Chanelle Freese on Relational Holiness by Oord and Lodahl

“Love- the heart of God’s character”… Character: “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual”. How does “Holiness” fit in the picture of love- Christ’s love? As the authors write about ”contributor” and “core” I think of the verse in 1 Corinthians 12:12 “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body”. Holiness: Its is a shared life, a life of communion. “Sharing life and the goods of life with one another.”

Holiness: A life of togetherness, and inside of that, loving one another, as he commanded us. It is active participation in the love between God the Father and God the Son- the power of presence and God the Spirit. What is active participation and what does that look like? How can we be active participants in this holiness living conversation? Why is it a conversation? How about “holiness” as a lifestyle, one that is lived out through practice? What does a life of togetherness look like?

Sacrifice, inconvenience and humility all play their own roles in this holiness life. If these are the pieces to holiness, what is holiness a piece of? Love has to be the ultimate goal of holiness. One might say holiness should have these characteristics: ”Personal Piety” (which is essentially pure reverence and being a completely devoted individual) “Mission Focused” (heavenly motivation, kingdom on earth and in heaven). “Sanctified” (set-apart for something)… The list could go on, but when it comes down to it, these terms are pieces of holiness and just that: terms.

Without love being the motivator, “terms” are worthless and individualistic. Individualism has no place inside of holiness or the “Holiness Movement” (talked about in chapter 6) this needs to be taken seriously by seriously loving one another and living life relationally. Relational Holiness is the only way this “Holiness Tradition” will survive; essentially it has no role in our lives if we are going to be holy on our own. Holiness has to be messy, because people are messy, and loving people is messier and God loved people. God loves. God loves me, a messy person; I love messy people because God loves those messy people and me. That is holiness. Living and sharing in each others messiness and making something beautiful out of “His Kingdom Come”, here on earth. God is love and God loves. This has to be the root, the goal, the ultimate, and the piece of the puzzle that drives us to be a holiness people.

As people gather together, (friends, families, neighbors) lives change and holiness takes place as we invite each other into our lives. Coming together creates a place for people to find God. To find true friendship that was made for us from Christ through us, to share in communion with Christ and those around us. As John Wesley said, “There is no holiness outside of relational holiness”. True holiness is found through love.

Trevor Williams on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

As followers of Jesus the Christ, we long to walk as he walked, speak as he spoke, and love as he loved. Our prayer is to be unified with the God of the universe that came down from his timeless transcendence to be a lowly Jewish man in the midst of a particular culture. We see something in his life that is utterly mystifying. The way in which he lived and died is captivating, and the only word to describe it seems to be...love.

We find that Jesus' desire for our lives as well is to love, just as he is love. He even says the greatest command is to love the Lord with all of our heart soul and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves. The beautiful thing is, this command is not something that we really have to figure out on our own, because Jesus promised that he would send a “helper,” his spirit, to guide us into that reality. Not only would this helper show us the way to love, but it brings us into God's nature, so that we could be one as Jesus and his Father are one. Imagine that, not only did God choose part of his essential nature to come into tangible, human reality and live a life of service and sacrificial love, but he then invited us to unite with him in the same way that The One he sent is united with him.

Uniting with God, who in his own nature is a “richly complex relational matrix” as Oord and Lodahl put it, doesn't stop on a metaphysical level. Throughout the story of Israel, God's chosen people were to show the world what God was like through the lives that they lived; they were to be blessed so that they could be a blessing (Gen. 12:2). The reality that the God of Israel needs a physical representation in the world is shown with the story of Israel, Jesus, and now those who have chosen to follow Jesus, the Body of Christ. In our unification with God, through the outpouring of his love on our lives, we are now to be a blessing to all nations, to literally illustrate what Christ is like. Oord and Lodahl remind us that not only is this illustration of loving others important, but it makes complete the love that we have already received. John's epistle says it well, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

In our western mind, as we begin to see the reality of the need of love to illustrate the love we have received in Christ through his spirit, we often leave it up to the individual to act out. However, as we are reminded in Relational Holiness, God in his own nature is communal, a relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit that is a dynamic giving and receiving of love. Not only is the God we serve relational, but he calls out whole groups of people to share in his love. Yes, he inspires individuals, but only so their reflection is in community. Jesus' prayer for his disciples was that not only they but “those who will believe through their word” would be one, just as Jesus and his Father are one. In reflecting the love that we followers of Jesus the Christ have experienced, we must truly become one. This brings up some very pertinent questions for us to ask ourselves, how are we loving our brothers and sisters? Are we unified with those we consider “the church?” How am I still making love individualistic?

The whole idea of relational holiness not only pushes us to walk out in love as the core of being holy, but also to do so in community. It would be easy to make love the core of holiness, yet still act it out in the framework of self. If we are truly to become holy as our relational God is holy, and to live out the vision portrayed from the beginning of God's story, we need to press into each others lives and reflect love together.

Travis Reill on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

What is the core notion of holiness? Oord and Lodahl presented many different possibilities in “Relational Holiness”—purity, following the rules, complete commitment, being set apart, being perfect, and, lastly love. When presented the question and reflecting on my own life and what holiness/righteousness meant to me, the strongest reflections were perfection and following the rules. Holiness, or righteousness as it was most presented to me, was about being free from sin, being “perfect.” How was one to be perfect? By following the rules. How does one follow the rules? Don’t sin. Easy, right?

