holiness?

been reading a book called "The challenge of Jesus". I may have mentioned it before because I am loving reading it. In it the author, Tom Wright, discussing, amoung other things, the fact that Jesus was totally subversive (i think thats the right word for it) in everything He did. Always challenging the status quo. But in both obvious and really sublte ways that would only make sense if you were a first century Jew living under occupation.

As a bunch of friends who want more of God, we have been thinking about consecration and holiness. So there has been prayer and talking and challenge. All good. But what does holiness mean in this culture?

In Jesus' time the Pharisees thought they had holiness down to a T - all the outward signs said they had. So in todays day and age it would look like a bunch of people not drinking, smoking, doing drugs, sleeping around and defo staying away from non Christians - ie 'sinners'.

But Jesus came along and asked for a holiness which was not like that. He asked us to get in with the sinners and remember mercy and love - which clearly the P's had totally forgotten. But Jesus also challenged, not only the religous culture of the day, but also the regime of the day - the Romans.

What is the regime of today? What are we, the general people (not just the church, but that too) being opprressed by. What is it that is dominating the way we think, talk and live. What is it that is imposing its ideas about life, culture and civilisation on us. What gods are we being forced to worship and what ceasars do we have to bow to??

I am beginning to realise that there are all the really obvious ones - materialism, wealth and celebrity. These were also around at the time of Jesus - and are signs of an empire just about to decline (so say historians). But what about the more sublte ones - the ones which are bigger than us and our cities. The ones that are so big that they streach across countries and continents...

Because if i am to be consecrated to God, I want to be aware of them, challenge them and hopfully in the process, allow others to get free of them to.

I realised that when I first came to Manchester i was introduced to this whole idea through friends and things like Adbusters. But for some reason it just fell of my mental map. I can't work out if it was me being lazy or if it was a lack of space for it in life and relationships in general. But i want to carve out that space again, learn how to live this life out of a heart of love for God and people, not one of militancy (as seen in the anarchists) and destruction.

Holiness can't just be internal, it must have manifestations in my everyday life that reveals to people that I do not serve the same god or system. That I am free from it.

All this would be much easier if I lived in a cave. Or not.... 1)i would be on my billy tod, so making no impact, just more of a statement to people who once knew me. 2)i guess much of this stuff is just residing in my mind through mindsets and ideas. So i could be in a cave, but still servant to someting other than God.

all this was inspired, along with other things, by a quick trip to the Howies clothing web page (www.howies.co.uk). I want to discover holiness that liberates and revolutionises continents.

So should be pretty straight forward then...... haha