Author: Wick

So in the midst of reading some really great thoughts/insights on Holiness, I’m reminded that words hardly convey what all is actually involved. The closest we get in our discussions involve specific situations and lives involved in the Holiness of God being revealed in our world.

Stories of grace, of inclusive love, of living according to the Kingdom of God that is here, yet unseen. Proclaiming it’s existence. Revealing it. Making it seen. This Kingdom that exists by a different way. This is not social status. This is not planning ahead for success or growth. This is not trying really hard and stressing out to become a recreation of any church body that has existed before. This is the Kingdom of Love. Fueled/given Life by the very Spirit of Jesus.

It is found in small things. In letting someone ahead of you in line. In using coupons, not so you can get tons of stuff, but so that you have something to share. In sharing a moment of humanity with someone the world passes by; not out of pity, but out of community. In slowing down, opening the sunroof, and recognizing your place in the whole of creation that proclaims the existence of God’s reign and rule.

It is found in large things. In forgiving the unforgivable. In letting go of debts. In deciding something very large as a community that communicates grace to even one person. In sacrificing your desires/wants or even your view of “how things should be” to reveal God’s Love to someone else…even if they think you’re just a loon.

All of this sounds mushy. Like either I’m a hippy with my flip-flops up on the desk smokin’ some love-bud….or I’m a momma’s boy who’s way too in touch with emotions, and I need to go hunting and skin an animal or somethin’. I should probably read a book about how being a man is all about being a “hero”, and “rescuing princesses”. How I’ve been created as that kind of adventure seeking testosterone pumped hairy chested football loving beer can smashing feller for God.

But I’m not smokin’ anything, no longer a momma’s boy ( I think I was for a bit), and I think Sarah Palin is probably more manly than I’ll ever be. I’m cool with that.

No worries, I’m not gonna run around giving hugs and passing out flowers. But the fact that God’s Kingdom has a LOT to do with the kind of love mentioned previously is definitley having an impact on my life.

So in the midst of my crazy “blogging-almost-daily” for the past month or so, I’ve realized some trends in my blog readers.

Things like:

I average around 20 to 40 hits per day.

More visits from CA to my blog this month (95) than TN (42). But people from TN spent more time (56 sec. avg.) than CA (10 sec. avg.)

You don’t enjoy reading about what I’m reading. (for the most part) Days where I talked about either “Holiness” or “Crime and Punishment” were significantly lower readership than the blog I posted about flip flops.

Friendly Atheist gave me my largest readership EVER (for a day, thanks Hemant), thanks to his blog about my blog. I totaled 478 visits that day!!! But on average, I usually only get 7 a month from being listed on his “blogroll” as a believer.

Most of you find this blog either through my wife’s blog, or through our church’s website.

Someone actually found my blog by searching for “dont stop a-rockin to the bang bang boogie” on google. (I tried it…didn’t work for me….weird)

51% of you use Firefox, 40% use Internet Explorer and need to be saved.

Most of my Canadian traffic comes from Edmonton.

All in all – thanks for reading. Also to my 20 subscribers (sign up on the right!), I wouldn’t want to forget them….I’m glad each of you is inclined to somehow connect to what is going on in my brain/life. 🙂 God bless all 820 unique visitors from this past month.

And thanks to Google Analytics for helping me know all this. 🙂

So how does Bishop Kendall suggest that Jesus-centered “scriptural” Holiness can be spread in a renewed way? He gives 7 points here: (in my own words)

1. Jesus didn’t use the language most associated with holiness in his day. It had been corrupted, and we might do good to check ourselves as to the language/pictures we use ourselves today.

2. The primacy of love found in Jesus threatened the Spiritual status quo by being radically inclusive. We need to return to Christ-like love, offered to all.

3. The lack of “steps towards Holiness” or “how it works” in the Gospel doesn’t mean common patterns of life experience won’t be observable; but it does reveal to us we may err in our need to “get it right”. When looking for a common model/pattern, we should observe the life/death/love of Christ.

4. Jesus seemed to approach each disciple according to their needs “tailor-made”. We would do good to shift from focusing on where we “are“, and milestones achieved; to the way and the goal of the journey themselves. Each of us has unique experiences that may not match up to a given “formula”.

5. “Jesus’ way of love is grasped and lived ONLY in community.” (emphasis mine) He notes that the interactions of Jesus usually played out in the company of others. This seems obvious, but I think Kendall is saying that we especially need to take note of this, given the climate of today’s culture in the world AND in churches where it becomes about the private and individual.

6. A stronger connection MUST be made between a holy life and the mission of the church. Jesus entered a ministry already in progress “on behalf of people caught in the historical, social, cultural, and religious realities”. That mission is ongoing, and we are called to service and ministry toward others, engaging the world and the powers.

7. This engagement must take the way of self-sacrificing love. In an ego- and ethnocentric world, we are called to proclaim a holiness that is love. “A dying to a self-centered life and filling with a divine love as the primary meaning of purifying from sin.”

Altogether, I like this chapter. I think it would benefit many of us to read it, especially those in ministry serving the church. It’s not simply about singing Jesus-songs, and getting as many people as possible to “ask Jesus in their hearts”, or even “becoming entirely sanctified” so we can claim another spiritual milestone. We are not called to be the “Jesus-themed-country-club” we’ve so often become.

But it’s not simply “trying hard” to embody these things listed, so that we can look and be proud of what we’ve done. It’s relying on the Spirit of God to complete the work he has started, and join him where he is active…etc.