Holy Ground
Last night at my weekly church homegroup, we watched the Breathe Nooma video. While the whole video was fantastic, one part stuck out to me really got me thinking…
Are there things in this world that are, in and of themselves, neutral? They aren’t “godly”, but they aren’t “sinful” either. The color blue. Refrigerators. Street signs. Wal-Mart.
When Moses was walking up to the burning bush, was there anything inherently special or “holy” about the dirt he was walking on? Did God create a patch of “special dirt” that no one had yet noticed? I doubt it very much!
But there’s something about ordinary things, coupled with the presence of God, that makes them holy.
Take you and me for example … left to our own we are nothing. We sin, and that makes us unholy. But God, through Jesus, redeems us. He makes us holy by nothing other than himself! His presence in us changes us from ordinary sinful individuals into people worthy of being in his presence for eternity.
Also, take music for another example. There’s nothing inherently evil about any particular style of music. But couple any type of music with lyrics that insult a holy God, and they ruin the song. But take that same music and let God have a place in it, and HE makes it holy … just like he did with the ordinary, everyday dirt around the bush.
I think sometimes we forget that it’s not about whether or not we are personally comfortable with a particular style of music, or word, or activity, or clothing. What matters is whether or not God is present.
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“What matters is whether or not God is present.”
Yes, but we mustn’t forget that our God is fully present in suffering as well, and indeed fully relates to humanity in suffering (through Jesus). So I would say that God’s presence isn’t an immediate indicator of holiness or non-holiness, but rather a representation of God’s solidarity with humanity in both suffering and joy.
Also, I’m not sure about including Wal-Mart in the list of “neutral” objects. Wal-Mart (as a corporation) is FAR more complicated than, say, the color blue.
@Jake Bouma
Suffering can be holy, can it not?
@Nathan: Well, I guess it depends on how you define “holy”.
You say, “There’s nothing inherently evil about any particular style of music.” It sounds like you’re defining “holy” negatively here; anything that is evil is by definition not holy. Therefore that which is NOT evil has the potential to be holy. Whether or not something is “holy”, then, is essentially a moral statement – either it’s good (and therefore holy) or evil (and therefore unholy). In this case suffering is surely not holy, and I’m not sure you can find anyone who would say that it is.
But if you define holy by the presence or absence of God, then suffering if surely holy, if not the holiest of all.