Why "St. Cuthbert's Island"?

Saint Cuthbert was a Celtic monk who lived in the 7th century.
He received visitors at his monastery in Northumbria and was even appointed a bishop, but he yearned for the life of an ascetic. While living at the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, he sought to spend time with the Lord whenever possible. Early on, he practiced solitude on a small island that was linked to Lindisfarne by a land bridge when the tide was low. This tiny island, known as Saint Cuthbert’s Island, was a training ground of sorts—a place to grow in faith and in love for God.

I chose to name my blog after this island for two reasons:
1) I hope that it will be a place where I can spend time alone with God, growing in my love for Him.
2) Perhaps, when the tide is low, others may find their way to this tiny island
and, by God’s grace, be blessed by what they find there.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Long Time No Blog

Was it the kiss of death to entitle my last entry "Ideas Aplenty"? Who would have thought that such a post would be followed by a 3 month silence? 

Well, when last I wrote I was reading Leviticus. Now I've reached the middle of Job. There are several things I've been impressed with, but the last 2 chapters of Luke have made me want to read the OT with an eye for Messiah. There is an artificial distinction between the Old and the New Testaments. I want to see the interplay between the two--one complete story. 

So...back to Leviticus. I was struck by the way this book talks about the "holy." It almost seems to be a synonym for "whole." Why does God require that sacrificial animals be without defect? The requirements for physical wellness point to the idea that God wants us to be spiritually whole. HE is whole, entire, complete, perfect. He is wholly good, wholly right, wholly pure, wholly loving, wholly mighty.... Is that a coincidence that in English "wholly" and "holy" sound the same? I don't think so.

A professor of mine, Lawson Stone, scoffs at the notion that 'holy' means 'separate.' Why would the elders around the throne continually cry out, "Separate, separate, separate is the LORD God Almighty!"? Holiness must mean something more. If we are holy, we are set apart for His purposes in the sense that we are wholly His. But it also means that we are flawless, perfect, and complete. Sin is imperfection. God will make us perfect. "Be holy as He is holy" means that we are to be complete, perfect, and whole as He is. We are to be real humans...to be what He created us to be. As the King's X song says: "We are finding who we are." 

The New Creation is holy, without blemish in Jesus Christ.

Be wholly His. Be whole. Be holy.
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2 comments:

Danielle Knapp said...

Hey thanks for your thoughts on holiness/wholeness. Glad to know I wasn't the only one with a blackhole of writer's block for blogging.

May 3, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Candy said...

This amazes me. I haven't checked in for awhile (obviously). This same thought has been resonating in my mind - wholeness - holiness - and how they coincide and, in fact, collide. I don't think this is a coincidence either. I don't think we can have one without the other. How can we be holy without wholeness? How can we possibly be whole without His holiness? It seems to me that they are so closely entangled that one without the other is an incomplete whole - or possibly just a hole. I desperately want to be whole - so I continually ask Him to make me holy. It's so cool to think someone else is out there contemplating the same concept.

June 6, 2008 at 10:19 AM

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