Recovering the "H"-Word--October 8, 2021

Recovering the "H"-Word--October 8, 2021

"Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." [Hebrews 12:14]

I don't know about you, but every time I hear Respectable Religious people talk about "holiness," I wince a little.  

I get ready, cringing a little bit and afraid of what will come out of their mouths next, to hear their personal soap-box issues, railing against whatever issue or problem particularly pushes their piety buttons.  I've heard more than my share, and I'll bet you have, too, from why the speaker thinks that drinking any and all wine is a sin, to tirades against reading fantasy literature (you know, because it glorifies witches, wizards, or dragons), to excessive fussiness about four-letter words (as though they were unware that Saint Paul the apostle had quite a mouth on him sometimes!), to whatever the latest divisive culture-war issue is that their favorite talking-heads on television have warned them against.  I've heard the abstract principle of "holiness" used as a weapon against public schools, expanded civil rights, teaching history, opposing racism in the fabric of society, going to movies, or having friends who aren't Christian.  You can certainly add to the list.

In short, quite often when I hear folks talk about "holiness"--from pulpits on TV to shouting voices on the radio to self-appointed street corner evangelists wearing sandwich-board signs--I hear them using religion as justification not to like something or someone different.  It's sort of the ultimate ace-up-the-sleeve, really, to be able to say, "This thing that I don't like?  Well, it's not MY fault--it's because GOD is against it.  And so, in the name of holiness, it must be declared entirely wicked and rotten." I've heard "holiness" used as justification for just being a rude jerk or as a religious cover for people just spoiling for a fight on social media so many times, I get wary of using it at all.

There is a reason, after all, that we use the phrase "holier than thou," not as a compliment on someone's deep devotion, but to call out someone's sanctimonious hypocrisy. But should we let our misuse of the word "holiness" ruin what the idea is meant to be getting at?  Should we let our sloppy co-opting of "holiness" for our personal hobby-horse issues keep us from asking what the Scriptures really have in mind by being "holy" people?

I ask because this verse from Hebrews almost catches me off guard in the way it sets "holiness" with "peace with everyone." We don't often put being peaceable in the same thought as being holy, honestly.  Often those are almost seen as opposites.  You know what I mean?  There's a whole strand of piety that says anything that looks like friendship with "the world" (much less, <gasp!> making "peace" with the world) means abandoning holiness and giving in to the world's sordid ways.  Sometimes you get the sense from church folks that Christians don't know what they are FOR--only who they are AGAINST, which is everyone else who doesn't think like, act like, vote like, and live like they do.  And once you're in that mindset, it can almost look like a badge of honor or a sign of your commitment to show how opposed you are to everybody and everything else.

But not for the writer of Hebrews here--he calls us to pursue, actively, peace with all people, in the same breath as seeking to be marked by holiness.  Being holy and being peaceable, then, are not opposites, pulling us in diametrically opposed directions, but rather they are part of the same way of life.  Seeking peace with other people is a way of staying different and distinct in a world that seems to thrive on conflict, outrage, and antagonism.  Being holy is another way of describing the commitment to living in light of God's character--which sees all people, regardless of our disagreements or differences, as made in God's own image and worthy of respect, compassion, and honor--and that will lead us to find ways to work with people rather than throw stones at them.  Holiness doesn't give us permission to baptize our hatred for the ones labeled "other," and peacemaking doesn't mean sheepish agreement with whatever frantic nonsense the outraged mob is riled up about in the name of "getting along." It is our seeking peace that will make us stand out--which is really what holiness is getting at.  And it is our commitment to God's vantage point (holiness) that will lead us to rise above the petty mud-slinging of the talking heads on TV whose job is to find something to be up in arms about.

It's rather like Walter Brueggemann's famous line: "People notice peacemakers because they dress funny. We know how the people who make war dress - in uniforms and medals, or in computers and clipboards, or in absoluteness, severity, greed, and cynicism. But the peacemaker is dressed in righteousness, justice, and faithfulness - dressed for the work that is to be done." That's what the writer of Hebrews has in mind here.  Holiness that takes the form of finding ways to create peace and build bridges rather than barriers.  Peaceableness that is willing to look weird or stand alone in a culture of hostility and antagonism where everyone retreats behinds their walls and fences.  Like the hymn says, "When our song says peace and the world says war, we will sing despite the world...." 

Let that kind of holiness turn some heads in your circles today.  Let your way of being gentle with the souls around you, who are already wearier than they let on from being on the defensive all the time, be what sets you apart from the noise.  In other words, pursue peace... and holiness at the same time.

Lord God, give us your way of making peace in the world even when it makes us stand out from the crowd.