For The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St.Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.
For many years the church has lived in a divided world. We have been taught and many of us believe that holiness, or being set apart, means to live in perfection, or in ministry, or in a magical place where we only think about God and how wonderful He is. The sacred realm. The secular world we have been told is the dirty or ungodly world around us, a part of the world void of God.
How startled was I when I read that secular came from the word “saecularum”, meaning that God is indeed in our temporal time and space, as well as in the “sacred” eternal space.
At some point in the history of the church, the word “secular” has had it’s meaning altered entirely. Where and why do we have this division? Is it because in our searching we have looked to man to show us holiness? That we have put people and ministers on a pedestal and look at those on stage or behind pulpit’s as the ones with the answers while we are simply the sinful ones? I think we often have seen or understood the Spirit of God to be near only when we are doing right, when we have somehow earned His presence. Is this where we have become afraid to share in God’s glory in each space and therefore have relegated Him and all of Who He is to the sacred realm, then causing the secular to be where we live our day to day striving but still sinful lives?
This may sound harsh but it seems plausible to me. We have separated God from us because of our shame. We are afraid to acknowledge His presence in the mundane. Do we think more will be expected of us?
However, we will have to at some point admit that if time is not a hinderance to God then He exists both in the sacred time and the truly secular time. In the eternal and in the temporal. The now and the not yet. The familiar teaching of Kingdom theology. So now we must re-align our thinking to understand that our secular lives have always included the God of the Universe.
I have often come across a block in the mind when I suggest using my gifts in ways other than in a church setting. The words “as long as God is the one who is glorified” or “as long as you remain holy” come to mind. But if Christ is in me, and holiness is in Him, then I am holy. Wherever I go and use my gifts, God will be glorified. For me to play music in a bar as opposed to a church service is not an example of me choosing a “secular” vocation. It is a vocation. There is no division or distinction. It is a gift. The sacred and secular dwell both in me at the same time.
Many of us choose to divide music this way. Christian (or sacred) music and secular music. But it is simply music. Is a doctor a Christian doctor or a doctor who happens to also be a Christian?
It is simply the misuse of a word.
When we understand that God is in the everyday mundane tasks and exciting passions of life and everything in-between, but also the creator of eternity, we can be more free. To know that there is not a label that we must live up to, but simply to be allowed to be who we are and know that God is with us is exhilarating. To know that God is not divided from us and in a space we cannot reach, but in every moment, present and listening, is rest.
In the end it all comes back to God. It began with Him and ends with Him. He is the sacred and the secular. He is with us and beyond us. The now and the not yet.
Great reflection here, Crystal.