They made the rosette of the holy diadem of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engraving of a signet, “Holy to the LORD.”
— Exodus 39:30
A few weeks ago, Pastor Dan made an off-handed reference to his grandfather and his pattern of reading through the entire Bible. I realized it had been several years since I had done that, and as I usually take a discipline for the year between my birthdays I decided to undertake reading the entire Bible this year. (Now that I have said it out-loud, more or less, I guess you all get to hold me accountable.)
In any event, I finished the book of Exodus this week and came across this phrase of ‘Holy to the LORD.’ Holy is one of those Church words that gets thrown around quite frequently and yet seldom considered for its meaning and value. The Hebrew word means “set aside.” I usually tell Bible Studies to think in terms of the good china that came out for Christmas dinner and very important guests. They were plates about like the ones you used every other day, and yet, not exactly. When you saw them on the table, you sat a bit taller, and made sure to politely ask for the salt to be passed rather than using what my mother would call “a boarding house reach.” Holy means special and in brings a sense of purpose. The reference here is to the “diadem” or head-dress that the High Priest wore. When it was on, the priest and everyone who saw him knew that he was special and had a particular purpose.
The Bible describes quite a few things as holy. The first to be described as holy is the Sabbath. Rabbi Heshel, the great authority on the sabbath says that time is the first thing to be declared blessed. Not place, not people but time. What would it mean for us to think of our calendar ‘holy to the Lord?’ How might our reflections on time and activity change if we took that as our standard?
The book of Exodus goes into great detail about the “things” to be brought to the artisans for the creation of the tabernacle. The cloth, the gold, the stones, and the wood all set aside for the particular purpose of this meeting place where God and humanity would come together. What would it mean for us to think of our stuff as ‘holy to the Lord?’ How might our consideration of value change if we took that as our standard?
The book of Romans speaks of the importance of our minds being “renewed” so that our very thinking is ‘holy to the Lord.’ It seems to me that refers to the things we take into our hearts and minds. I wonder how our consideration of Social Media and the current political climate might change if we considered our minds ‘holy to the Lord.’
Some years ago, I learned the simple definition of priorities: if you want to know what really matters to you consider how you spend your time, how you spend your money, and what you think about. I share that as a place of reflection for us this week, simply because it has been on my heart. May all that we do, all that we have, and all that we are be ‘holy to the LORD.’
Pastor Tom
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