"The tender flesh itself
will be found one day
—quite surprisingly—
to be capable of receiving,
and yes, full capable of embracing
the searing energies of God.
Go figure. Fear not.
For even at its beginning
the humble clay received
God's art, whereby
one part became the eye,
another the ear,
and yet another this impetuous hand.
Therefore, the flesh
is not to be excluded
from the wisdom and the power
that now and ever animates
all things. His life-giving
agency is made perfect,
we are told, in weakness—
made perfect in the flesh."
—St. Irenaeus (2nd century; trans. Scott Cairns)
As I begin work on my field journals of reflections and observations, preparing to arrive in Los Angeles next week, I read the beginning of Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World, of which the above poem is its epigraph.
She has given me a most helpful framework for making the mundane sacred in her Introduction: "Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it. So welcome to your own priesthood, practiced at the altar of your own life. The good news is that you have everything you need to begin."
I have everything I need to educe what is holy around me because holiness—in which I include "wisdom of God" because the way of wisdom is often invoked as the path to holiness in God—is around me in all Creation (Ps 8.3-4; Prov 3.19; Wis 7.22, 8.6, 14.2). I have everything I need because I myself have a holiness within me, which is part of God's grace (i.e. "gift") given to all humanity (Gen 1.26-7, 2.7; Eph. 3.7-12; Ps 8.5). To bring forth the holiness of God within human beings and within creation is in fact the charge given to all who follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ps 8.6-8; Eph 2.10, 3.10-12)—summed up by Christ's extension of the Law (Matt 5.43-8, 25.34-46).
[*Note: I am most definitely proof-texting here, not a valid way of making a point from the Bible at all. But Psalm 8, Matthew and Ephesians are all texts with which I have wrestled strongly and so intend to expand on them later.]
To bring out the holy in a present moment is to awaken to God all over. Humans are invited to do so often, yet just as often Christians in our present society are distracted by their own present agenda; the trick is to act like one of the "royal priesthood" (1 Ptr 2.5-9; cf. Ex 19.5-6, Rev 5.10) and give honor to the sacred mundane.
Taylor uses Jacob's dream (Gen 28.10-22) to make her point: "Jacob's nowhere, about which he knew nothing, turned out to be the House of God. Even though his family had imploded, even though he had made his brother angry enough to kill him, even though he was a scoundrel from the word go—God decided to visit Jacob right where he was... The vision showed Jacob something he did not know. he slept in the House of God. He woke at the gate of heaven. None of this was his doing. The only thing he did right was to see where he was and say so. Then he turned his pillow into an altar before he set off, praising the God who had come to him where he was."
If anyone wishes to grow closer to God, holiness is the way—or, rather, holiness is an inherent component. The first step of this path is recognition that this holiness comes from the grace of God, before and through all creation; the second is naming it and honoring it as we go about our lives. By this, hearts are kindled; by this, lives are changed; by this, all creation is redeemed.
I resolve to hold this idea before me as i work in the midst of Los Angeles—Chinatown and Koreatown especially, with other nearby neighborhoods also coming to Homeboy—so that I can better honor those whom I see and nurture any dormant seeds, kindle any dormant flames, of the holiness of God all over.
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