A Holy Week Message!

This week bears a very a special name - "Holy Week." It's not just any week, but it's "Holy" Week!

Of all the 52 weeks in a year this is the only week that Christianity exalts with a specific name. Holy," now there's a good religious word for you! So what does "holy" mean?

The name of our church is Holy Love. As far as we know, it's the only Lutheran Church in the United States that bears that name - Holy Love! A young man said to me this week that he thought "Holy Love" is a "really different" name! I suppose it is! When I told my brother last summer that I was accepting a call to "Holy Love," he said, ( and you've got to know my brother to appreciate this) and I quote, "It sounds a little like a massage parlor!"

A Sunday School child said to me a few weeks ago when asked about the meaning of the word "holy," he said "something full of holes," obviously getting "h-o-l-y" mixed up with "h-o-l-e-y;" and also, to not confuse it with "w-h-o-l-l-y."

The word "h-o-l-y" literally means "to set apart for a sacred purpose."

Now I guess everybody has an opinion these days about what's wrong in the world; what's wrong in our country; what's even wrong in our community perhaps. Today is the one year anniversary of the tragedy at Columbine, which has focused our attention on the great social ills that we face. Now, I don't presume or pretend to even begin to understand all the dimensions and facets of such an awesome issue, and I certainly would never even think reduce all the social ills of our times to a simplistic formula; life is far too complex. But there is one thing I do believe. As a culture, as a country; I believe we have lost a sense of the "holy." Nothing seems to really be holy any more, "set apart." Nothing is sacred! Everything is profane! Everything is relative! Nothing is better than anything else! Everything is subject to our passionate inclinations for self-indulgence and self-absorption. When God is pushed away from the center of life; from occupying a central place in our beings, and pushed towards the edges; even pushed over the edge into oblivion, the world becomes a very unholy and very frightening place where nothing is sacred; anything goes; everything is relative; and self-indulgence rules!

I had a wise professor in seminary. He was an articulate and learned man. But he wasn't just an intellect. He was also a poet, and he had the wonderful gift of expressing even the deepest theological and philosophical thoughts in a simple and wonderful and metaphorical ways. I'll never forget one day a student asked him in class that if he had to teach children only one thing, what would it be? "Dr. Frost, If you had to teach children only one thing, what would it be?" I'll never forget his response! He went over and he sat down in his chair, taking the question very seriously. He leaned back, closed his eyes and thoughtfully reflected for a moment, and none of us dared say anything! It was quite a dramatic moment! He then got up, and stepped forward. He looked directly at the young man who had posed the question and then he said, "Just one thing, huh?" The young man nodded. "In that case I would teach our children to take off their shoes!" And that's all he said! The class period ended and he walked out leaving to reflect on that thought. "I would teach them to take off their shoes!" Whatever did he mean? I've often reflected on that answer, and as I've aged, and slowly gained a little wisdom, and made mistakes, and experienced failures and successes, joys and sorrows, I think I'm just beginning to understand.

I have a burning conviction that one of the most significant things we can mentor to each other, and teach our children, and our grand-children, is to teach them to "take off their shoes," I dare say there are few things more important; to model for others a sense that certain things are holy; certain things are precious; certain things are so very, very special - and because they are they need to be treated with great respect; with great care; with great wisdom. And I would suggest that the reason we instill that within them is because something that is truly a holy thing, always points beyond itself. Like a sign pointing to a greater truth, a holy thing is never holy in and of itself; it's only holy because it points beyond itself to a greater reality.

The word holy is first used in the Bible in the third chapter of Exodus. Moses was a shepherd you know, and Bible tells us he was tending the sheep of his Father-in-law Jethro, and when he came with his flock to the foot of Mt. Horeb he saw a strange and peculiar sight, (what did he see?) - a bush that burned but wasn't consumed! He became intrigued, entranced and fascinated. At first, he curiosity caused him to want to examine this awesome mystery, so Moses focused his attention exclusively on the burning bush, "I must see for myself why this bush is not burned up." He sounds a bit like an inquisitive scientist. But when he focused on the bush too closely that he couldn't see anything else, it was then that God spoke to him. "Take of your shoes!" the Lord told him, for the ground upon which you are standing is "holy ground."

