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Moses, Moses, come no further,
take off your sandals for you approach Holy ground.
Last weekend, we had a wonderful retreat
on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with Julianne Stantz,
the author of a book called “Braving the Thin Places.”
She gave some really incredible insights.
In Celtic spirituality a thin place
is a place we consider sacred space in Ireland.
It comes from the understanding
that we believe that our ancestors,
when they leave us, when they die,
that they leave us but there are certain places
where they are closer to us.
We call those thin places because the ancestors are closer,
the divine is closer to us in those little places.
There are such places as Croagh Patrick, Glendalough
and many of the monasteries.
We consider churches thin places.
We consider the sacraments a thin place.
Julianne, in her retreat this last week,
extended the concept of a “thin place” to liminal experiences.
We would say liminal experiences
are where God reveals himself to us
in a particular way, or a moment.
Not always do we see it at that moment.
Oftentimes, we will look back
and we will reflect on the moment
and recognize that was the moment
where God's hand was present to us.
She did a wonderful job in connecting
all these stories of her own life to the stories of the Irish
who have journeyed with this sense of spirituality.
Today we hear the ancient story of Moses’ thin place,
the moment of instantaneous transformation,
the famous burning bush.
We can understand how transfixing it must have been,
that here was a bush he was walking by,
and there were flames in it, but it was not being consumed.
“Is that what I think it is? What?”
We can see Moses confused. “What?”
And then he goes over and takes a look at it.
He realizes that it really is burning,
but it is not being consumed.
But before he could get any closer,
the Lord commands him to take off his shoes
for what is happening now, what he sees,
what he approaches is a sacred space.
It is holy ground.
I think in our own life, we have those moments
where God does break through to us
and we have a holy moment, if you would,
a sacred space where God breaks through.
But I think when we are younger on the journey,
when we are early in the journey of our life,
we tend not to pause at the burning bushes.
We tend to say “Oh, burning bushes that’s all.”
We just take note of it and just walk on by.
And then after we think,
“I wonder if that was really a burning bush.
I think I wish I'd stopped. I wish I'd taken note of it.”
Now, obviously, it is not a real burning bush.
I am talking about other moments
where we might have met somebody
and there was a moment and you go,
“Wow, like that's a really awesome person.
I wonder if I should go up and say something”
but we do not.
And then the moment passes us,
and we sort of regret meeting that person.
We could have been good friends.
We just seemed to click and
it was only for a few seconds, a few minutes,
and we did not have the courage to pause
and be present to our thin place that comes to us,
that liminal space, that sacred space
where God is breaking through to us through somebody else.
Or maybe it is through some particular moment you experience,
whether it be in the top of a mountain
or whether it be at a concert.
I believe that God is always speaking to us
and it is we who are not receptive.
We are not tuned into his way of speaking our lives.
And by the way, this is as true for me as it is for you.
Our lives have become so busy
and even about the good things,
we can be so busy,
we miss God speaking to us at these liminal moments
where God is trying to say something different
than what we want to hear.
It might be saying something challenging
that we do not want to hear.
It is those moments when we are called
to pause like Moses and approach it
and take courage to lean in and to move closer to this space.
Then we will understand whether it is holy or sacred or not,
because the Lord will say to us,
“This is one of those moments, Brendan.”
We get a sense, a clear sense
that God is going to break through to us.
Now here is what is most important about this.
These moments are not meant to be private revelations for us
and to be held to us, for they are called to bear fruit.
They are called to transform us, to change us.
Therefore the community around us
should benefit from these moments
that we become better people
because in these moments
we experience some sort of transformation.
Whether we become gentler or kinder or more forgiving,
or maybe we just slow down and listen,
maybe listen to our child
or maybe for the children to listen to their parent for a moment.
Or maybe it is simply to listen to our spouse
and to be present to them this moment.
That is what Jesus' parable and the gospel is about,
it is not enough that we are just planted.
Every fig tree is called to bear fruit.
It is not enough, if we just believe those moments.
That is wonderful.
But that only makes us a believer in Jesus Christ.
We are called to be followers.
We are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ,
which means then we have to convert.
We have to do something different.
To use the language of the gospel, we have to bear fruit.
We have to somehow allow the Lord's spirit
to transform our lives.
That is what makes the moments truly special,
truly sacred, or to use the Irish term, a thin place.
So today and this week,
can we slow down just a little bit
and take note of the possibility
that God will reveal himself to us in some liminal spaces,
some very holy ground,
that we will approach sacred space
and then allow it to bear fruit in our lives,
to become gentler, kinder, less judgmental,
and maybe it makes this world a better place.
Today we are called to our thin place,
sacred ground that will allow us to bear fruit.
Moses, Moses, come no further,
take off your sandals for you approach Holy ground.
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