"Perhaps righteousness and justice are not sequential or competing ideas but expressions of the same love"
Traditional thinking and teaching on holiness has primarily focused on personal piety, religious conformity and/or sanctification (and all those other theological terms associated with holiness). However, there is another dimension of holiness that equally reflects the character of God. In Psalm 97:2, we read "righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne". God is both a holy and just God and requires His people to be likewise (Micah 6:8, Amos 5:24).
This session about the relationship between holiness and social justice particularly resonated with my spirit this morning, as we reflected on a "here and now holiness" that matters in a hurting and broken world. Throughout history, we read of people who personified this relationship, people like St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr. These people, among others, demonstrated a devout and holy life through a lifestyle of social action. Their passion for justice was a natural out-working of their passion for God. "Perfect love not only works in us, but out of us".
The best expression of holiness immerses itself in engagement in the world!
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