It’s Holy week. Holy Tuesday. For too many of us Christians however, what makes it holy is an unconscious assumption that other things aren’t holy.
"Holy irony Batman! Didn’t the Incarnation project have to do with revealing all the world holy, all of us, all matter, even those cooking pots Zachariah was going on about." Demurely, "Yes it did Robin."
Of course it’s okay, in fact it’s necessary to designate times, places, and things holy. It brings to consciousness and stamps our cells, our elemental memory matrices, with coordinates through which we can seize on and incorporate a reality. And this reality can then be continually coaxed and transcribed onto the cosmos entire.
And this is what holy week, holy Tuesday, is for. It’s a springboard for a new way of seeing.
If not, all we do is create more divisions. If not, we’re back in the Temple, sweeping the odd, the ungainly, the quirky, the mismatched, the colourful, the earthy, under the heavy curtain out onto the profane ground, and making idols of all the trinkets we’ve kept in our holy of holies.
The revolution is that you, my friend, are holy. The message is that this whole blooming, buzzing, budding, world is one giant bejeweled chalice. And when we finally grow eyes to see this, nothing is level anymore. Everything takes on it’s proper contours. Hidden beauty comes into relief. Everything is new, different, unique, and interesting and everyday ordinary.
Like Sly and the Family Stone, just now, on cue as I write, singing "Everyday People." And the girl in a red top sitting in one of Starbucks’ purple sofa chairs starts singing along to her boyfriend, "…Then it’s the blue ones…/The green ones…/The black ones… /Different strokes for different folks/And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby/Ooh sha sha/We gotta live together/ …I am everyday people."
Enjoy your Holy Tuesday, but don’t stop here. Enjoy everyday. Enjoy it all. Celebrate it all. Delight in it all.
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Holy Blog, Batman! A truly beautiful and profound message today. You have a way, Steve, of saying something, even something we’ve heard before, with such deep honesty and humility, simplicity… that it pierces one. Even one who is heavily armoured… and ducking. Thanks be…
Mary
Thanks Mary – you’re right about Steve, he’s so hot right now.
But I’m concerned that he singles out “the green ones” in Sly and the Family Stone’s song “Everyday People.” Yes, it’s all nicey-nicey to talk about “we gotta live together”, but promoting illicit drug use is reprehensible. It’s this kind of “anything goes” philosophy that is leading many within the church to worship at Costco. It’s so easy for stoners’ to (insert pronounced Dr. Evil motion here) “love”, while maintaining one’s purity without the aid of prime B.C. bud is a tad more difficult. I also suggest you reference faith-based superheros in future, rather than the clearly homosexual/man-boy liaison of Batman and Robin. I suggest Bibleman or, even more helpful, “The Christian Superhero Training Guide,” which advises us to just reach out when we need Samson-like powers and there’s no danger of damage to your lungs. Just hold your nose, blink like Samantha, mutter a prayer and presto – you’ve got power to slay hobos and overcome Richard Dawkins. Happy Easter!