Sacred & Secular

Focus Statement

We draw lines between sacred and secular,

but God keeps erasing them.

Christ calls us to see that all of life belongs to God.

Point of Relation

Back in May I went to see Marilyn Manson in Montclair.

I know, that alone might surprise some of you.

He’s got a reputation,

and not the kind many might imagine or expect their pastor to show up for.

But here’s what I witnessed that evening.

He came out to perform his well-known hit, The Dope Show,

got a few lines in, and stopped.

The lights stayed low. The band held their instruments.

And Manson just started talking.

He told the crowd about his love of drugs,

how the drugs at first loved him back,

how they initially lifted him up only to drop him down.

Then he said, flat and honest, no drama at all:

“My name is Marilyn Manson, and I’m a drug addict.”

It was as if we were at AA or NA…

And the room changed.

You could feel it.

People raised their hands. Some bowed their heads.

Some cried.

Friends, what transcended being a concert.

It was a confessional moment —

raw, unpolished, unforced.

One sinner giving the others to let go of their sins…

Like really, soul-freeingly, let go.

The kind of moment where truth breaks through.

And that, believe it or not,

reminded me of John Wesley.

Wesley was shut out of pulpits in his day,

so he preached in the open fields.

He even stood on his father’s tombstone to proclaim Christ.

He went to the coal miners, the prisoners, the common folk —

people the church of his time dismissed as heathens.

But there, in those “secular” places,

God’s Spirit moved powerfully.

The point is this:

the sacred does not stay in the boxes we build.

God’s truth breaks out.

Sometimes in a coal mine.

Sometimes in a field.

Sometimes in a concert hall.

God cannot be prevented or contained, no matter the location.

Things to Consider

Before we dive into Scripture this morning, let me ask:

what happened to that version of Methodism?

What happened to the revolutionaries who shook up stale religion?

What happened to the rebels against self-righteousness,

the crafters of spiritual creativity,

the shouting Methodists who dared to see God

at work in coal mines and fields, taverns and town squares?

Have we lost sight of that fire ?What Scripture Says

Scripture

Peter went up on a rooftop to pray.

Hungry, weary, faithful

and there God gave him a vision that shattered his categories.

The sheet dropped,

filled with creatures he had always been told were unclean.

Three times the voice said,

“What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

It was about more than food.

It was about people.

About the way we divide the world into sacred and secular,

holy and common, us and them.

And God said, “No more.”

Later Paul wrote it this way:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23).

All of life — prayer and labor, worship and work, sacred and secular — belongs to God.

What This Means for You

Maybe you’ve drawn lines.

“This is where I meet God.

That’s just ordinary life.”

But God keeps crossing those lines.

The Spirit meets us at work, at home,

in the quiet, in the chaos.

Wherever you are,

God is already there.

What this Means for Us

As a church,

our calling is not to guard the sacred from the secular,

but to carry Christ’s love into every place.

Around our dinner tables,

at social events or concert venues,

even watching a movie —

ordinary moments become holy ground.

God is already at work out there.

Let’s join in on the ordinary miracles being done.

Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI). Inspired by Breakthrough’s sermon series of the same name.