In December I brought some cuttings from my forsythia inside and left them in a south facing window. They bloomed about a month later and stayed blooming much longer than they seem to outside. A promise of spring.
The second reading for this Sunday (1 Corinthians 3:16-23) ties in well with the first reading and the Gospel. Paul says that we are God's temple and that the Holy Spirit lives in us. Using the same notion of holiness used in the first reading, Paul says, "God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." He's not talking about behaving ourselves. A holy temple is one that belongs completely to God. We are holy simply because we belong completely to God.
Even the word "belong" says this. We rarely think of the two words that make it up: "be" and "long." When I say that I belong in these mountains I mean that I will be here a long time. These mountains own me. I am a part of them.
Paul concludes this passage by saying, "You belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God." Christ brings us with him to be in God a long time, forever in fact. God owns us. That's holiness.
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