Lord, I want, I need a revival of holiness to be complete and whole, ready for service and ready for heaven.
The sermon text is below the sermon video.
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Sermon preached at Zion Episcopal, Washington NC; Sunday November 5th 2023
The Reverend Alan Neale; “What is Holiness?”
Today we celebrate, a little belatedly, All Saints’ Day. We celebrate this vast communion of saints that knows no limit of space or time. We celebrate that in this Holy Eucharist, we will find a holy communion with all the departed and, I find myself wondering, maybe even (is it possible?) all those “saints and holy people” yet to come?
And, today, the officiant has the joyful experience of pronouncing that most luscious and pleasurable of words: “ineffable”. Did you hear it in the Collect, the prayer for today? Listen: “Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those INEFFABLE joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you”. INEFFABLE – not even capable of being expressed!
So, my friends, the question of the day: “What is holiness?”. What are your suggestions? What are the images that come to your mind? I wonder.
This week, maybe against all odds, I have found myself wondering about the A B C D of holiness!
ATTACHMENT – BECOMING – CONTAGION – and DISENGAGEMENT!
Holiness is attachment – attachment to the Lord howsoever, whensoever, wheresoever possible! Holiness is when we give ourselves to the Lord in prayer and worship – in private, in public.
In private, listen to the Psalmist: I will bless the Lord at all times (Psalm 34:1) and… Psalm 119:146: Seven times a day will I praise you.
And, in public: Day by day they spent much time in the temple… and at home… praising God (Acts 2:47) and… Hebrews 10:25: Do not neglect to meet together.
Our vision in the Epistle today is one of heavenly worship, of holiness unlimited (Revelation 7): robed in white, they worship him day and night.
Do I, do you, want to get into training for an eternity of heaven: work your worship now!
Yesterday, I attended a meeting and chose to sit in a chair bathed in warm sunlight. And thus we are bathed in holiness, we worship and pray to the Lord; the very beauty of holiness!
Holiness is becoming, being changed – it is a process, oh be rightly suspicious of holy arrivestes, of nouveau holy, of parvenu saints! Professor C.S. Lewis was often told he was not much of an advertisement for Christianity, his constant reply… “oh, you should have known me before I was a Christian”. Holiness is a becoming; it is a process.
Do not succumb to devilish accusations, remember (in the words of the Psalmist) “you are but dust”. The Lord remembers this… and so must we.
Most 12 Step meetings begin with a statement entitled “How It Works”. And in this statement, you will hear these words: We are not saints. The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our Epistle today (from John’s First Letter) reads: We are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. And, 2 Corinthians 3:18, And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him (Message). Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the becoming, the process of holiness. And so be patient with yourselves… and with one another. Remember… we are dealing with dust!
Holiness is contagious, this is some powerfully mighty spiritual virus that once in residence in a host can spread exponentially.
And we are that host. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are gifted to return to home, to school, to work, to marketplace, to office… and be carriers of holiness. Psalm 34:5 Look upon him and be radiant.
I remember the old story of a wife finding it hard to sleep, eventually she shakes and rouses her husband. “I can’t sleep”, she says. “Well. Are you trying to start an epidemic”, he responds.
Friends, we are in the business of endeavoring to start and sustain an epidemic of holiness. As we exhibit poverty of spirit, meekness, passion for righteousness, mercy, purity, peace… so we will start and sustain an epidemic of holiness.
Acts 4:13 Looking at Peter and John, they knew they had been with Jesus. The contagion of holiness.
In Acts 8:1, Saul witnesses the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Earlier Stephen was filled with the Spirit, had seen the glory of God and Jesus. His holiness was so contagious that Saul was infected and, eventually, the virus took hold and Saul was transformed.
Friends, we should pray to be thus like Stephen; infecting others with the beauty of holiness, the serenity of holiness, the gift of holiness.
And holiness is disengagement, recognizing that some people, places and things are just too threatening to our holiness.
Our Lord Jesus sets the pattern for us, the pattern to find times of retreat and withdrawal, the occasions to say “no” – oh, I remember a good friend and mentor telling me years ago, “Alan, no is a complete sentence.”
The desert place, even the wilderness, is often the venue for holiness experienced and expanded.
Elijah finds holiness in the detachment of the mountain, Paul finds holiness in the detachment of the Arabian desert.
Friends, the question is not whether we need times and places of disengagement, but rather when will we secure them, locate them, inhabit them?
Did you notice how our Gospel began? Seeing the crowds… he went up the mountain. Once he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not allow talk and thought of holiness to suggest some feeble, frail, shaky, weak and ineffective façade.
Rather it is a vibrant, vigorous, vivacious, pulsating, animated energy.
Our journey in holiness resumes today as we worship the Lord… in the beauty of holiness.
Our journey in holiness resumes today as we gather at this table with all the saints (past, present and future; throughout time and space).
Our journey in holiness resumes today as we set out together into a world that craves, aches, pines to be whole again, holy again. SO BE IT. AMEN