You are free to cringe at the absurdity of what I am about to do. A white girl from Essex is about to quote 2Pac talking about God. Yes, that is correct.

"Never forget, that God hasn't finished with me yet
I feel his hand on my brain
When I write rhymes, I go blind, and let the lord do his thing
But am I less holy
Cause I choose to drink a beer with my homies
Before we find world peace
We gotta find peace and end the war on the streets

Lord can you hear me speak!!"

Ok, so it might seem a little strange but I had a music channel on in the background the other day while I was doing work and I looked up just in time to hear these words. I was really struck by it. Is he (or was he) less holy? Do we make value judgements about who is holy and who isn't- about what holiness looks like?

I understand that you can quote me St Paul and his 'in the world but not of it' verses. But who decides what of the world is bad and what is good?

Take drinking, for example, the Salvation Army has a policy that if you choose to become a Senior Soldier you shall not drink alcohol. I am not writing to oppose it- because people choose to make that commitment and choose to follow that rule, it seems sensible infact. But has that sensible; and for its time inclusive, ruling become a yard stick to judge what is holiness and what isn't? Holy are those who abstain from alcohol and unholy are those who don't. Just an example, I'm sure I could find many more.

I know holiness is a huge issue in itself. The problem, I suppose, with being a religious is that noone can tell you what it is and what it looks like in your life. I must find the holiness of my own. My path to communion with God. I just have to recognise that any judgement I make about anyone's holiness takes me further and further from being holy myself.