Christ tells us, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). In my upbringing, I read this as, “Don’t sin, ‘cause I don’t sin,” or, “Follow the rules, because I follow the rules,” etc. But I have to believe that this scripture means so much more, that Christ isn’t just saying to “not sin” and “follow the rules,” but he is speaking to a life changing way that can only come through him (“because I am holy”). And to understand the holiness that Christ possesses, one must understand that the core notion, the basic principle behind this holiness is love. And one must furthermore understand that the love being talked about here, the holiness love, is very much alive, flowing throughout this world. And this love is very intentional. It is not used as an adjective but a verb, an action—“Only those acts that are intentional should be considered loving” (pg. 74). So maybe to better understand how to be holy, I can say, “Love, because I love.” Yet it still isn’t full enough. How do I remain in this love, or stay in a state of love/holiness? And the ever-present question of who to love?

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4). “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13: 34). This love seems to be about obeying Christ’s commands. So to remain in the holiness love, I must obey and do what Christ commands. And what did Christ command? Love one another. “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:5-6). And who are we to love? Once again I take from 1 John, claiming that we “must walk as Jesus did.” So we are to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44), the blind man (John 9), the Samaritan woman (John 4), Pharisees (John 3), the man with leprosy (Luke 5:12), the paralytic (Luke 5:17), the 5000 (Mark 6:34). If I am going to walk as Jesus did, I must love everybody as Jesus did. Living a life of holiness means pursuing a love that can only be found in the example of Christ. Then and only then will I be holy, as he is holy.

This presents a small problem for my flesh, however. My flesh does not want to reach out to the Samaritan woman or to the blind man. My flesh doesn’t want to pursue the paralytic, nor does it want to associate with the leper. My flesh certainly does not want to feed the 5000. My flesh wants to follow the rules and try to remain pure. It eagerly awaits new goals and attempt to attain them, and new regulations to keep. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthy nature…” (Col. 3:5). My flesh is so staunchly opposed to this life of love, of holiness. If I am to “be holy, because [he] is holy,” then I can’t live through the resource of my flesh. I must live through Christ and his love. Then I can truly know what it is to be holy. 

Tim Meeks on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

A God who is entirely transcendent (holy) is a God who is unattached from creation. While Christians want to affirm that God is in fact a relational God, the attributes which are applied to God refer to a God who is entirely transcendent. God is typically portrayed as a unilateral authoritative power that is unaffected and unchangeable in all regards. There is a balance to be found. If God is entirely transcendent, God cannot be known, if God is entirely immanent there is no distinction between God and creation.

God is transcendent as well as immanent. Thus we have a God who is "otherness." A God who, through holiness, is deserving of our undivided worship and love. However in his holiness, God is living present in our lives. While God is set apart, God enters into relationships. As Oord states, "God is not entirely independent because God is love and love is expressed in relationships." For a relationship to be meaningful there is a level of give and take, a level of dependence. This is essential to our theology of prayer. If God is not able to be affected by human interaction, prayer is meaningless and serves no purpose beyond obedience to what God has decided. "God is open to and affected by others because the creator and creation enjoy a mutual relationship.

The strength of the book "Relational Holiness" is the image it provides of God. In his holiness, God is a living and relational God. God has made himself known to us. God is a God of love and cannot act apart from that which is not loving. While God is set apart and above the created, God is relational and one with the created. What sets God apart is his Holy Love. God's love establishes his transcendence as well as his immanence. A God who is viewed as distant is not the God who sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. Within the Church, we need to stop viewing God as a distant and unattached God. While we hold God as relational as well as Holy we often do not practice worshiping a God who is both. Moreover in our interaction with the world, we do not model relational holiness. We use holiness as an excuse to remove and alienate ourselves from society so that we might be away from the evil that plagues us in the world. However, God does not call us to be holy in regards of being above others, but in regards of being set apart to love him. In the Scriptural call to be holy, we are called to love others. Not to be legalistic, but to be loving and engaged with the culture of the World

God in his holiness, his otherness, does not distance himself from the world. God is active and intimate in the world working to transform the corruption in the world. God freely enters into give and take relationships. The manner in which we view God is essential to the God whom we worship and emulate. We are to emulate a God who is holy and living. We are to practice relational holiness thus we should not remove ourselves from people, but embrace and love people where they are at in life!

Teddy Dickerson on "Relation Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

I remember when I was a kid sitting in Sunday school listening to my teacher talk about Jesus Christ being my own personal Savior.  As I sat there on a round, not so comfortable, carpet, staring at this flannel graph of Jesus glowing like a light bulb, waiting to sing Father Abraham again; I had this image of what being a Christian looked like.  I saw each and every person that had accepted the love of Christ completely surrounded by a glass tube, like a sound proof booth on a game show.  This tube reached from the person all the way to God, creating a relationship that was independent from all the other people on earth.  I was safe in this tube because others could not affect my relationship with God; I was free and separated to walk my own Christian life.

I am thankful for the enlightenment that I had in my life when I learned that this Christian life is not meant to be lived alone, not to be separated into our own individual journeys but as Oord and Lodahl talk about in the book, as Christians we are the Greek word Paraclete “one called to be alongside.” I was trapped in this world of righteous personal piety, and was failing miserably.  The freedom that I experienced in the enlightenment of “relational holiness” has been something that has changed the way that I do life.  God continues to lead me on this journey where I find my relationship with Christ interdependent of the body of Christ.  Now that I have discovered this, it is like I am stepping into to the person that I was always intended to be, a person that is part of something collective that is bigger then just myself.  John Wesley said it best when he said, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.”

