holiness

Holiness is a church word, which is to say that it has baggage–popular usage that has diminished its helpfulness for contemporary discourse. If someone seeks holiness, they are seen as aloof and odd. But what does holiness mean? Is it about moral superiority, escapism, and self-righteous finger-pointing? No. Holiness is about the elimination of things that destroy.

It is important to note the connection between the word 'holiness' and wholeness and healing. David Bosch brought this out briefly in discussing the mission of the church. I wonder if many people who are put off by the current connotations that come along with the word 'holiness' would be more willing to seek it if they understood it in terms of wholeness and healing. Would it not be good for us to find that in our lives, the relationships around us, and society in general?

Holiness is about breathing life, and not death, into our actions and relationships. We often see people who eliminate certain actions which are, no doubt, destructive, but still hold close other actions and attitudes which, though more socially acceptable, are equally as dangerous and destructive. Arrogance about one's abstinence from certain destructive behaviors is itself a sure sign of sickness. The holy person is not the one who shakes his finger at 'sinners,' but rather the one who helps her fellow brothers and sisters to see the way toward healing.

I hear our call to holiness as a call to consider everything that destroys and to refuse to embrace those things–embracing, instead, things that breathe life, love, justice, healing, and beauty into the world around us. No wonder these acts come from God and require our dependence and cooperation. We need to reclaim holiness as a word, as an idea, and most urgently as a practice.