You see, the burning bush was holy, not so much because it was a miraculous phenomenon, or a scientific miracle, but because in some way the burning bush captured and communicated in a visual way the very essence of God! "Take off your shoes" for the ground upon which you stand is holy ground! The very ground was holy because it was there on that ground that God was present for Moses in a special way; and something special happened to Moses on that ground.

A favorite author of mine, Fredrick Buechner defines holy. He says,

"Only God is holy, just as only people are human. God's holiness is His Godness. To speak of anything else as being holy is to say that it has God's mark a upon it."

You see, when we push God out of the center and over the edge, nothing is holy - because there is nothing for the signs to point to; and if nothing is holy, then there is little chance we will ever see the God to which the signs point!

You see, an ordinary bush became holy when it was touched by the Spirit and presence of God - and it bore God's mark. The very ground upon which Moses was standing became holy when it was filled with the presence and power of God. (And this is so important) The only appropriate response to such a recognition is to humble oneself. And Moses was commanded to "take off his shoes." (At this point I take off my shoes and set them in a place where they can be seen.) And you see, it was only when Moses "took off his shoes" that he was really ready to not only stand on holy ground, which is to say in the presence of God; but he was ready to be made holy himself. For it was in that rather intense exchange with God recorded in Exodus 3 that Moses received God's call, to no longer tend sheep, but to be about the very holy business of God: of freeing from slavery and oppression God's flock in Egypt.

When we lived in Alaska we learned that the people there have a custom. It's a custom that began, or was at least enhanced, for a very practical reason. In 1991 a volcano about 60 miles west of Anchorage, on the west shore of Cook Inlet, Mt Spur, erupted and covered the city with about a half inch of gray ash. Now volcanic ash is nasty stuff! It's awful! It gets onto and into everything, especially your shoes and it doesn't easily come off. So, to prevent the dirty gray ash from being dragged into homes and all over beautiful carpets many people began "taking off their shoes" especially when they entered the home of a neighbor or friend.

Now by the time we moved there, the volcanic ash had almost disappeared. It had been washed away or worked into the soil and grass by wind, rain, melting spring snow and human efforts. The ash was pretty well gone; but many people still "took off their shoes." It didn't even matter what the occasion - how formal or informal. Many people even supplied slippers to wear in place of your shoes.

A friend of ours has a sign that you see hanging on the wall of the foyer of their home as you enter: "And God said,' Take off your shoes; for the ground upon which you are standing is holy ground!'" Right below the sign there sits a cedar chest, and on the front of the cedar chest there is another sign that says, "Open me! Help yourself to a pair of comfortable slippers."

Marcia and I have made an attempt to transport that Alaskan tradition of removing ones shoes to our mountain home out in Buena Vista - again for a very practical reason. The man who built this home was a real craftsman - an artist. His skillful and artistic blending of several varieties of woods is impressive. The floors throughout are hard maple that he hand-planed himself from wood he transported from a Kentucky piano company. They're quite beautiful. In order to preserve the hardwood floors from pinon pine sap and sand we thought instituting the Alaskan tradition was logical and reasonable. There was only one thing we didn't take into account - pride! Yes, human pride! We find that some of our visitors don't understand! We haven't made too big a deal out of it or anything like that, but we have a sign inside our door much like our friends in Anchorage. We also, have a chest by the front door, a pine bench that opens and inside it is filled with slippers; slippers that have gone pretty much unused! It's not that people don't see the sign, pr that people don't care. It's a matter of getting into the mind-set and heart-set "taking of your shoes;" it's a matter of humility!

One of the things I have found to be true is that "taking off my shoes" is a gesture and experience of humility. When I take off my shoes, I am vulnerable! I feel a little bit silly standing here before you without my shoes! You see these shoes protect me. I can step on things with them; I can crush things with them; they make walking so much more comfortable for me; they make running possible, a quick get-a-way if need be. I can kick things with my shoes I can climb mountains in my shoes; these shoes empower me.