I was sitting at a coffee shop with a friend of mine, listening to him share about his current struggles with a bunch of difficult situations.  At one point I started to say something and he stopped me and told me that he already knew that I was going to say something about being loving.  I had to laugh because he was right.  We are to love, why?  This is stated pretty well in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.”  I hope that my first response to people and the struggles of life can be love.  The kind of love that Oord and Lodahl talk about, a love that has to be lived out, practiced, a love that takes on flesh.

Robby Green on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

We can all agree that to be holy is to love. The two are so closely intertwined that we cannot distinguish where one stops and the other starts.  But to be holy AS HE IS HOLY is where we get a little sideways.  God’s love is tangible within my own life. He has sacrificed much to be with me. The things that he did in order to relate to me I will never fully understand. Yet we in the holiness movement are reluctant to relate to the world. When Christ has so fully immersed who He is into the way I do business, why do we fear meshing with the culture around us?  In a world that says to exist is to relate we MUST learn how to belong. We fear the “If I have not love” clause in our life. Yet we live within the “I have love but you wouldn’t know it unless you came to my church” clause. To be honest with you that last statement makes me sick to my stomach.

John Wesley described love as “Bearing others faults.”  We cannot even start this conversation until we have “others” sitting at the table of our lives whose faults are present.  In my opinion to love as He loves begins with being relative to culture, and until this is where we’re at, our theology hangs limp at our side, or worse gets wielded as a weapon rather than a tool for loving. The first step in being relationally holy is being relational.

The second step is to be holy as He is holy, or to “be love as He is love.”  Lets break this down without using too many big words and thus protecting ourselves from any real action. To me being love means that when I leave this room I will treat my roommates better than I want to. It means that I will respect their requests when I don’t agree with them. It means that when Matt begins to tell me about his day I begin to actively listen, setting aside what I’m doing. It also means that when I meet with Teddy and Mark later, I do so with vulnerability and humility. To be love can be very inconvenient, but do not mistake inconvenience with joylessness. Let every action in my day be a privilege because I was dead before and now I am not. It is my joy to serve my roommates because six months ago I was a walking dead person, but Christ resurrected my life! That is as simple as I can break down holiness: living joyfully inconvenient lives because he has set us apart for pure and love filled life-plans.

Rachael Reill on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

The doctrine of holiness is not one that is easily agreed upon by the Church at large.  In fact, it has a tendency to divide the body mostly over the definition of terms.  Or rather, people’s definition and interpretation of holiness causes them to be divisive as they draw a line in the sand that only those who conform may cross.  Holiness itself may not be mentioned but its symptoms are those very issues that divide as legalism rules.  Holiness, or the pursuit of, has been described in so many ways, from striving to be perfect in every action to extreme penance in total commitment and devotion.  It seems that we want so badly to attain this level of “rightness” before God and others but we only know how to perform in our own context.  We know how to follow rules, how to talk the talk and walk the walk, but as we portray the silver lining, our hearts remain unchanged.  The fact is, holiness is not easy to attain and perhaps it is not for us to “attain” but to receive and embody.

Thomas Merton says “love is our name, our nature, our essence.”  Holiness is something we can be restored to because it is this very nature of God, love, in which He created us.  We are restored through the work of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Holiness, as love in relation to God and others (and also ourselves), will begin to show the symptoms that many spend their time striving for (such as commitment, purity of heart, perfection, and being set apart) as we practice this love.  The difference between s/he who exhausts all energy in such pursuit and s/he who undeservedly, yet humbly, seeks and receives the nature of God, that is love, is the awareness of their own personal holiness before God.  Perhaps true holiness will go undetected by the possessor but will be made evident to others as this life is compelled by love to God and others and is made perfect in practice.  The first practice on this journey toward holiness is to recognize and know deeply that we, ourselves, are very loved by God.

Holiness is attainable then, as the expression of love is practiced in relationships.  The triune God demonstrates this communal loving relationship and invites us to be a part of it.  The Church, the Body of Christ, is our community and opportunity to practice this dynamic loving relationship, though at times it will be messy.

Matt Combe on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

This book really was great for reminding me of what true Holiness is. I still remember growing up thinking Holiness meant you were some shiny glowing object used specifically for sacrificial purposes thousands of years ago, back when things and people “needed” to be holy in order to know God. Or so I thought. I know now that to be holy is to be acting in love no matter what the circumstance. To know God is to know love and to know love is to be holy. Or should I say, to know God we must know love, because God is love; therefore making us holy. So, really, we still need to be holy. It’s not just an ancient word used for people before we had Jesus’ gift of atonement. If anything, Jesus’ death should give us even MORE of a reason to be holy.

The book talks of how we should show love to one another just as Christ showed love to us (also found in the Bible). So, if loving equals holiness, then I have even more of a reason to be holy in light of Christ’s death; all the more reason for me to offer up my life as an offering for others’ lives.

God calls us not only to a happy-feeling-fuzzy on the inside love, but a tough love. In the old ancient texts it’s called agape, or, un-conditional love.  It’s a love that keeps on forgiving, never runs out of grace, and never gives up on anyone. Because we are to love like Jesus loved us, we never have an excuse to be anything short of agape love.

