Tuesday: The Secular Becomes Sacred
WEEK 9
TUESDAY
THE SECULAR BECOMES SACRED
Luke 21:5-6
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the group in the home instead of the temple put the center of religion in the streams of human life—the home. There it was to function as adequate living. It was to function, not merely as church attendance once a week, but as the very breath of life in all we do wherever we are.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the people in the home, God thereby put the stamp of approval on the ordinary. But the ordinary was not to remain the ordinary; it became the extraordinary. Everything was lifted up into the sacramental. Everything became an expression of something beyond itself. Everything took on meaning. They began to do the little things in a great way. The fact is that there were no little things, for the little things were great with meaning.
Just as the Eternal God became incarnate in a human body and made that body the center of meaning and destiny, so now every little act and attitude had meaning and destiny beyond itself. Life began to burst with value because it was bursting with meaning.
The power of the Holy Spirit was no longer to be associated merely with sacred places; it was available to people everywhere to do the so-called secular things in a sacred way. The housewife sweeping her home could draw on the power of the Spirit just as definitely and immediately as the priest preparing the Communion. The artisan could become the artist, for he would put the artistry of the Spirit in otherwise drudgery and make it into a dedication.
If the Holy Spirit is given in the house, then realization means relationships. The Holy Spirit makes all relationships a relationship with God. To do it to them is to do it to God. And to refuse to do it to them is to refuse to do it to God.
It means above all that the highest power is available for the lowest duty. God is naturalized in all life, and God’s power can be laid hold of to do anything that ought to be done. Then we do the minute, the tiniest thing, magnificently.
O Lord, I thank you that the fire of the Spirit can burn in my heart as I do the little and the big. Help me to do all things for your love this day. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall do every little thing today in a big way and make it big with destiny.