Thin Places
Holy Ground - Part 4
Sunday, August 1, 2021
Exodus 3:1-12
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Exodus 3:2-5
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
The methods and locations of God’s encounters with humanity throughout scripture are endless. What they all have in common is that they are acts of God’s gracious initiative. If the church is to live out her mission as a locus of God’s presence or a primary point of access to the spring of living water flowing forth from God’s throne, we must learn to become more aware of God’s presence, especially in the most unexpected places.
Consider the example of Moses. God chooses to be present in the flames of a burning bush on the mountain in the Sinai wilderness. In this way, God takes the initiative to make possible a divine encounter with humanity. Like Jacob, Moses was not seeking an audience with God. In fact, one might say he was running away in fear after having murdered the Egyptian taskmaster. Also like Jacob, Moses found himself in an “in-between space”, which tend to be some of the most “thin places” in our lives. What was required for Moses to encounter God’s presence in this divinely created thin space was paying attention. Tom Schwanda, Associate Professor of Christian Formation and Ministry at Wheaton College, observes three key elements of this encounter.[1] First, Moses “recognized the unusual nature of the bush.” Noticing that the bush would not be consumed would require paying attention to the phenomenon over an extended period. Second, Moses was not engaged in a particular spiritual activity, but rather noticed the bush while at work, going about his ordinary daily tasks. Finally, Moses acts upon what he sees. He did not simply notice the bush and return to his routine. He stopped what he was doing and drew near to observe more closely. It may well be that this final piece is what the church lacks most. We have grown so accustomed to coming in and out of what we consider the “holy ground” of our places of worship week in and week out often with little impact on how we live our lives the rest of the week. Have we grown numb to God’s presence, as though the burning bushes in our lives have become so commonplace that we barely notice they are still burning and inviting us to draw near?
Recent decades have brought about a resurgence of writings on ancient spiritual practices and a thirst much like that which drove many ancient monastic communities into the wilderness in search of a deeper awareness of God’s presence. In my experience, however, the church is often among the last to latch onto these ancient practices. Some longtime church members even refer to such spiritual disciplines as “new age,” despite their rich history in Christian tradition. Among these practices we find various forms of contemplative prayer and meditation, prayers of examen, devotional ways of reading scripture and seeing God in the world around us through Lectio and Visio Divina, and practices of sacred rhythms such as sabbath, silence and solitude. These practices only scratch the surface. A plethora of resources are now available about how to incorporate these practices into a “rule of life” so that we might be formed more into the image of Christ.
A renewal of these sacred rhythms and cultivating a fresh awareness of God’s presence in our everyday, ordinary lives is crucial to our identity as the church and vital to recovering the rest and abundant life Christ offers when we drink deeply from the spring of living water flowing forth from heaven’s throne. Could it be said even of the church, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I didn’t know it.”?
[1] “Cultivating Attentiveness to God’s Presence | C.S. Lewis Institute,” accessed May 19, 2021, https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Cultivating_Attentiveness_to_Gods_Presence.