Holy

 “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright”

Next on my list of weighty words is the word “holy,” and as we’re approaching Christmas it seemed appropriate to start with a line from a carol. But what makes a night holy? What does the word holy, mean? Holy night, holy ground, Holy Spirit, holy of holies, holy cow, holy smokes, holy moly, holy hand grenade (for all the Monty Python fans!) - holy is an adjective that we apply to all sorts of words in different contexts, but I think in all of them the main thing that is conveyed is that it’s something different and special.

In previous blogs, I’ve usually relied on a dictionary definition or two to help guide our discussion of what these weighty words mean, but for this one I’m going to take a shot at it myself, from my own experience of reading and using the word over the years. So here goes, the Andy Shaw definition of “holy”:

Holy: something that is set-apart, special, and sacred; much better than whatever is considered “normal”, something that is holy is completely “other” than typical. Our experience of holiness stirs up a sense of awe that’s difficult to explain in purely natural terms, and hence evokes the supernatural or magical.

Often the word holy is used to convey moral purity or perfection. I don’t think this is the primary meaning, however, but more of a secondary consequence of something being set-part, special and much better than ordinary.

Let’s test this definition against three major uses of the word holy.

Holy Place

Think about church buildings - particularly the older ones in Europe - or grand cathedrals, temples, shrines, mosques, or synagogues. All of the major religions of the world have places they set apart as special and sacred. Think also about holy mountains and rivers. There are special places and spaces that have created in people a sense of something beyond themselves. For yourself, think about a place that you’ve visited that has invoked a sense of awe in you that’s hard to explain. Perhaps that is a holy place.

Holy Person

Now applying the word to people - holy men and holy women - can be troublesome if you defined holiness as morally pure. Many folks who have been held up as being holy, have turned out to be as flawed and fallen as the rest of us. But if you think of it as being “set apart” then I think more-safely it fits monks, priests, ministers, pastors and other people who have set themselves apart to serve God. At least in principle it works. We can give honor and reverence to those who have chosen a pathway that seeks to honor the divine.

Holy Presence

Finally, I want to focus on the use of holy to describe a presence. This is trickier and more personal than the other uses, and maybe outside of your experience, but let me try. This kind-of ties together both the notion of a holy place with a holy person, or to be more specific, the ultimate holy person who is God. Many times I’ve been in a church worshipping or sitting at home praying, and I have quite tangibly sensed the presence of God. In those moments, I feel in awe of who God is and what He has done. It’s hard to explain but it’s real and not something I can manufacture myself. Personally speaking, this is my ultimate experience of the word holy and it’s almost impossible to put into words, but for sure it’s something special and much better than normal, inspiring awe within me that I can’t explain in natural terms.

I don’t think I can do full justice to describing the holiness of God and so instead I recommend the work of R.C. Sproul, either in his original book “The holiness of God,” or a series of recorded lectures from a few years ago. Check them out if you’re interested in pondering more about the concept of holiness.

If you have a different idea about what “holy” means, or if you agree with me, I welcome your comments.