Evaluating the Sacred in Culture and Occupation

The words ‘sacred,’ ‘holy,’ ‘called,’ and the like place the nouns to which they refer on a super-spiritual pedestal. These words are often thrown around without much thought, and therefore, inaccurately. Some buildings, land, paintings, music, liturgies, and occupations have been labelled as sacred, placing them above other common vocations and material things. The word ‘sacred,’ among many others, has lost its meaning to American English speakers. In turn, it has become something that Christians say to make something sound important or use in order to make a positive attempt to compliment people and their work. The misuse of the words like ‘sacred’ in the evangelic church has caused it to lose its meaning and has set a division within music, art, and professions. Sacred: An over-stretched wordConsequently, it remains to be unclear how many of those Christians who frequently employ these words, actually know what it means. John Mulaney describes how the New York Post epitomizes this common practice of stretching of certain words unreasonably past their semantic range. He uses the examples of ‘hero’ and ‘angel,’ and he jokes that ‘hero’ is applied to practically anyone who does his or her job and an ‘angel’ is any young child that has died. These words once had very specific meanings––and in the case of ‘angel,’ a religious one––but now these words are used in the secular realm to apply to a wide range of people for a wide range of things. Perhaps it is the same with the word ‘sacred’ and many of its aforementioned synonyms, but ‘sacred’ will be the word I will be focusing on primarily in the research of this paper. After the barrage of ‘sacred’ callings, ‘sacred’ occupations, and ‘sacred’ adornments, one is left with little understanding of what this world is supposed to mean. In turn, one begins to see the term extended into beyond the religious realm; sports fans, for example, call a football stadium ‘sacred land.’ This result should be expected because when the word has been stretched into ambiguity and overused by Christians, then the onlooking world will also feel free to use the word as they please. It will not be suggested, however, that the term ‘sacred’ should be abandoned. The church needs this word, and that is why a proper understanding and application of it is crucial. The church should look at the uses of the word ‘scared’ and reevaluate the way in which what things we might call sacred. The New International Version of the Bible (NIV), which is a dynamic equivalent rather than a literal translation, uses the word ‘sacred’ about five times more than more literal translations such as the English Standard Version. The New Living Translation (NLT), which is actually a paraphrase, uses the word about ten times more than its more literal counterparts. The trend, therefore, is that the more literal the translation, the less they use the word ‘sacred.’ The reason, it appears, is because ‘sacred’ does not hold as much of a direct, unambiguous denotation. The word ‘sacred’ is popular in Christians communities, and so it seems natural that paraphrases or translations that attempt to follow the tendencies of spoken English would also use this word for comprehensibility, despite the fact that it may leave out some of the original content.How is ‘sacred’ used in the Bible?God is the only one who can determine what is sacred, and he has done so through the written scriptures. Therefore one should look to the Bible to better understand the intended meaning and application of the word. In the Old Testament the word was often used to describe places or objects. Mostly the use of the word ‘sacred’ is used in reference to the idols and pillars the Canaanites built to false gods. The construction of these sacred objects is usually followed by an instruction by God for the Israelites to tear them down. The context gives testimony to the fact that God does not in fact condone these pillars that the Canaanites themselves have wrongly called sacred but instead only he declares what is sacred (Exodus 23:24; 34:13, Leviticus 26:1, Deuteronomy 16:21-22). The word is also used to describe the sacrifices to God and the garments worn by the priest to handle the offerings to God. These sacrifices were not in themselves sacred but it was labeled as such because of the sacred presence of God that those things would have come in contact with Aaron’s garments (Exodus 29:1). Sacred places in the Old Testament were anywhere God placed himself in the tabernacle and then later the temple. D. C. Allison Jr. writes that now that we are in a post-resurrection era, God’s presence is not limited to one place nor to one land. Holy land is where Jesus is, and therefore there is no longer one place that is holy and another that is profane. Christians have the unique joy to be able to announce that no land or object or building is an exception to Jesus’ Lordship; he excludes nowhere from his holy presence. Every location and land is sacred because God’s presence is there. That is to say it is improper to use the word ‘sacred’ when defining a baseball field as ‘sacred ground’ because it is not describing anything that God is doing there but is trying to highlight the manmade stadium and the sport that is played there. Sacred is not being used properly, in its reference to God, although He is equally in the baseball field as another place. This is the same when we describe a place that is heavily disliked as profane. Although horrible things might have taken place there