So you see, when I take off my shoes I am vulnerable; for just a moment I am not totally focused on protecting myself, but I'm seeing, feeling and experiencing the world from another point of view. When I take off my shoes, there is a very important item that I find I have to set aside, if even for only a fraction of a second; if even only in a very tiny and fleeting and momentary way, I have to set aside my pride! And when I set my pride aside; when I set my preoccupation with myself aside; when I set my self-absorption aside, in those few moments the POSSIBILITIES for my life are enormous; the possibilities for me to see more, to hear more, to understand more, and to become more are greater than any other moment in my life. "Take off your shoes!" God said to Moses.

If Moses wouldn't have taken off his shoes the people of Israel may not have had a deliverer. The moment Moses took off his shoes the possibilities for his life were multiplied exponentially - and not only was the ground under his feet holy, but that holy ground and that burning bush pointed beyond to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and when Moses got in touch with God, his very life became holy; his very life became set apart for a divine purpose; his very life became a sign that pointed beyond himself to God!

You see, we don't take off our shoes nearly enough. We're too busy with our stuff, with our full agendas of walking, running, crushing, dominating, kicking, and all the things we do with our shoes. It's no wonder God said "take off your shoes."

This is HOLY WEEK, the week that Christians focus on our Lord's journey to the cross. And we could say, figuratively for sure, that Jesus knew how to "take of his shoes." Think of all the ways that Jesus repeatedly "took off his shoes."

We might say he "took off his shoes" when he had the courage and humility to touch the hideous sores of the lepers, for nobody else would dare do such a thing as that; nobody would take such a risk as that; risking ritual uncleanliness and the scorn of one's neighbors, and possibly even disease. No way! But Jesus took off his shoes!

We might say he "took off his shoes" when he reached out to, and even hung out with the sinners and the tax collectors and the other community outcasts. Everybody else, especially the religious people kept their shoes on when they related to the sinners of the community, getting in a good harsh kick of judgment whenever they could.

We might say he "took off his shoes" when he stooped low and took the bare feet of his disciples in his hands and he washed them, and then he said, "I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done."

We might say he "took off his shoes" when he forgave the woman that the religious authorities had spied upon, and caught in adultery and dragged before him. They wanted very much to kick her and crush her to death, but he forgave her and sent her on her way.

We might say he "took off his shoes" when he looked down from his cross, at the very ones who had nailed him up there; and in that crowd he saw your face and mine and he said, "Father, forgive Joe! He doesn't know what he is doing! He just doesn't know how to take off his shoes!"

"For God so loved the world that God gave his only begotten Son."

My dear sisters in Christ, "Take off your shoes." Humble yourselves; open yourselves up to God because you see god has made the whole profane world holy. Jesus died for the whole world and that makes the world holy. The world itself points to a good and gracious and loving Creator God; Redeemer Son; and sanctifying Spirit.

We need to learn to "take off our shoes" and to teach our children to do likewise!

We need to "take of our shoes" when we walk out into that incredible creation out there, and when we look at it we need see it as holy, a sign that points to the handiwork and artistic expression of an awesome creator. One thing I don't understand is how some Christians can insist that we acknowledge a Creator, but have such indifference and even disdain for the creation. Is not the creation holy, because we believe in a Creator. And if we don't love the Creation then we don't love the Creator.

We need to "take off our shoes" when we look into the faces of suffering brothers and sisters and we need to see those faces as holy; because if we look deeply into their faces - we will see the face of Christ - because he promises he's there. "If you do it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do it to me!"

We need to "take off our shoes" when we look into the mirror, and into our own eyes, and what we see is a child of God; one for whom Christ died!

This week especially we need to "take off our shoes" as we come before the cross, and to see in this most profane, yet holy symbol, that God will stop at nothing to get into your heart and mine so that we might learn to "take off our shoes."