S2-Day 9: God in the Hall

Make me Dirty O God, so that I could sanctify your name.

Dirtiness is something anathema to our society. Governments want to hide those people in dirtiness. During the pandemic, the worst affected pockets are slums in the city. Slum dwellers are blamed for their lifestyle, but no words against those who made their lives pathetic. They are the 'black marks' and their places are 'black spots' for hierarchy, but actually they are the sanctified people and their places are the dwelling places of God.

When I was pondering upon the theme I realized the fact that God is inseparably connected with so-called dirtiness. When Jesus taught us to pray "hallowed be thy name" it is actually a spiritual enlightenment for a follower on where God can be found. How can God's name be sanctified? God's name can be sanctified when we get ourselves fouled with so-called foul situations. It is a tough call for a follower to learn from the situation which is marked horrible and untouchable by the society. It's our duty to break that stigma in order to experience the powerful presence of God in the dirty places marked by the society. 

Let me share my own experience with such a situation where I received my enlightenment.

Once I had been for an outreach ministry. I got a call for a prayer from an unknown person. Quickly I realized that he was affected by leprosy including his wife. I entered into the house; the entrance was very narrow so I had to bend myself to move inside. That house was located at the corner of the village where the garbage yard was located. That entire place looked unhealthy and I wanted to finish my prayer as soon as possible. Once I finished my prayer, that person asked me to eat. I wanted to refuse it, had given my reasons to avoid since I had developed certain standards for eating. 

The dirtiness and stench were prohibiting me from having fellowship with them. I thought of refusing it but he was insisting, so I decided to eat because I saw in the eyes of that man the love that wants to do something for me because I had come to his house. He believed I was different, but I knew I wasn’t because I too developed a sense of stigma for dirty and clean, acceptable and unacceptable. The strong sense of aversion stormed my brain. 

My theological orientation failed before my developed stigma in my consciousness because I have been in a society of stigmas where people have been and are still segregated from each other.  In the midst of all my thoughts, one thing that challenged me was how foolish my prayer was. If I was able to invoke God's presence in such a place then why didn’t I feel the same presence of God while I ate? Because I disowned the place and didn’t really love the people, I was just ceremoniously passing down God's presence. If God chose to be there then why was I unable to feel it? If I disowned them then I disowned the God who dwelled there. At last I finished what they offered me and was more comfortable in the end. That food strengthened me differently because I was nourished with few other things. 

The God of dirtiness revealed his holiness in that so-called awful situation. The God of the Bible chose to reside with dirtiness because dirtiness symbolizes rejected-ness. One is able to understand true love and compassion when one moves closer to dirtiness. Dirty places are no longer dirty because they are the sanctified dwelling places of God. Saint Francis of Assisi who lived with people with leprosy wrote, “When I was in sin, the sight of lepers nauseated me beyond measure; but then God himself (sic) led me into their company, and I had pity on them. When I became acquainted with them, what had previously nauseated me became the source of spiritual and physical consolation for me.” 

As we move into our spiritual pilgrimage for justice and equality it is a must to be identified with the dirty otherwise we are sinners as St. Francis said.

Prayer

O God, who dwells in dirtiness, strengthen us to be in the dirty and stench. We always try to hide dirtiness inside and outside of us because we like to lead pseudo lives. Break our aversions towards dirtiness, fill us with your compassion and love in order to be with the dirtiness and enjoy your presence. Amen

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Author: Rev. Emmanuel Koilpillai

About the Author:  Emmanuel is an ordained minister of the Church of South India - Diocese of Madras. He completed his Bachelor of Divinity from the United Theological College Bangalore.