Holiness should never be primarily focused on abstaining from sin, although being holy leads to less sin in our lives. In fact, if we were holy all the time we wouldn’t have sin in our lives, because love is the opposite of sin. When a man comes up to Jesus and asks Him, “Lord, what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus says, “to LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. The second is like it, LOVE your neighbor as yourself. To do this sums up the law and the prophets.” If I love God and my neighbor with agape love, I wont be sinning. If I love then I don’t have to worry about sin in my life. Therefore, sin has no power over me. Christ has taken care of sin and now He wants us to look for the love in all situations. Don’t look for the sin. Forget about the sin and just love because God is love. Be holy as God is holy. In doing so you will be perfect as Jesus is perfect. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s good to know that that command is not impossible.

I want God to be so imbedded into my being that love is just who I am. I’ve noticed that His voice always leads to love. It’s so exciting to see Gods voice and love being one in the same. I pray that I continue to see that more and more in my every day life. But I also pray that I don’t just look for a voice to tell me to love and stay locked up in my room waiting for it. I want to be that love in every situation weather God tells me right now or not, because I know He already has. Everything is centered on love. I only want to love because of this great being that forces me to. And I only can love because of the love I know He has for me. I know that living in the way I have described would and could not be possible if God hadn’t demonstrated it to us in His life He lived on this earth.

Mark Combe on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

This book is written to bring reader’s attention back from a life of confusion and chaos to a true life of holiness. The author’s focus was to help rediscover holiness as an essential element to the Christian faith.

Something that hit me right from the start while reading this book was the concept that everything we know and think of in life is relational. Most of what we perceive comes from our five senses, what we can touch, taste, see, smell, or audibly hear. Thus comes a struggle when we strive to know a God who is spirit. Most interaction that we have read about God or have experienced has not been something that was touched, tasted, seen, smelled, or heard. Yet God is relational, he became something that the world could physically sense and he died for that world who refused to relate otherwise, and he continues to relate to us.

Another concept that I learned from this book is that true holiness requires the sacrifice of being obedient. One definition of holiness is to be “set apart”. This is because when we obey God’s commands and are truly dying to our own desires, we become truly holy and “set apart” for God’s much more perfect desires.

A relation that I see between the words used in this book such as “entire sanctification”, “Christian Perfection”, and “the baptism of the holy spiritʼ is that each one of these terms implies extreme commitment and sacrifice. They are very much “in-or-out” statements that require serious introspection in one’s life. To truly be holy is to love out of pure motives.

I see now that a life of relational holiness means a life of relational unity. The authors use the example that Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians that says “the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband”. I could not understand before what this meant. I believed that somehow it meant that a husband or wife was covered under the others’ salvation. I see now that true unity cannot be, without the act of holiness. This example of marriage helps me to see that if a husband or wife starts to release his or her own desires for what marriage is and is more concerned with the needs of the other, and of God, the purpose of marriage becomes more clear to them. The other has a choice to become sanctified or leave. To be in-or-out. When the couple becomes unified in this way of living they become holy. They become unified. It also helps me to see that as in-or-out as holiness is, it is a process and a journey.

I have come to see from reading this book that holiness is nothing to talk lightly about. Holiness means more than simply being willing to die for your faith, that seems like an easy way out. It means to continually let go of your individual needs or “selfishness” and live in a much deeper way, a way that was shown by Christ and many that have followed his example. A way of Love.

Joanna Miller on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

I must admit to something first and foremost. Growing up I never really thought about "holiness" in context of myself or even others. That was a term limited to God and God alone. I knew that I was a sinner and that God was the only one who could save me from my sinful nature. But I never thought, not even once, that I could be holy as my Father is holy. During these years of emotional roller coasters and constant replies to alter calls, I saw holiness, not as the core, which is love, but the pieces that make up holiness. 

These pieces are not the core, and yet, I thought of them in this way. I realized very quickly that it was impossible to follow all of the rules in the Old and New Testament. That part was pretty obvious to me. The next piece that the book mentions is purity. I also must admit that I have always struggled with this part. Purity in itself however is not the core, but I often dwelled on the idea that I needed to be pure in order to be a Christian. As you can imagine, this lead to depression, and loads of other psychological issues that I have been working through over the years. The 3rd and 4th elements of holiness were the pieces that my youth pastor was constantly speaking on. The idea of being "set apart" and "totally committed" are both awesome concepts when you are in middle and high school because we all wanted to be unique and we all wanted a cause to hold onto, something we could grasp and preach about. However, these two things together are pretty much empty. They simply do not satisfy. 

We were told to "speak truth in love", and yet we were not taught how. This turned ugly when kids claimed to be speaking truth in love, and weren't. In fact, their words were almost hateful. The missing element ended up being the very core of the gospel, the very essence of Christ himself: Love. It seems so obvious and yet I am just now learning what it means to really live a life of intentional love. This idea, that Christlikeness is love, and therefore we should live a life of love, has been buried by church camp, retreats, and so called "awesome programming". It has only been recently that I have noticed my generation realizing that it is not about the elements, but the core. Kids my age, myself included, are finally starting to realize that legalism, purity, being set-apart, and total commitment are empty without Christ's love. 

A friend of mine had an interesting thought to share the other day, she said that there is a revelation sweeping our generation of church leaders, and that we, as a whole body are being refined. I would go even further in saying that we ARE being refined, but it is by Christlikeness, being a life of intentional love, that is refining us. It is as though chunks of our old selves are being wiped away by the gospel of love. This perfect love is in fact perfecting us. 