God’s presence is still there. It is only self-robbery when this truth of Jesus’ Lordship is discredited and replaced with a false dichotomy between what is and is not sacred.With this research, it has become clear that sacred only can be determined by God and only he fits the full definition. Why then is the word scared used to define man made things like ballparks, football stadiums, or war memorials? Why are some songs or art labeled as sacred over others? Why are some occupations described to be sacred work over others? It seems evident that somehow the lines have been blurred between the meanings of words like meaningful or worshipful. Man does not have the authority to label something as sacred, though he often uses it as if to add importance or outline a hierarchy. Therefore, the stance that will be assumed henceforth is that the term ‘sacred’ is often misapplied and not theologically grounded in its present use. Rather, it will be posited that Christians should steer clear of blanket statement calling things sacred, and rather focus on displaying Christlike actions and attitude which mirrors the Christian’s new being in Christ.How has ‘sacred’ been used in the American church?As a Christian artist and designer that attends a Bible college, making sense of the meaning of the word ‘sacred’ is important. Sacred is a word that is used perhaps even more than average within Bible college and church circles. Topics such as ‘Sacred vs. Secular,’ and ‘Does Art Matter in the Church?’ display this confusion with the categories of sacred and secular or material and spiritual that the church has reinforced in the past. This divide has been particularly harmful to Christian artists and creators and is just recently beginning to be worked out and hierarchies of Christian service and what qualifies as such has started to look differently. Witness Lee in his book, Pursuit of a Christian, explains the history of the construction of this Christian hierarchy. His main point is that in the early church every believer was a servant to the church; their respective jobs were just merely ways to make a living so that they could continue serving God. As history progressed a strict hierarchy developed within the Roman Catholic Church, which Lee observes, was passed onto the Protestant churches and was one remnant of Roman Catholicism that remained long after the Reformation. This basic hierarchy takes the following shape: foreign missionaries, pastors, followed by support staff (worship leaders, youth pastor, missions pastor, church secretary, ext.), and then everyone else ‘in the marketplace.’ Artists normally are classed in the bottom tier, and sometimes, in more creatively-minded churches, they are generously placed in the third tier. At a church I was visiting a man approached me and asked me where I attended school and when I mentioned that I am attending a bible college he said that he was so impressed that I was going to learn to do “sacred work” for God. Now I know this man was thinking I was going to school to become a pastor not be better in arts and design. This man’s perspective has been shaped by his church context and the way ‘sacred’ has been used. To the contrary, however, I would never label anything I create as sacred, yet a Christian artist or creator can make things that are worshipful, meaningful, and maybe even sacramental that show who Jesus Christs is. A good, bible-believing pastor would never call the sermon he preaches on any given Sunday ‘sacred,’ just as a good Christian artist should not agree to labelling her painting or his church bulletin design as ‘sacred.’ No one occupation is greater or lesser than another, though the misapplication of ‘sacred’ has blurred this truth. Instead, regardless of one’s chosen vocation, every believer and follower of Christ has the same purpose and end to which one works and lives.What is the Christian’s end? The Westminster Shorter Catechism famously confesses that the “chief end of man” is to “glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” For example, one might find three devoted Christians: one a pastor, one an artist, and the last an accountant. Each Christian would describe his or her own work very differently, yet each is working under the same motivation––to bring God glory through what they do and enjoy him in it, whether this is in the office, church, or studio. Aristotle’s metaphysics outlines four causes: the material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, and ultimately the final cause. The final cause is also called the telos and is a concept which can bring some unity to this idea of Christians simultaneously having the same purposes (enjoying and glorifying God) and different occupations (no one occupation is greater than another, as argued above). The telos of a things is the end for which it is done. It is considered the final cause because although it is not a physical (but meta-physical), observable quality of the thing, it is the true motivation for which the thing is done. An example of the telos’ relationship to the whole can be found in walking; according to Aristotle’s idea of the final cause or telos, “Health is the cause of walking, since we might explain a person’s walking by saying that he walks in order to be healthy—health is what the walking is for.”