Common and Holy

Christmas is all about blurring the lines between the common and the holy. It was the God of the universe coming down in the form of a common baby. It was the creator of the world choosing to be born in a manger. It was the most holy God being born in the most common of ways.

Common and holy. We think they are completely incompatible.

We get uncomfortable with a holy God sometimes because we feel like we can’t be near him. We’re too common and he’s too holy and why would he ever want to get close to us?

When you think of holy, maybe you’re like me and think of the churches of my childhood. It was not a common setting. It was separated from the rest of the week. It was set apart in everyway imaginable, from the songs and the setting to even what we wore. The common would never be allowed in the holy. We might get it dirty. We need to be dressed and pressed and on our best behavior.

But also, what is holy would never show up in a common setting. You need candles and stained glass and robes and a big organ cranking out boring music that is somehow holy in order for the holy to feel at home.

But God is the most holy, and he felt right at home in a most common world.

What was different about Jesus? They had holy churches, or synagogues, in his day. They knew what holy was all about, and how it could never mix with common. But Jesus came near. He allowed the holy and common to cross paths. He touched lepers. He spoke to Samaritans. He spent time with prostitutes and tax collectors. He ate dinner with sinners. Nothing was off limits to his holiness. Nothing was too common.

And that made all the difference. When the holiness of God interacted with the commonness of the world, the world was changed forever. Peace on Earth! Goodwill to all people! Grace and mercy and light! A new way was opened up for us to approach God. Now, the presence of God was with us – really with us. He came near.

When we – common people – come near to a holy God, we are transformed. We are changed for the better. We want to live better. We want to talk about better things. We want to treat people better. We are common, and God is holy. But he comes near to us.

But when we – holy people – come near common people, they are transformed. We may be worried that the world will somehow rub off on us. It won’t. Being holy is not about being completely separated and sterilized from the world, but pushing into the brutal reality we live in. and when we do that, something changes in them. We are holy, and the world is common. But we come near to them.

The most holy of moments in my life do not happen in the sanctuary of a church but when I involve myself in the lives of people in a deep way reflecting the goodness of God. It’s not been setting a standard or scolding others into belief. It’s been about setting aside my own issues and getting into their lives. And letting them into mine. It wasn’t an easy lesson to learn, but it’s been a valuable one.

It’s a lesson that God never had to learn because it was his plan all along. A holy God visiting a hurting world in the most common way.

We get comfortable with a holy God sometimes because we like God to be separate. We don’t want him in our business. We kind of like being left alone because we don’t have to deal with it. But Jesus is God, incredibly clos