiveness would be forgiven. And over that tiny building, the Catholic Church, in its desire to preserve holiness, built a gigantic basilica over it: a human way to holiness. Other holy men and women through the ages have simply sought to follow God, and when they did it well they got the title “Saint” (someone who made a difference living the Christian life) and their memory has been kept alive with layers of fresco paintings, or gallons of ink in books, or tons of stone for statuary. But the real person is usually more like Moses, a ordinary person who came upon something holy that drew his attention, with a voice coming from a bush that took his breath away. In our day, in liturgical settings of dance for example, reverent dancers remove their shoes to remind all that their intention is to offer holy praise and honor, and a belief that God is present whenever two or three are gathered in his name.   Taking that passage seriously, this week I received a cartoon of a young girl kneeling by her bed in prayer with two other dolls propped against her bed with their hands folded and heads bowed as well. Do two dolls next to a child count as a holy experience? In our clumsy attempts to connect with God, sometimes we may substitute a holy experience with a darling one. But God can also, with miraculous grace, show us how human clumsiness and Godly holiness can indeed be in the same place and time! If we aim to be close to, to follow, and honor Jesus, we can start to expose the world to more holy encounters instead of human thoughtlessness.

Turning our attention to the wonderful words in 2 Peter, we have our guide in just 11 verses. Our human nature may urge us to post these words on our refrigerators or make book marks out of this sage wisdom. Good. Let us capture holy living in whatever human ways we can. This passage is addressed “To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the right actions of our God in Christ.” There; he first proclaims what Paul also proclaimed:  “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” God knows the pains we have on earth because God has felt them. The writer goes on to say “His divine power has given us everything needed for life! The supplies that surround us are there to bless and carry us along our journey; and we have everything needed for godliness! The way to live that honors God is knowledge that God has given us; example that God showed us; and presence that God has promised us. We have it all; yet so many don’t read the book or know the Savior; knowing and seeking to follow and be close to Jesus builds your relationship with him. A Good relationship with him and others was a goal that Jesus had for his followers. He gave us the promises of God so that we could choose long time life blessings instead of short term lusts. Rejoicing quickly turns to regret if lust is the drive. The Bible tells us so here. “For this reason,” we read on, “make every effort to support your faith with goodness,” that is, let your works support your beliefs, and the fruit of your labor will show the nature of your faithfulness. Beyond that, staying on a good track also takes self-control and that knowledge gives you the strength to hold fast; if you hold fast, self-control can give you the ability to do it, giving you the means to pull your life away from the rough shoulder and back on to the pavement; or to use another illustration, to hit a golf ball onto the green pasture of the green instead of slicing it into the rough or hooking it into the drink. Use the image that helps you. Self control will also require endurance, 2 Peter teaches us, a word often associated with long distance runs and Iditarods. Finally the list compounds, bringing us back to our need to be close to and to emulate Jesus. Show mutual affection and love.  Those are the most longed for and most elusive for those who for years have thought of themselves first.  But if we put God first, along with others, (Love God, love neighbor), then we are aligned to make holy experiences out of human ones. If we fail to get the order right, we are doomed to spiritual nearsightedness, says 2 Peter, and those persons hold on to past sins just to hold personal power over others or to nurse grudges- both a self serving and not God honoring reasons for those actions. I know some people like that, don’t you? But God wants more of us in the world to live a new life. 2 Peter describes it.

We are supposed to be change agents in the world: Light in the darkness, leaven for those who have not yet risen; and faithful followers in a land of the faithless. Jesus had no other plan other than for his disciples who were with him, and those who read about him, to share and live the Gospel. That means you and I are part of God’s plan. Tape up 2 Peter if it helps; but now we have a way to bring holiness, into dens of godlessness.

Jeffrey Sumner                     April 27, 2008