Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. – Leviticus 19:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 3, 2015): Leviticus 19

Last week Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer danced barefoot on top of Billy Joel’s piano at a concert in Chicago while the Piano Man sang “Uptown Girl.” I have to admit that my first reaction was “oh no, not on Billy Joel’s piano.” Any other piano and I definitely would not have had the same reaction. But I still love to listen to Billy Joel (and Elton John) play the piano. Both piano men have a special spot in my Spotify account. The high regard I have for the talents of both of these men make their piano’s special. And no matter who you are, you don’t dance on a special piano. I have to admit that Joel did not seem to be bothered by the two uptown girls who had decided to get up and dance barefoot on his piano.

Maybe my struggle is that, at least in my eyes, the dancing profaned the piano. And by that I don’t mean that it made the piano somehow vulgar or ugly, but rather that it made the piano ordinary. It is a meaning of the word profane that we seem to have lost in modern culture. To us, profane simply means vulgar, but the root of the word is actually that it is an action that makes something that should have been special – simply ordinary.

In our culture, the best example of this process of taking something special and making it ordinary might be the ever present phrase “Oh my god” in our communication. The phrase is so over used that it has become commonplace – something that God was never intended to be. It is interesting that the Mosaic Law here does not prohibit swearing by the name of God, but rather swearing falsely. God’s name should never be simply a function of our surprise or an expression of the mundane. His name should always be Holy and set apart – and Holy is just the opposite of profane.

To use God’s name in an automatic or mundane manner is probably a little like one of us getting on stage and dancing on Billy Joel’s piano. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer may be able to get away with that, but I can almost guarantee that we never would. And no one would want to see most of us try.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 20