It is not purity, legalism, total commitment, or even being set-apart that is truly making the difference, it is loving the way that Jesus loved: living every moment with the intent to love one another (being the body/community), and even loving those outside of our comfort zone. This, in effect is loving Christ the way that He loved us. This is what holiness truly means. And this is a cry out to my generation: May we love the way that Christ loved so that we may lovingly keep His commandments, purely love one another, realize that we have been set-apart to love the way Christ loved, and that we may be completely and entirely committed to this love that will change our communities, our cultures, and the very lives in and around us.

Chad Bryan on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

Re-reading Relational Holiness for the first time since college--since my life has been reshaped and I am in a place that I’m actually on a holiness journey rather than the ambiguously “religious” yet stagnant place in life I was at before--was a great experience. It was like these words were fresh and meaningful rather than something that I would rather avoid so as to keep the spiritual anonymity that I kept myself in. Interesting too that this book caused me to take a look at the methods of deconstruction that thrust me out of the ambiguity and towards this fresh and kinetic journey striving towards holiness. This book reminded me that I shouldn’t be putting my efforts towards that which I don’t want to be apart of. Relational Holiness warns us that “denominations with ties to the Holiness tradition are in danger of becoming theologically unrecognizable from the Evangelical Christian mainstream.” Instead of putting my energy into angst and keeping myself as far away from everything that is Evangelical Christian mainstream, I should put my energies towards shaping my life around a theology representing what I do want my life to look like.

Relational Holiness takes an in depth look at the idea of “holiness” and “sanctification” to get to the point of what it is to be a “Holiness People.” Several definitions come to mind that Lodahl and Oord talk about: following rules and ethical codes, being pure, being set apart, total devotion, and perfection. Yet, none of these can stand alone to define “holiness.” Love is essential to being holy. And God is Love. To be holy is to love God, neighbors, creation, and ourselves. To live out love means to breed abundant life, promoting well being in any context, and creating deep bonds with God and others.

The text describes the Wesleyan concept of “Adventurer Theology” in which we embrace the fact that God has gone before us--not having predestined each of our steps, but that He is constantly inviting us in each of our steps and decisions to chose the most loving or holy choice. This ongoing journey of choosing to love God, others, creation, and ourselves is the life of Holiness.

As we look at the “distinctives” of holiness mentioned before from the perspective of an adventurer or an active participant living out these distinctives because of love rather than seeking personal piety or some other agenda, we see the concept of “Relational Holiness” becoming a truly beautiful reflection of what it is to live the God-life. When we look at following rules and regulations as an act of obedience (love) to a God who has our best interests for our stories in mind, or our quest for purity as Love excluding sin, it becomes beautiful rather than dogmatic. Looking at being set apart and perfection as developing a lifestyle of love that stands out as a witness to God’s grace and love in the world, it points towards Him rather than a personal quest of piety. Living this reflection of Holiness seems irresistible, worth living, and we take our focus off of what we don’t want to be apart of and place our focus on what God is inviting us into.

Cassie Boddington on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

In the experiences of life that I have had and grown up in, holiness was always an achievement; something to strive after and succeeded in. It would be what the book describes as the slide scenario, a climb up to reach the top but inevitably we will slide back down and have to start all over again and try on another clean slate. I have been challenged to find that this is no longer true in my own life, through my relationships with this family Adsideo. Love is what I have felt and experienced and cannot deny about this family. Not just their own personal love for me but Gods own love for me extended through my brothers and sisters in Christ. From my day-to-day experiences with this community to living in a communal house I am discovering that we are holy when we love one another as Christ loves. Holiness is not an individualistic thing, it requires to be pressed into each other’s lives and to live out this life in a posture of loving one another and serving one another as Christ has loved us and served us. “We are holy as God is holy when we love as God loves…the core meaning of holiness is love.”

This love I have experienced from this family is beyond friendly greetings and a good conversation. It is intentional beyond any other kind of love I have experienced before. I have been pressed into my inner being that it is uncomfortable. This love that they have for me and I for them, and the love that overflows unto our neighbors, is what makes us holy. As Mildred Wyncoop said “ Holiness is not the absence of sin but the presence of love.” It has never been about having the cleanest slate, but about us getting down on our hands and knees and crawling through the mud and troubles of life for one another to demonstrate Christ’s love by being present in one another lives.

Christ is there all along the way by his presence of the Holy Spirit as it helps guide us through this journey. He guides us through each moment of our lives, nudging us towards what is right and true. By acting upon on how he guides us is where we choose to love and choose to love how he would love. We are made holy by dying to our self and desiring his desires over our own desires. By choosing to love as he has loved.

There is freedom I have found in this posture of holiness of being enlightened to realize it is beyond following the rules of a law; it is in relationship with him and loving others as he loved them. Knowing he is here to guide us each step of the way, knowing that we could not walk this journey with out him. We are made holy by him because he loved us first. 

Amanda Paxton on "Relational Holiness" by Oord and Lodahl

Jesus Christ is the light of the world.  And in the light, there is no possibility for darkness to be present.  In the same way, sin cannot exist in perfect love.  To be holy, or free from sin, is to love.  However, when I try to wrap my mind around these concepts, I find that the way that holiness and love relate to one another seems slippery.  In the same way that it is difficult to grasp that God is light and truth and love and the Word and life all at the same time, I find it difficult to relate purity, obedience, sacrifice, and love. 

