We Are On Holy Ground

Holy Ground: The Narrow View

It is amazing how some of us read our Bibles and come to interesting conclusions that effectively miss the point.

Take the church building.

I understand some people see this physical structure as something of great importance.  Indeed some refer to the space used for the main services as the sanctuary.  Such reverence extends to songs that fit the occasion of when the gathering meet to sing of the importance of the time together in that space.

Song such as Bow Down And Worship Him where amongst its appeals for deeply reverential worship is the implication that the special sacred space is indeed holy ground.

I don’t have a problem with this.

No siree.  You want to call a patch of land sacred?  Go ahead.  You want to call a room in an architectural structure holy onto the Lord? Go ahead.  I have no problem with that.  It’s something that people coming together agree on and develop protocol around the appropriate usage of such a space. Fine.

Where I take an issue is the ill-fitting imposition of scripture to support such approaches to the usage of such places.  This is done as if the entire narrative of scripture was God wants to dwell with His people … only in specially designed rooms in specially designed buildings on specially designed days at specially designed times with specially designed rules.

Holy Ground: The Whole Life Perspective

I am reminded of Jesus’ crazy statement that if they knocked down the temple, He would raise it three days.   As I read it, He was referring to His physical body, and since raising from the dead, He has decreed a people, not a physical man-made structure as His Body, as His temple.

I am also reminded that when they wanted to get some of the new Jesus-followers on something, the religious rulers made up some stuff that the likes of Stephen spoke against the temple.  When faced with the charges, Stephen clearly stated that the very Mosaic and Davidic agreements that appeared to endorse the specially designed building business, also made it clear that no man-made structures were ever the desired dwelling place of the Almighty.

Proving the point when the Holy Spirit was poured out, it was in a group of people.  Suggesting that the dwelling place was with men and in men.

This changes everything – and reverts it to the original design.

All of life for the believer is an experience where the presence of God goes with us.

Holy Ground: Where We Can Stand Today

In a very real way we are standing on holy ground just as much in the park playing frisbee with our children, as we are when we stand singing the chorus in the church.

We are on holy ground in the bathroom.  Indeed I’m certain I’m not the only one who has experienced some amazing encounters with God in the privacy of the bathroom, whether having a shower or brushing my teeth.

We are on holy ground when our brothers and sisters share quality time drinking coffee (yes, even coffee) in our living room as we share God’s goodness to us in some trying times.

We are on holy ground in the library revising for the English exam and coming to acknowledgement of the Holy Spirit’s presence to assist.

We are on holy ground in the office when our faithfulness has allowed us to be recognised for the standard of work produced from the manager and peers and in our hearts we give thanks to God.

We are on holy ground standing in the queue in a shop where we realise we don’t have quite enough to get the basketful of shopping, when someone pops in to give us the amount needed to overcome the deficit.

Holy Ground: A Pure State Of Mind Rather Than Hypocrisy

Conscious awareness of the presence of God in all of life, and engagement with the indwelling Holy Spirit listening keenly for His guidance in the steps we take, allows the very atmosphere in which we operate worthy of reverence and awe.

Carrying that ongoing conscious awareness into our gatherings should make the corporate experience all the more enriching.  This has little to do with the time, and the place.  It has everything to do with who we are, whose we are, and what He tends to do when we’re consciously aware of His presence and desire to be with us.

It’s sad then, that we carry such a burden on that special room in that special building on that special day in those special hours.  It’s even more sad that we’ll put on a show of holiness without a correlating life of holiness in our relationships.

Some of us whilst singing about bowing down and worshipping Him because we’re on holy ground, hold grudges in our heart that in itself profanes that sacred space.  Some of us whilst bellowing and lifting holy hands to the air when moments before the words we used to cut down and criticise the person who came into the place not wearing the right clothes defamed the Holy One we’re meant to be praising.

Ironically my point about the holy ground experience being designed to be an all of life experience, is exactly the reason why the sham and hypocrisy of the religiosity takes place.  It’s because all of the life is a sham – alluding to Jesus as Lord, when He doesn’t get a look-in at our behaviour, our language and our activities.  We fob Him off with religious pieties, with hearts that are not towards Him.

Holy Ground: From An Ongoing Revelation Of The Holy One

So when we catch another sight of Him in all His terror and glory, power and grace, we can understand why it’s so important to repent and believe Him.  Turn and embrace the Son in due humility, and realise that on holy ground, Jesus meets us to reveal Himself to us, and show us who we are and who we are to be in Him.

Just as holy ground experiences equipped and commissioned Moses, so it equips and commissions us.  As it purifies and sends Isaiah, so it purifies and sends us.  As it arrested and convicted Saul of Tarsus, so it arrests and convicts us.  As it reveals who Jesus real is to John on the island of Patmos, so it reveals who Jesus is to us, so our lives can be captured by Christ in all of life, and our lives are never the same again.

That is what it’s like to perpetually be living in the reality of being on holy ground.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden