Thin Places

DAILY BYTE

A thin place is a term used in Celtic spirituality to refer to those times and places when God’s presence touches our ordinary everyday lives. As John van de Laar puts it, “A thin place is a place in which we become aware of the reality of God within and beyond our physical world.”

Worship can be for us a thin place. Now that might sound like I’m stating the obvious, but in fact I’m not. Sadly, much of what passes for worship these days does little to produce a deep sense of encounter with the divine.

This is how Sally Morgenthaler describes the contemporary church scene:
“We are not producing worshippers... Rather, we are producing a generation of spectators, religious onlookers lacking any memory of a true encounter with God, deprived of both the tangible sense of God’s presence and the supernatural relationship their inmost spirits crave.”

This state of affairs stands in stark contrast to the dreams and desires of God’s heart. Over and over again within the scriptures, God declares that worship requires not just outward observance but inner involvement. The worship that God desires is an intimate, personal encounter between God and us.

In fact, the scriptures are bold in the way in which this encounter is described, often using the sexual imagery of lovers and the personal intimacy of marriage to try to get at the essence of what is meant.

The well-known passage from John 15 uses a different metaphor, but the idea of intimate connection is strongly evident.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Make yourselves at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done – kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.I’m no longer calling you servants. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from my Father.”

What might such intimacy mean for you?

Nearly 20 years ago, a mate and I took a backpacking trip through the UK & Europe. We started off in London. One of the tourist attractions we visited was St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a hugely impressive structure with its massive dome and spectacular architectural detail. I heard about its history, about the patience and perseverance of its designer Sir Christopher Wren who worked on this project for just on 40 years.

Six weeks later I was in London again, and so I returned to St Paul’s. But this time it was on a Sunday, and I went not as a tourist, but as a worshipper, eager to encounter the Living God in the intimacy of worship. And in that great cathedral I heard the Word of God proclaimed, and under that great dome I knelt to receive bread and wine. The first time I went, as a tourist, I was impressed. The second time I went, as a worshipper, I was touched, and moved, and yes changed.

Let us cast off the tourist-mindset in the manner in which we come to church. Let us move beyond the attitude that sees Sunday worship as a visit to a religious attraction if we feel so inclined. Rather, let us regard worship as a thin place, where we can hear God’s invitation to intimacy. And when we do may we respond as worshippers, pilgrims, disciples as we dare to get ourselves involved.

Then, even if the music isn’t quite to our liking, or the sermon is best slept through, or the words used to point to God are laughably inadequate, it will not matter. Because in this thin place we will awaken to the reality of God in our midst, and we will know the joy and wonder of intimate, personal encounter with God, our lover and our friend.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord God that the opportunity to worship you in the context of the community of faith really is an opportunity to encounter you in a vibrant, vital way. Thank you that there there is no place that is beyond your presence; but there is something special about the thin place of worship. Help me to recognise that more and more and to take hold of that opportunity as a regular, life-giving discipline and joy. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 139:7-12

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.