In the Scriptures that Oord and Lodahl present, it seems as though holiness is rather a preparation for love than love itself.  For instance, when interacting with 1 Peter 1:2, which says that God’s people have been sanctified to be obedient, it seems that sanctification and obedience can’t be the same thing.  It seems as though sanctification is preparation for obedience to take place.  So the question is, where does love fall?  Is love in the sanctification or the obedience?  Is love the spirit that must exist before action can take place, or is love the action which results from a pure heart?  Or is it all love?  Love is both?  Is there a sequence, or is it all enmeshed in one big overlap?

The mistake of the academic is to force sequence and categories where there should be unity.  Though that should be resisted, there still remains the question of neutrality in this relationship between sin, holiness and love.  Can love be a neutral state?  If one is without sin, is one automatically consumed by love?  Or is a lack of sin just fertile ground for love to take place?  The comparison of love and sin to light and darkness suggests no neutrality.  No middle ground between light and dark exists.

Dr. Phil has said that a person cannot just quit a bad habit, it must be replaced with a good one.  Television caricature or not, the concept seems to be common sense.  Oord and Lodahl would affirm this, with their assertion that “love excludes sin.”  To make the relationship between all these ideas that simple is to create a broader concept of love than ever before.  If love and sin are mutually exclusive, freedom is given for an individual to be living “in love” while performing even the most mundane of tasks.  More love can abound than emotion or action, love becomes life.

Is it fair to abandon the idea of sequence in sin, purity, holiness and love?  From a textual and academic standpoint, perhaps not.  But living as disciples of Christ and practitioners of the gospel, there is no other way to pursue any of these concepts without making them the same.

Tim Meeks on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

Hospitality, is typically understood as extending kindness to friends and family members. The strength of Christine Pohl's book, "Making Room" was that she provided a understanding of hospitality that took hospitality to a deeper level by defining hospitality "as extending to strangers a quality of kindness usually reserved for friends and family".  To show love and kindness to the people we love, takes not intentionality. Its easy to love those who love us. If we only love those who love us, what good is it? Even those who do not profess the Christian faith, love those in whom return love.

I like to believe that the love and hospitality Christians are called to by the Holy Scriptures, is a radical kind a love. A love that takes outside ourselves. Not so that we may receive love in return, so that we may simply be love to those who love us as well as the people who do not love us. Its easy to show hospitality to the people whom we know and love. It does not take effort. However to show hospitality to the people whom have wronged us, or who have done wrong is not so easy, but those are the people God calls us to love. God loves me, you, the axe murderer and the child molester to and so should we. The people the world withholds hospitality from, is the people whom Christians ought to embrace and show love to.

As Pohl states, we are to embrace the good and the gentle, but also the evil and the unthankful." This is a profound statement. Its human nature not to love the evil and the unthankful. However, we must remember that God has made every person in his image. Although they might have done wrong, they are a beautiful creation of God deserving of our love and hospitality. This does not mean that we have to accept what they have done, but we look past it and do not withhold hospitality.

The love of God knows no bounds. While we were still sinners he died for us! While Christians hold this truth in high regards, we often neglect its implications. We claim God loves sinners, but we only extend our hospitality to those who have it together, while withholding love from "sinners". We should show hospitality to all, but we should intentionally extend kindness to those who are the most different from us. To those whom is hard to love!

Chanelle Freese on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

This book comes highly recommended by many people who I understand to be practitioners of hospitality. It will not be read and acted upon by the complacent but only by those who read to make change for themselves or their neighbors. Hospitality is practiced by those who truly find themselves following Christ. Many of the things the author touches on, that we as a culture worry about include: strangers, marginality, safety, boundaries etc. What if Jesus were to call those he doesn’t know in society, “strangers”? When did he not see those in the margins? When did he seek “safety” and would he have boundaries? Questioning these things and thinking of those I daily walk past or go around the block to avoid, I have to ask myself the convicting question: “where is the love I proclaim to have in Christ?”. What does hospitality look like in every day interactions with people I don’t know, or to those who have no one? Maybe it’s in a smile, a hello, a handshake that we find ourselves making welcome those who need it most. It can’t stop there though, hospitality itself has to become a lifestyle you live into. Continually giving of your resources, spiritually and physically. How hard would it be for someone with physical wealth to read this book, would they choose to put the book and their convictions back on the shelf? Or is hospitality the heart of Christ, the heart that drives us, because we are living in Him, to give of ourselves till there is none left to give? Whether rich or poor, we should never have to say there is no more. There is always “more” in Christ.

Amanda Paxton on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

I am alarmed to recognize the ways in which Christians have bought into the institutionalization of hospitality in the Western world.  I believe that the framework Pohl sets in Making Room describes much more than simply a Christian’s approach to sharing one’s home—it exposes a root of darkness and self-centeredness that shapes the way we do ministry as a whole in this part of the world.  Our willingness to allow strangers and travelers to accommodate themselves by commercial means represents our willingness to allow our ministry to become a “9-5” reality.  At the end of the day, ministry is “over” and the strangers go back to their hotel.  People who are paid to do such things can take care of our friends and neighbors while we protect our personal space and time.  To give of one’s own life is simply too much to ask.  I might find Jesus having something to say about that.  Pohl says, “Like Jesus, the best hosts are not completely ‘at home’ themselves, but still make a place of welcome for others.”  If we had no possession over our time and our things, as the Bible proposes, we would have nothing to be imposed upon.

