Holiness is not an easily marketable quality. Few would put it on their CV as a strength that will impress the job interviewer. Which is a pity. Because holiness isn't the scary, self-righteous spoilsport word that everyone's glad is now a discontinued line of human development.
Holiness is the inherent value of something. Holiness is what sometimes makes us wonder about the miracle of yet another day of life. Holiness isn't about heroic demonstrations of goodness, but the cultivated habit of ordinary kindness. Holiness is good food shared, the laughter of friends, a new thought that changes the way we see the world. Yes holiness eventually finds its way back to God as its source and origin; it is our everyday evidence all around us that God looked on all that he had made and it was very good. Holiness is, therefore, the determination to look for that "very goodness" even in a world as broken and overclouded as this. That takes maybe more faith than some of us think we have, to believe that this life we live as ordinary folk in a broken world has holiness as its gift and goal. But suppose that's exactly what we're meant for?
The word holy occurs in a number of Carrie Newcomer's songs. The lyrics below are to her song "I Believe". It's the personal credo of a woman whose own faith is embedded in a Quaker spirituality. Acknowledging the pain and brokenness of life, allowing too for the blessings of love, learning, creativity and care for all that comes our way, Newcomer looks humanely on life around her, and within, and writes words that insinuate hope into that low grade despair we call world-weariness. (You can listen to her singing it over here.
What this song achieves is a level of honesty with her own shortcomings, a gentle acknowledgement of human fallibility in all of us, and a mind and heart alert to blessing that is as ordinary as any miracle ever gets (like ginger tea!). And that repeated credo, "I believe" is not an argument it is a testimony, and an invitation to her listeners and readers to look at life with unjaundiced eyes until we too can say, "I believe", and "All I know is I can't help but see / All of this as so very holy. Amen
I believe there are some debts
That we never can repay
I believe there are some words
That you can never unsay
And I don't know a single soul
Who didn't get lost along the way
I believe in socks and gloves
Knit out of soft grey wool
And that there's a place in heaven for those
Who teach in public school
And I know I get some things right
But mostly I'm a fool
Chorus
I believe in a good strong cup of ginger tea
And all these shoots and roots will become a tree
All I know is I can't help but see
All of this as so very holy
I believe in jars of jelly
Put up by careful hands
I believe most folks are doing
About the best they can
And I know there are some things
That I will never understand
Chorus
I believe there's healing in the sound of your voice
And that a summer tomato is a cause to rejoice
And that following a song was never really a choice
Never really
I believe in a good long letter written on real paper and with real pen
I believe in the ones I love and know I'll never see again
I believe in the kindness of strangers and the comfort of old friends
And when I close my eyes to sleep at night it's good to say
"Amen"
I believe that life's comprised of smiles and sniffles and tears
And in an old coat that still has another good year
All I need is here.
Chorus
I believe in a good strong cup of ginger tea
And all these shoots and roots will become a tree
All I know is I can't help but see
All of this as so very holy
I believe
Comments