The Beauty of Holiness

Interesting how a theme of Scripture, running like a thread of gold through Holy Writ, can also run through your life. At first glance the painting of a sanctuary, sitting by the shore of Lake Michigan, the placing of new psalters in our pew racks, a trip to Atlanta, and a three-day youth service project (most participants pictured to the left - I'll leave it to you to distinguish the youth from the non-youth) could seem to be all unconnected. Yet these experiences of mine over the past month have reminded me of the beauty of holiness.

God's holiness is certainly a Scriptural theme. It's as basic as ABC and 1-2-3, featured prominently in the first three books of the Bible, from His casting the fallen couple out of Eden and guarding it with the angels' flaming sword, to His declaration of holiness at Sinai, to His levitical call to Israel to be holy. This thread runs unbroken through the Bible and alongside though always far above man's sinfulness, until the two ultimately converge violently at the cross. Our sinfulness Christ bears; His holiness becomes our garments. From the moment the sinner receives this divine exchange, he is then forever called by a name emphasizing his new identity - a saint, or a holy one. If the saint but follows the Lord, then whereas before everything he touched he polluted, he now begins to see the beauty of the Creator's work wherever he travels.

Such has been my experience this month. Our sanctuary's peeling plaster and dirty green-tinted paint have given away to beige and hues that highlight its architecture and creates a warm and lighter environment for worship. Yet the true transforming holiness was seeing an ex-prisoner, redeemed by Christ, wanting his painting work to "glorify God in this sanctuary." Watching waves pound the shore of the lake brought to mind Psalm 93:4-5 and the power of His holiness, "More than the mighty breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty....Holiness befits Your house." Singing from the new psalters and seeing more of God's Word come alive in His people is an experience of His sanctifying holiness. Being in Atlanta and watching a church planter lead an inner city Bible study to the downtrodden reminded me of how His holiness, as proclaimed in the gospel, separates His people from the world. Seeing nearly two dozen youth work both hard and cheerfully for three days serving our congregation and others brought to life Psalm 110, "our youth arrayed in holiness like morning dew shall be."

In the midst of Jericho's destruction, nothing good may have looked possible. Yet to those who knew to look, a scarlet cord tied to a window meant a prostitute and her family were being saved and cleansed from the rubble of sin. His holy hand is always at work, weaving beauty in the midst of this troubled world, if only we have eyes to see the thread.

Kingdom Sowing

Last Friday we watched through tears as Bill & Rebecca VanDoodewaard and their children, Anna & Matthew, drove away. Below is the short tribute I gave at the seminar we had in their honor last month that helps explain to a degree the tears.

Bill & Rebecca hearken from Grace Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Woodstock, Ontario in Canada. They along with their daughter Anna began worshiping with us three years ago when Bill was teaching at Huntington University. Their commitment to God’s Word and willingness to sacrifice in traveling to be with us each Sabbath day quickly endeared them to us and deepened our bonds in Christ. Two years ago, through a generous gift we were able to offer Bill a pastoral internship, which he readily accepted and has prospered in outstandingly. Through the time he has served us here and taught at the academy in our congregation, he continued work on his PhD, which is entitled "The Marrow Controversy and Seceder Tradition: Marrow Theology in the Associate Presbytery and Associate Synod Secession Churches of Scotland (1733-1799)." Bill successfully defended his thesis in May of this year and will have his PhD officially bestowed on him in November. His family will be moving to Virginia at the end of this month, as he begins teaching at Patrick Henry College.

From Bill’s warm-hearted teaching and gentle spirit which inspires devotion to Christ; to Rebecca’s creativity seen in such things as beautiful picture cards, sewing skills, and her superb and intriguing cooking; to witnessing their cheerful daughter Anna grow and their son Matthew be born here; to their gracious hospitality and their serious-minded pursuit of Christ, this family has become dear to us in so many ways, and we will miss them so very dearly.

Though it is with a great deal of sadness we sent them away, we thank the Lord for this special family He brought to us for this season, for the relationship our congregation will continue to enjoy with them, and for the confidence we have that there will be joyful reaping through their ongoing ministry elsewhere.

The psalmist says in Psalm 126 that we "sow in tears and reap in joy." We are also thankful for the reminder in going through this sending of the VanDoodewaards of a special kingdom truth. Investing in and then sending laborers forth hurts, yet it is the very pattern the Father and Son have set for us in the gospel. Our congregation will need to remember this, as plans call for more not less of it in the future.