I believe that there is value in understanding the hospitality of presence as well.  It is one thing to have the willingness to offer up one’s home and belongings for the benefit of another, but it is quite another thing to be hospitable with one’s time and presence.  The masses tracked Christ down when He was alone with His Lord and invaded His presence, and He had a choice about how He would receive them.  So many people show up on the doorsteps of our lives, and we are constantly making decisions about whether or not we have the time or attention to make them feel warmly welcomed into our presence.

Along another line, I was struck by the idea of a “true stranger.”  There are many who are “strange” to me, but I can know them by association with people or organizations which are familiar to me.  But there are some folks who are strangers to all.  There are some folks who have no saving associations that will give someone the security to allow them into a life.  Not until a risk is taken by someone, somewhere to become that association.  I would like to ask the church how we’re doing at eliminating foreigners and aliens in this world.  I feel as though the Bible may have something to say about that as well.

Cassie Boddington on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

“Hospitality is resistance.” Resistant to the larger society who deems who is worthy and not worthy to be recognized and have dignity, resistant to a culture that no longer understands true hospitality, but even more it is resistant to my fleshly desires. My desires of judging who I think is applicable to come to the table, my desire of boundaries in my life to keep myself from being open and vulnerable. It is here in this resistance that I find myself inadequate, but where gods grace and true freedom lie.

I’m discovering that true hospitality falls into relationships not what a 5 star rating some hotel is trying to achieve. It’s not on the best service I can provide in that relationship or what I can offer either, but about me being present. Investing time into the people around me and listening and caring for them and not doing it for my benefit. Also discovering that hospitality takes on a new challenge when it is put into actual practice with actual strangers. It is not enough to have a hospitable attitude, but realizing it is a daily process of self-denying to put it into practice and to be a practioner of true hospitality.

Hospitality is a 2 way street. I’ve realized while reading this book and have been challenged by the importance of being a guest versus a host. I struggle with being independent and self-sufficient. The statement in the book  “…The pinnacle of lovelessness is not our unwillingness to be a neighbor to someone, but our unwillingness to allow them to be a neighbor to us” has resonated with me. The author talks in the book how sometimes people are more comfortable being the host then ever being the guest, because we are familiar with the role of being a host or helper and not certain about being equals with the people you are serving. Because with that comes vulnerability and accountability.  

While reading this book I have felt broken, and inadequate to do the work of God and this way of life that he has called me to live, from starting to understand what true hospitality is all about. Realizing that true hospitality transcends all boundaries, boundaries that society puts up, boundaries that I put up. Christ abolished all boundaries. “…It is not our table to which to welcome people; it is God’s table to which we come as equals.” Hospitality is our way of showing gods love to the world through us and our open doors to welcome people in.

Chad Bryan on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

Up until recently in my life, I would have defined Christian hospitality as “the trait one possesses to throw a good, Christian party.” I would have thrown some other things in there too, but the only times I really heard the word “hospitality” being used was in reference of praising my mom when she’d thrown a good tea party or bridal shower at our house. I would play host and take the adults’ coats and purses and we would have snacks and surface level conversation. Although inviting people into our homes is definitely a part of the picture Christine Pohl paints of hospitality, it gets much deeper and more difficult than the tea parties I grew up around.

Hospitality, as Pohl describes it, is deeply satisfying but challenging and requires resources and work that the congregations and individuals I grew up surrounded by seem to want to pass the buck on. We jealously guarded our time and resources so that only our immediate family and closest friends were included. But a truly hospitable lifestyle doesn’t allow for this kind of ignorance. Christ has called us to allow those in need to burst unexpectedly upon the scene and shatter the picture of our neat, tidy, controlled lives we tried to cling to.

Pohl explains that the word "hospitality" comes from the Greek words for "love" and "stranger.” These two words are paired together so perfectly to sum up one of the greatest commandments, and yet, the thought of it still causes me to hesitate when faced with the fullness of what true hospitality must look like in my life. Pohl cuts to the core and brings conviction upon my former (and, ashamedly, sometimes present) ways of living when she proclaims that, as challenging as it may be, "hospitality is not optional for Christians, nor is it limited to those who are specially gifted for it." Pohl makes it clear that the "gifts" one needs to become a practitioner of hospitality can be learned through prayer and participation in worship and community. Welcoming the stranger is welcoming Jesus. Breaking bread with persons in need, while at the same time offering them conversation and companionship, is affirming their God-given value and, ultimately, their humanity. The disciplines of hospitality are reminders of what Jesus did as he sat at table as guest with all walks of life and all types of need and even what He did for us on the cross.

Those who are in need, whether their needs are temporary or permanent, are to be taken care of and treated as we would treat members of our own family or closest friends. It is only when we embrace another person in that person’s poverty that we will be enriched and brought out of our own impoverished state. It’s at this place that I must face the reality of what Christ has called me to and take a look at the wretch looking back at me in the mirror. He offered me His life so that I could offer mine to those in need.

Mark Combe on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

Hospitality began to take on a different meaning for me while reading this book.  Before when I heard the word, I pictured an older lady serving dinner to friends from church, while her husband talked to them in a comfortable setting. Now I see so much more. This concept that is so essential to the christian faith was still somewhat fuzzy in my perception. What I read in this book not only transformed my view of true hospitality but challenged my motives for caring for people. 

