Holy, According to Robin
(For my writing group this week, the prompt was holy. This was the result.)
Holy Unseen Force Batman! Robin brought “holy” into the popular lexicon with a vengeance in the 1960’s. He had at least 356 holy phrases, per our authority, Google.
I’m struggling to write about holy.
I could write about old church trappings of holy, where holy is trapped in church. Hymns lodged in memory: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, only Thou art holy, perfect in power, love and purity. But isn’t it obvious anymore that church is not where holy lives?
I could write about how every moment of wholeness is holy. And how moments of brokenness can be holy too. How everything can be holy. About what makes a moment holy and how maybe the answer is attention. About how holy might be anything that connects us to transcendence and to each other.
But I keep thinking about Robin and his ridiculous phrases. What would my day look like narrated by Robin?
Holy, it’s time to get up, Batman.
Holy brush your teeth.
Holy make your tea and drink it.
Holy eat some breakfast.
Holy do the crossword.
Holy cat on your lap.
Holy do the dishes.
Holy rain buckets.
Holy the sun is coming out.
Holy talk with your wife.
Holy laugh.
Holy hug.
Holy try to write something about holy.
Holy dump the cat out of your lap.
Holy friend comes to visit.
Holy let’s stretch out all the tight places.
Holy space in your body.
Holy cook dinner.
Holy let’s eat stew and poundcake.
Holy crazy stories about bad dates.
Holy toast to the recently departed pet.
Holy crawl in between flannel sheets.
Holy find each other to stay warm.
Holy night.
Oh, holy night.
And there it is. The string of moments of a day, each one holy in its way. I guess Robin was on to something.
Postscript:
Just as I finished writing, I picked up the new issue of The Sun magazine and read the opening 50th anniversary letter from the publisher. Why has the magazine survived 50 years?
“The Sun has, in the words of our founder and editor Sy Safransky, endeavored to ‘look at a sad, confused world and see it as holy.’”
And I think okay, okay – message received.