The prophetic voice of Israel constantly refers to God as The Holy One. The prophetic voice continues in the New Testament by extending that honor to Jesus Christ. 

Holy is an adjective that describes the very nature of God, or to put it another way, holy and godly are synonymous. The more present God is, the more holy is the place of His presence.

But some people hardly ever use the word holy, except occasionally as an expletive, or sometimes linked with mackerel, for some odd reason. And here in Vermont, with perhaps help from Phil Rizzuto, shortstop and longtime announcer for the Yankees, Holy Cow! Perhaps Hindus might consider cows holy, but that’s a stretch for Christians. In our common vernacular, as with many words, holy has become a strange adjective.

However, holiness is there even if we don’t use the meaning correctly and reverently. We still have a sense of the holy… we just call it something else. In fact, we call it exactly that ¾  Something else or simply something! We say that there is something about a place or person.

I can’t be the only person who walks into our sanctuary and feels: There’s something about the beautiful simplicity of this sanctuary. There’s the age of this building, the brightness of light on a sunny day, the noble dignity of the loft and Simmons pipe organ, and most importantly, all of you!

Now, don’t misunderstand me. When we say: There’s something about a place or person, we’re not only referring to holiness. The phrase can cover a multitude of euphemisms. So when somebody says to me, there’s something about a great athlete or a powerful actor or a gifted musician, they might be referring to his physical size, or his ability to make you cry, or the range of her voice.

I hear it on the mountain, when riding up the quad with a visitor from England: "There’s something about Stowe." I hear it every year when we sing the Messiah: "There’s something about singing and listening to this oratorio."   We search to understand this. The New Age movement gives it the vague title ¾ spirituality.

I often wonder if some people are scared to put a name to the source of this spirituality. It seems obvious to me that these experiences of the beyond are encounters with the Holy, with God.

It seems that God is somehow a more uncomfortable topic than a vague notion, like spirituality. God makes demands. God gives us this sense of presence but goes on to ask more of us, as we read in Micah 6:8: God has told you. O mortal, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Yes, holiness would be a rather trite thing if it were nothing more than a vaguely warm feeling. If you just want to feel warm, sit in a sauna or hot tub! Better yet, wrap yourself in a warm quilt and put on long underwear!