One of the most beautiful concepts that I took out of this book is one that Christine Pohl came to know from the book of Luke in the Bible. The words come from Jesus where he says “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you”. This concept of helping someone with absolutely no motives, whether they are to gain recognition, wealth, or the need to feel worth, became more clear to me. Jesus intentionally told his disciples to help those who could not help back because he wanted them to have a change of heart and to realize what it means to truly love with no conditions. 

Another concept that challenged me came from a quote in this book. The quote came from Philip Hallie. He said that “the opposite of cruelty is not simply freedom from the cruel relationship, it is hospitality.” I believe now that hospitality not only means freeing a person or people from some sort of oppression whether it be big or small, but to take them in to your shelter and offer them whatever it is that you have to offer with no expectation of love in return. 

The practice of Hospitality in our country is so countercultural because here we are taught to acquire as much as we can no matter what the sacrifice may be. To independently strive for the benefit and care of our families and ourselves. 

Christian tradition teaches a very different way of life. I was reminded of this when Christine Pohl wrote about the story in the old testament of Lot, when he offered his own daughters up to the city guards in exchange for the safety of his guests. I could never understand Lot"s motive in this story. To me it seemed that his daughters must have been worthless to him. Now I believe that Lot had an understanding of God"s love that I do not fully understand. God"s provision for Lot must have taught him that there is great sacrifice and risk in showing true love. His act of sacrifice was a reflection of God"s love for us. I believe that this is why we must recover hospitality as a christian tradition. We must understand that Joy and sacrifice are closely related and I believe the sacrifice of hospitality will not only bring joy to the practitioner, but remind the world of God"s passionate love for his people.

Matt Combe on "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl

I feel that reading this book has brought to attention underlined thoughts that Maybe we, as Christians, have had at various times throughout our lives. Questions of why certain peoples are cared for physically, but not emotionally, and not spiritually (Or maybe the opposite has been portrayed), or why some people open their houses to complete strangers, and some choose to be a part of larger institutions to complete the same purpose; Explaining that both are good in the right circumstances.  Christine D. Pohl gets back to the heart of why we should be serving; explaining that giving for our own gratitude or glory is missing the point entirely. 

This quote rings true in my ears with a deafening ring at times, because I know that I am not living this out: “Hospitality is not optional for Christians, nor is it limited to those who are specially gifted for it.” She goes on to explain the Greek roots for hospitality and how it means to love strangers as though they are our brothers. She explains that this kind of love shown to the “alien” or “stranger” goes clear back to the origins of Israel. God reminds the Israelites over and over about how they know what it’s like to be a stranger, because they were strangers in the land of Egypt. God tells them to love the sojourner as He loved them and showed hospitality to them. A quote from Exodus 23:9 is a verse used to explain the similarities with Israel and foreigners to Israel: “you shall not oppress a stranger; you know the heart of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This verse sounds just like God on another occasion in the New Testament. Matt 18;  the parable of the forgiving king and the unforgiving servant. I think this same principle of looking in the mirror can be used in my life as well. I need to look at the “least of these” or the “aliens” of my day as the same as me. Even if the “least of these” don’t seem to deserve love, did I deserve the love that my father in Heaven has shown me? I don’t think God’s tactics have changed in the way He keeps using His people to express His love through them to the lowly and down-trodden. In essence He is saying, “You were shown love, now do the same”. 

John Chrysostom explains that we are all made in God’s image. Even if the “least of these” don’t seem to deserve love, we all are equal and are made to lift one another up. We need to embrace that no matter who we are dealing with, because we are all made after the same image and for the same purpose. Wesley describes it in a different way. He teaches that God is working in all and through all to bring them unto Him, so do it for God if nothing else. Even if they don’t deserve the love that I could show them, did I deserve the love that my father in heaven has shown me?

I love the way Pohl explains the history of the practice of Christian Hospitality. It’s almost like reading the story of Israel again; how we go back and forward on the heart of why we are supposed to be a loving and gracious people. Some did it just to be noticed, but then some wanted to show love because of the love God has shown to them. 

If nothing else, I need to do this in remembrance of what He has done for me and remember that it’s the person that’s important, not the activity I may or may not being doing to them. To keep in mind that who I am serving is Jesus in flesh and clothes. I love the imagery that the Spanish tradition “los posadas” creates. Spanish People of the church go around looking for a place to stay on Christmas night, re-enacting Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem trying to find a place for their new child that’s about to be born. And one of the men newer in this tradition said he realized Jesus was standing on the porch when all those people were asking for a place to stay. It brought new meaning to letting them come in and stay for the night, because literally two thousand years ago Jesus’ parents were looking for a place to stay and no one took them in. It’s so important to remember who we are serving when we are serving. Meaning, I should not only be serving physical needs, but should be giving back their dignity to them. Give them back the respect that I would want to be given or, more importantly, that I would want to give Jesus. It makes me realize just how genuine God wants me to love everyone I am serving. Not because I think they’re a cool person and I will get recognition by anyone or even by them, but because Jesus wants them to be served and by serving them I am serving Jesus. The one who humbled Himself lower than any man could lower Himself just to serve me. 

This book if anything, made me realize the importance of the word hospitality. It has lost its meaning throughout the years in the westernized part of the world. Hospitality is not only making a good friend/family member feel welcome at my house, but hospitality breaks the line between good friends and complete strangers. Our good friends remain our brothers and sisters. But our complete strangers have already become our brothers and sisters.