You may recall one of my earlier
posts called “Who Will Be a Witness” where I share a story of meeting a young man who had
never been to church nor heard the story of Jesus and how I believed that God
had put me in that place, at that moment, for that purpose. My spiritual director simply responded with, “What
if that were every moment?” In those
simple words, she opened my heart and mind to the concept that God is placing
me in every moment, in every place, for his purpose.
For most of my life, I have lived
my life with a hard line between the spiritual and the secular. There was a definite difference between those
two worlds. The Episcopal Church is
centered on worship, unlike other denominations who are centered on education
or service. Since we are focused on
worship and worship has historically been in a building with beautiful music
and intentional words, it is very different than other experiences of my
week. Worship brings us together and can
reset our priorities. It can be a way we
experience or hear God. But it is only
worship.
Our curate, Rev. Alan Bentrup,
reminds us that what we do on Sunday is
worship and what we do out in the world is church. Being the church, loving God, is so much
bigger than showing up at church on Sunday.
If we love God, then we are doing and being as much like Christ as we
can – in every part of our lives – not just Sunday.
In the Old Testament, God gives
us a clear command to worship no other Gods but him when he hands down the Ten
Commandments. Throughout the Israelites’
time in the wilderness, there was emphasis on worshiping God and observing the
rules of a people set apart. In the New
Testament, Jesus reminds us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and
strength. This was not new – it’s also
in the Old Testament – but loving became the focus instead of the
rule-following. He also reminds us that
he came for all people – not just the Jewish people who were set apart. This was Good News to many but radically
disappointing news to others.
In these fractious times, I
struggle living out my Christian beliefs because I feel I need to consider how
others may react to my loving all of God’s creation. Loving our Muslim neighbors and defending the
dignity of the LGBT community are as natural to me as prayer. I also
take my Baptismal Covenant seriously to strive for justice and peace. It is not possible to compartmentalize my love
to avoid ruffling feathers because my “worlds” aren’t separate anymore.
I wonder this morning what Jesus would
think about being worshiped since he
came to serve and not to be served. I
wonder what he would think about our churches since the early church had no
buildings to separate followers into various houses of worship. Followers were simply in the world, sharing
their witness of the love they had experienced.
In that way, there was no line between the sacred and the secular. The church was the world – not contained in a
building. Ashes To Go was all over the
news this year; this shows you how revolutionary it is to actually be the
church. This shows you how much we
have hoarded God for ourselves.
Someone recently shared with me this
powerful quote from Wendell Berry: “There are no sacred and unsacred places;
there are only sacred and desecrated places.”
Every part of the world is God’s world and it is all sacred until we
desecrate it. How does our life protect
every moment, every place, as sacred? That
every person is sacred and precious to God?
Does your life – your words and actions – reflect loving God’s world and
all that is in it? How can you make the line
between you and God thinner?
