LENT 2016: Week 3 - Being Holy

Based on Brian Coulter's BE HOLY Lenten Devotion, published by Presbyterian Today. 

2.22.16  Monday  Colossians 1:21 GNT
But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.

          We  experience this period of Lent with reflection and perhaps self-denial or personal critique.  But the season doesn't culminate with the pain of a physical death as it did for Jesus.  We are freed from that life through reconciliation, through a relationship with God that transcends life itself.  What a gift...to be holy in the presence of God.  How will I respond?   What does being holy mean?  
  
God, in Christ....help me respond.  Amen.  


2.23.16  Tuesday  Revelation 22:11 GNT
Whoever is evil must go on doing evil, and whoever is filthy must go on being filthy; whoever is good must go on doing good, and whoever is holy must go on being holy.”

There are challenges and opportunities everywhere to find and follow evil, to witness abuse and apathy.  This is unfortunately part of our world.  But for those of us intent on 'being' holy, that holiness is our call and our responsibility.  If enough good and holy is spread, it will overcome the bad.  We can break the pattern of evil, the filthy of the world.  One step at a time.  We can change it in ourselves and spur change in others.  We can make HOLY the pattern of our lives.

God of my being, ....break my bad patterns.  Amen. 

2.24.16  Wednesday  Ezekiel 42:20 MSG
The walls separated the holy from the ordinary.
      Previous verses in this chapter narrate the exact dimensions and instructions for building the outer walls of the temple.  Precision and detail.  Perhaps another lesson in obedience, I don't know.  But the final verse 20 gives the walls their purpose: to make a distinction between the holy and the ordinary.  Author Coulter calls for us to look at metaphorical walls we might need to build in terms of habits and relationships. 
      I find this interesting.  We often make such distinctions!  Sundays mornings are holy, but Sunday afternoons perhaps not!  Church is holy, but my workplace is not!  We put holy into its walled off cubicle.    I love the Celtic concept in which EVERYTHING is holy, from making breakfast to taking out the trash.  When we SEEK the holy in all, we more easily BECOME the holy amidst the ordinary around us.  We can rub a little holy off.  
       In this age of separation walls, border dividers and such, I'm not sure that I am searching for distinction and division.  May our holy God come among us and we are able to see the COMMON HOLY within us all.  

Envisioning God....keep me ever holy.  Amen.  

2.25.16 Thursday  Leviticus 20:26
Live holy lives before me because I, God, am holy. I have distinguished you from the nations to be my very own.         
          Why do we have the notion that OUR holy makes us better, makes us more right, than someone else's holy?  Especially when THEIR holy is derived from the same God as our holy?  Christians take words such as above to be the chosen people, when those words were written to a Hebrew nation!  And then....Christ made it very clear that God's love was for ALL!  
          So holy puts us in relationship with God, but holy does not make us better than, on a higher level, or any more right than anyone else.  It puts us in a position to respect and honor and work together for that which is right and good.  Holy does not begat authority; rather holy gives birth to humility.  In what way do I reveal my holiness?  Humble or haughty?  

Lord, help me.....be humble in my holy.  Amen. 

2.26.16  Friday  1 Peter 1:15 MSG
...Let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. 

      I love the visual image of a life blazing with the energy of holiness!  A life radiating God's grace and hope.  How do we make it happen?  We train.  We take small steps of 'exercise' on a daily basis to live into such a state of holiness.  Prayer, scripture, reflection all are part of that daily discipline that gives us the energy and grace to blaze.  

God who calls,....train me for blazing holiness. Amen. 


2.27.16 Saturday  Leviticus 11:45 GNT
I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.
     Author Coulter goes into grammar details in this passage regarding imperative and declarative sentences, syntax and praxis.  I'm not even sure what the last two words mean.  But I understand his final words: we are to be a mirror reflecting God's holiness.  I know what mirrors are!  We are the face of God and Jesus Christ on earth.  What we DO in love shows others who God is. When we say we are a people of God and then do something ungodly, we are a poor reflection and blaspheme God's name.  What kind of mirror am I? 
     As I was writing my 'spanks' yesterday, I noted I wanted to DO more of what I say.  And then I noticed the short scripture for the day:  Be holy in all you DO.  Not just in words, but in actions.  A mirror reflects action much better than words.  
PS.  Had to look it up.  Praxis: common practice, practical application of a theory, Hmmm....that sounds much like putting our words into action!  

Holy One, make me...a reflection of you.  Amen. 

2.28.16 Sunday  Leviticus 19:1-2
Go, talk with the community of Israel, and tell them that they are to be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy.

          Go.  Speak.  Tell.  Be holy.  Share holy.  Be intentional about it.  On purpose, not as an afterthought.  

          We are taking off today for another extended adventure, heading south and east toward Texas and Alabama.  Habitat builds, visits (hopefully) with our sponsored child, exploring God's creation, and family rendezvous.  Plenty of opportunities to go, to speak, and to BE HOLY.  

Spirit, set me apart....with intention.  Amen.