More from "Sacred Wounds" in Let the Bones Dance by Marcia W. Mount Shoop.
This vision of sacred community founds us even as we struggle to find our own expression of it. Our time is no different than any other that acutely experiences cultural transitions. We ask ourselves: Is nothing sacred? We usually ask this question out of bewilderment when "the way things were" no longer lines up with "the way things are." Is nothing sacred? Is there nothing that stands apart nothing that is protected from the vagaries of time? Is there nothing that can preserve treasured traditions and hallowed values?
This question has a complicated history. It has sounded off the lips of those who sought to protect systems of segregation, of those who wanted their own privileges to be untouchable, of those who wanted to be entitled to reverence because of their station in life. We can mistake the sacred quality of something for our own grasping, for our own privilege, for our own comfort. So when we hear this question in our churches, and in our cultures: "Is nothing sacred?" we need to be clear on what we are asking. Something is sacred when it is set apart for the purpose of serving and /or worshiping the Divine. It is dedicated to that purpose and therefore entitled to special regard. It is allowed to hold sacred content, and it is saved for certain kinds of activities and modes of experience that are, themselves, sacred or consecrated. This sacredness (in content and mode) is handled with care by protecting it from the profane.
This was a long piece, but the two paragraphs just had to be tied together. Too often, that which we call sacred is just as is noted here - it is what we have and want to keep just as we have it. It has nothing to do with the God of creation who calls forth peace, care of creation, justice, mercy, and forgiveness. Instead it is all about holding on - hoarding you could say. Mount Shoop's use of the image of segregation is quite good. Whenever someone tries (even today) to break down the walls that put people out and keep other in, they are ridiculed and verbally abused. The banner reads "Is there nothing sacred anymore?" Well, yes there is. It is the life into which we are called when we follow the God of Liberation and all Hopefulness. Sacred is the way that opens up the fullness of life within God's reigning power to all people. This could be the same way I would talk about sacredness in regard to how we live with people who are different from what I can see as 'normal' - whatever that may be. Sacredness includes and brings together within the one embrace of God's grace - all God's beloved. I have yet to hear of any people or any person that is not within that embrace. Oh, I've heard many people make lists of people who must be outside that embrace. And yet, it is always about the embrace of the people who are trying to dictate another meaning of sacred - their own - about their own lives and wants.
Connection: Blessed are you and holy is the way you have been called to live within the full embrace of our God alongside all who share that place with you.
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