Does it Translate?

The Apostle Paul addressed the ancient church in Corinth in this way:

“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours….” 1 Corinthians 1:2 (NIV)
Look at two words, “sanctified” and “holy”. My question: Are these words so thoroughly antiquated, so out of touch with contemporary realities, so foreign to the modern mind-set that they must be neglected or discarded from the realms of contemporary conversation? Where do the words “sanctified” and “holy” fit into the modern idiom? What kind of responses do they provoke? What emotions are sparked? Is it possible to say “holy” without saying “than thou”?
If I visit the coffee house down the street and take a cup of mocha latte and conversation at the next table happens, is there any possibility that under any circumstance that the word “holy” might be used?
Is there a yawn coming on? Who in the world might care? Holy – ancient and quaint and, quite possibly, relegated to the pages of religious history.
And…maybe not!
This is my deepest suspicion. In losing an awareness of the holy, we have lost the single most significant group of experiences that God has to offer in this world. To fail to experience the holy is to fail to experience God! And, in losing the call “to be holy” we lose the source of all that is good and true and beautiful and moral and ethical.
More to come