[1]  Therefore, our purpose to glorify God and enjoy him forever is the cause of our working in the church, studio, and office because God’s glory is what our lives are for. Though we are unified in a common end, God has given each believer different skills, passions and opportunities. The blue collar worker and the pastor have the same end and both stand on level ground. The idea that someone is unable to fully commit to serving God with a career other than a missionary or pastor is in no way accurate. We are so connected in all we do in our lives for him. I would not go so far and say a job is just merely means to make a living like Witness Lee would but rather that a job is a  tool of extension where networking and earning financial means are all part of sowing seeds of the gospel in spiritually dry places. Has our preoccupation with doing sacred things distracted us from being holy people?There is no biblical mandate to do holy things. There is, however, a mandate to be holy in one’s person which would in turn influence one’s actions. 1 Peter 1:16 reiterates the Levitical command: to keep oneself holy in order to serve God. This call to holiness is so that we can be in communion with the God. In this post-resurrection era, is by Jesus Christ that we Christians are made holy, allowing us to draw closer in relationship to him. And when someone is in communion with the Lord, those calls of the Christian to disciple and bring God glory by sharing the truth about him will come naturally with all things we do. By walking with Christ, he leads us to the places where we can best serve and glorify him. The doctrine of the union with Christ adds depth to this idea. We are already and becoming holy people because we are in the Holy One Christ; this is stressed by the now nearly ubiquitous phrase: “Become what you are.” Because believers are brought into the Triune life of God through Christ, there is no separation between what we do and who we are as Christians. The doctrine of the union with Christ brings light to the fact that there cannot be a separation between the works of Christ and his person. This is a healthy model for how Christians are to view themselves as wholes in which every part of them––mind, thoughts, feelings, actions, and words––all belong to Christ and are being transformed by him in our new life found in him. As it relates to occupation, a similar holism can be found in light of this doctrine. It is not what a believer does for a career but what he or she is doing with the resources and relationships that he or she is given. The doctrine of the union with Christ brings even greater weight to the occupation of the Christian––one is accountable to Christ himself and one’s work should reflect the transformed life one has in him––yet also the Christian has greater freedom, realizing the arguments above, that there is breadth in the ways that one can serve God faithfully.How has the the way that the concept/label of “sacred” shaped how we view creative vocations?In light of this analysis our field is a spiritually dry one, and it’s not the work we make that is going to change that; although we can create worshipful and meaningful work. It is how we live and profess with our words in relationships that will witness to Christ and make change. This is true in all fields, including our creative one. As artists and creators, we should not be focused on trying to justify our craft but concentrate on how we can use our craft to bring God glory in it. Do not let the common misunderstanding and misapplication of ‘sacred’ influence how you see what you are creating as less meaning or worshipful to God. Continue seeking ways to use the blessing of your individual talents and resources to build up the church and its community. May it be that the church no longer thinks of Christian service merely through the categories of part-time and full-time or ministerial and marketplace because as we are one with Christ we are people who can always be in service in beautiful diversity. We should not be so quick to feel guilt for taking part in a vocation that we enjoy, considering it selfish rather than a blessing. Our hesitancy to consider service outside of the ‘sacred’ space of the church as valid Christian service and ministry is alarming. The church (and the world) needs Christians to be serving wholeheartedly in every space, in every vocation. Let us be true to the biblical use of the word ‘scared’ and no longer let it be used to lift up a fellow Christians over another nor take the authority to place the label of sacred on things created by man. Christians, remember that you are in communion with Christ in which we all stand on level ground because we have a right relationship with him. We are thus also able to be in right relationship with our brothers and sisters and together we can encourage, build up and keep each other accountable to become more like him daily. The purpose of this paper is not to make a blanket definition of ‘sacred’ for all evangelicals everywhere, but to direct a call to the church to reexamine the way words like ‘sacred’ have been used and the divisive consequences of the improper use of these words. Churches might look to host bible studies to walk through with their congregants, discussing the meaning of words we use, the issues surrounding their uses and understanding of the word as illustrated above. As Christians who have considered these things, be looking out for ways to better involve all congregants in their unique talents and engage in developing said talents. Finally, seek to eliminate any hierarchical views of Christian service and highlight, instead highlight our unifying telos. May He be glorified in all that we do; it is through our love that they will know that we are His (John 13:34-35).