November 18, 2015

If everything is declared to be sacred . . . the distinction between sacred and secular becomes increasingly faint . . . if it is true of all, the temptation is that there is nothing special about anything.
A Table in the Desert: Making Space Holy, p. 25, W. Paul Jones

What makes something sacred or holy?  What makes something special?

On the one hand, we can say that everything is sacred, holy, and special because God created everything.  God created the earth, sky, and sea, and called it good.  God created the plants, the animals, and humanity, and called it good.  God saw everything that he had made, and it was very good.  That fact, that everything was created by God and that we were created in the image of God, gives credence to the understanding that everything is sacred, holy, and special.

On the other hand, we can also look around and perceive that not everything is sacred, holy, and special.  We can look at one thing and declare it beautiful, while we can look at something else and declare it ordinary.  Some things we declare beautiful and valuable because of their scarcity (gold and diamonds, for instance), while other things we declare ordinary and cheap because of their abundance (tree leaves and gravel come to mind).

It would seem, then, that what makes something sacred, holy, and special is us.  We determine what is beautiful and valuable.  We determine what is ordinary and cheap.  We determine what is sacred and holy.  For some people, when you combine bread and wine you have the beginnings of a good Italian meal.  For others, bread and wine taken together signify something else entirely and reflect the very real presence of Christ.

As an experiment, here are two musical links for you to click on (or to copy and paste into your browser, depending on how technology works):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Ue0w45oGs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkhk9Z8Lu4

They are both classified as Christian music.  They are both loved by many people.  They both attempt to exhibit God's love and presence.  Which one do you find sacred, holy, and special?

We have a part in creating and determining what is sacred, holy, and special.  But we need to actively participate in that creation and determination.  If we decide that Riverside Park, Eight Dollar Mountain, or Cathedral Hills are as equally sacred, holy, and special as Holy Eucharist, what does that do to our view of Holy Eucharist?  Does it diminish it's importance in our lives?  Does it make it less sacred and holy than those other places?

I agree with Fr. Jones when he says that if everything is declared sacred and holy, then nothing is special.  Things won't lose their sacredness or holiness, but they will lose their specialness.  If we were to allow Holy Eucharist to become as ordinary as everything around us, then the bread and wine that is the real presence of Christ will then become so much sand and gravel.  And that would be a shame.

Amen.