A Holy Place

I remember, year ago, walking into a Mission in California - this one - and feeling from the moment I entered it, that it was a holy place. I'm not sure why I thought that. Was it the organ music playing? The decor of the sanctuary? The hushed quiet (beyond the music)? Some olfactory trigger?

I actually don't think it was any of those. I don't find organ music to be particularly holy. I've been in multiple sanctuaries - with pews and stained glass - and not all of them "feel" holy. 

Buechner says, in Wishful Thinking, that the only thing that is holy is God. Anything else we call holy "has something of God's mark on it." And he says we know it when we encounter it.

There have been times in my experience with my church when we have worshiped other places than the Sanctuary. And there are those who object to that, claiming that the Fellowship Hall or the Chapel "don't feel holy to them." There is nothing about a room with table and chairs near the kitchen that is or isn't holy - it's the experience of God that brings the holiness.  So while that room may not "feel holy" to someone else, to others of us, who have encountered God in this place, it is holy.

It might not be a good judge of worship space to declare its holiness or lack thereof. What is holy to one is not holy to another, and to claim it is an inherit aspect of the place is to deny that holiness is God's alone.

Prayer

Creator and Lord;

You are a God of holiness. We are a people who rarely see or experience holiness. We are a people in need of you.

Open our eyes so that we can see your holiness all around us. Open our hearts so that we can share the holy love you have placed in our hearts. Open our ears so that the sound of your breath fills our spirits and ignites our words. Open our minds so that we can know your holy connection with everyone. Open our mouths so that your holy message spills forth. Open our lives so that your holiness can fill us, transforming us from who we are to the holy people you have created us to be.

You are holy. We are not unless you change us. Hear our call.

In your son’s name, we are bold enough to pray. Amen.