Secure in the Sacred

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

16Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

About two years ago I took the volunteer position of “creating and running the multi-media for our contemporary worship service”. Or, as I affectionately say, “slide girl.” My life as slide girl has not been without its adventures. There was my first attempt on Palm Sunday when I didn’t realize how sensitive the clicker was and went through about 4 slides every time I tried to advance to the next one (thus giving the congregation visual whiplash as I scrolled back and forth). There was the Sunday I frantically tried everything I knew to focus, only to discover 3 minutes before service that the frosted plastic lens cap was still attached. And there’s the ever challenging possibility the band has changed verses or lyrics and everything I’m showing on the screen is wrong. Not always good times….

But one of the best events of being slide girl was hearing the explanation behind the painted block of wood used to keep put the projected image at the right height for the church wall. When the previous slide technician (he was a man of much dignity and it would not be accurate or fitting to call him “Slide boy”) announced he was moving, he graciously offered to meet me at church one evening and show me everything I would need to know about the system. I had seen the white 2 x 4 emblazoned with the word “SACRED” before and was most curious. I waited patiently while he showed me the filters that needed cleaning, the focusing mechanism (must have phased off during the lens cap discussion), the clicker, etc. When he finished his long and extensive lesson he asked tiredly, “any questions?”
     Just one,” I replied. I pointed to the wooden block and said simply, “This.”
     “Oh,” he laughed. “I needed the 2 x 4 to lift the projector to the right height. But every time I would have a regular 2 x 4 here someone would take it or would borrow it and I couldn’t find it on Sunday when I needed it. So, I painted this one and put the word “sacred” on it – and no one has ever touched it since!”

In my two years as slide girl, I can verify – people have unplugged the machine, messed up the laptop, lost the clicker, BUT – no one has ever moved, taken or touched the “sacred” 2 x 4. What does that say about us? It says we have somewhere gotten the wrong message. Instead of finding the sacred – we fear it.

Fearing the Sacred

How often to do we hear about the “Fear of the Lord” – and translate it into “the fear of what is the Lord’s”? How many children do we show a pulpit bible and then tell them not to touch it? How many times has the laughter of teenagers been squashed by someone reminding them they are in “God’s House”?

Why do we fear what we label sacred (sometimes we label things literally – like the word sacristy – sacred space and sometimes we label figuratively as in “that song is sacred”)? I think we get confused from the very definition – according to Miriam-Webster sacred means

“Dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity. Devoted exclusively to one service or use (as of a person or purpose).”

Set apart. That’s why we fear those things that are sacred. We feel that they are different, foreign, and away from us. If I told you my chair was “sacred” would you sit in it? No, because you would think, “wow, sacred –  that’s not for me!”.

But today’s scripture in Corinthians tells us not only is the sacred FOR us – it IS US!!! We are the children of God, the temple of God and we are sacred in God’s sight. Imagine for a moment what the world would be like – if we realized we are sacred, and other people are too. Imagine.

Understanding that concept of sacredness through a different lens – a lens that says “touch me, know me, be me” instead of “RUN AWAY, I’m SACRED” (like a biohazard sticker might), what are we to know?

The Sacred Should be Recognized

When Moses is approaching the burning bush a voice came from heaven and said, “OH MY GOSH -- DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT WALKING HERE!! GET OFF THE GROUND, ITS HOLY!!!!”

No, wait…that’ s not right…actually the bible says that God said, ‘“Shal Naalechah me'al raglecha, ki hamakom asher atah omed, admat kodesh hu” – or in English - "Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place wherein you stand is holy ground."

God doesn’t want Moses to run away (although God cautions him, probably because of the fact a bush was on fire, not to come any closer!), and God does not chide Moses for approaching or standing in a sacred place. Instead, God just wants to make sure Moses recognizes the ground he is standing on is holy ground.

The purpose of the sacred isn’t to repel us, but to inspire us and to strip away the coating of this world. Rabbi Melanie Aron lists two possible reasons why Moses needed to remove his shoes to be on holy ground. One was that it leaves the trappings of the world outside. All the muck and dust for the world is left behind so the person stands fresh before God. The other was that when your shoes are off – you have to pay more attention. With shoes, pebbles, twigs and thorns are nothing - you can just walk on them – but without shoes you are vulnerable so you must step carefully and pay attention to what you’re doing. That’s what God wants us to be doing when we approach our creator – pay attention.

Whatever the reason – purity or purpose or both – it is clear that God wants us to recognize when we are on sacred ground or dealing with a sacred person. Sacred people? Look back at Corinthians – that means US. We need to treat each other with the recognition of the sacredness we all have as the temple of God’s presence. Your friends are sacred, your clients are sacred, your waiter, your mechanic, your massage therapist, your banker, your neighbor: sacred. Do you treat them that way? If not, when approaching them – particularly someone difficult to deal with – take off your mental/emotional hard-soled shoes – and walk carefully among them.

I know, I know…the temptation is to say – “If I walked around all day regarding every one as sacred and every place as holy ground – I’d never go anywhere and I’d never talk to anyone!” But the truth – as Moses tells us, as Corinthians tells us and as the generosity-natured Holy Spirit tells us – is that if we walked around recognizing the sacred people and places around us – we would walk in heaven on earth, and we would talk so much more to God.

So the next time you see a painted 2 x 4, or a person living on the street, or a student riding a bike on the side of the road, or a cranky older patron of Ukrops taking forever to pay and causing the line to slow down – instead of raising the defenses, or running for the hills – take a deep breath, and take off your shoes. They're sacred.