Dear Church,
On Sunday I preached about how Pentecost—the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church—was God coming to be present as a contagious holy presence among us. This is the same Spirit that rested on Jesus in his baptism, that operated as an incorruptible purifying presence in Israel, that came into contact with people and made them pure and holy.
I asked aloud at the end of the sermon: what would this mean for us if this is true? If God’s Spirit was active in and as we embody a “contagious holiness”?
This question strikes me as difficult to wrap my mind around. I’m used to thinking about holiness more as a “standard” or “demand” or “high ideal” or “something entirely other” – to talk about holiness as “spreading” or “being contagious” just doesn’t compute in my prior understandings. So I have work to do to re-imagine a different way to conceive of what holiness is.
To help that, I am reminded of Hosea 11. In that chapter God talks about his holiness in terms of how merciful he is choosing to be with Israel. “God says: I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.”
God’s holiness is how God is of a different quality—a different substance—that what makes up humans. God is infinite, we are finite. So one way we embody contagious holiness together is moving together into the world to give life, bring healing, restore relationships, enact justice, make peace. Essentially to bring the divine kind of life—the Kingdom of God, we could call it—in and through our bodies, relationships, and responsibilities.
So then the work of the Spirit among us is the spread of God’s life into all creation. This is why the creation is groaning, says the apostle Paul. It’s subject to decay and corruption, but our authority (called “sonship” by Paul) is to free creation from this bondage. Our Christian responsibility is liberate work that influences all of creation.
My head spins when I think of this; I need more time and prayer to understand it fully, let alone act in a way commiserate with this reality. But I’m grateful we have our church to walk this out and work this out with fear and trembling together.
May the Spirit of Christ resonate and redound in our bodies, beloved. May we aspire to the calling of being holy agents of God’s liberating presence and healing power in our community. And may you even now have a fresh sense of God’s care and delight in you that he would make his home among us.
Grace to you all and peace,
Fr. Matt
