Here's the sermon on Exodus 3.1-15 that I shared at St Andrew’s Wickford this morning:
"A man named Moses is tending his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes across a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy.” (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
Holy Ground is an art installation by Paul Hobbs which includes a collection of shoes and stories from Christians all around the world. The stories are short statements about what it means for each person to believe in Christ in their particular situation. Among those represented are: a thief, a refugee, the despised, the rejected – people who Jesus specially sought out – as well as those who have known great opportunity, wealth and success. There are those who are beautiful, those who are disabled, those struggling to make a living and raise a family, those who have known great loss and tragedy, and those asking the deep questions of life. All have encountered the living God, arriving at a place of holy ground; where they must, metaphorically at least, remove their shoes in acknowledgement of God’s holiness.
For some the idea of giving up their shoes for this project seemed amusing and culturally odd. For others it was costly to give their only pair of shoes in exchange for another. For some it was an honour to be featured in this way, to have their story told to represent others from their situation. For many, it was an expression of thankfulness to be able to share their stories with others.
At the burning bush, God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3/2-5). Similarly, acknowledging God’s holiness is the beginning of life as a Christian. What, I wonder, would your story be of metaphorically taking off your sandals in acknowledgement of God’s holiness?
Here is a very different figure; this time a sculpture by the Canadian artist David Robinson. “Dressed in his finest uniform (suit, tie, pants perfectly pressed) the bronze figure would blend in well with the teeming businessmen of the city. He is tidy. His hair is groomed. Not too young, not too old, he is in his prime, at the top of his game. One expects his head to be held high and it is. Is he, like everyone else, focused on the horizon of his ambition?
Thousands might note in passing that this is no hero, no grand general and no great statesman; in fact the crowds of the morning rush might not find him notable at all. Yet, though in business there is never a minute to spare, allowing him even a moment’s notice would pay off a hundredfold. Would some turn aside and see that he is not rushing as they are? Would anyone take time to look at his hands, to look at his feet?
Bare feet. What has caused this perfectly dressed businessman to humbly remove his shoes? In the stillness of the erect figure, face looking upward, we do not see what he sees but we can perceive a heavenly and personal encounter. Perhaps it is a gesture of repentance that he holds his shoes so lightly?”
These details should bring to mind that “man of another era who similarly, while busy at his workday job, had an encounter which changed his life forever.” As we have heard, “while minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert, this man came upon a contradiction: a green bush aflame but not consumed. He could have hastened on his way but for some reason did not.”
“As the story goes, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, he called to him from out of the bush by name, saying, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” David Robinson’s sculpture says that, under the bare feet of this everyday man, there is holy ground.
Reflecting on this sculpture Irena Tippett concludes, “So here is the truth: There is no time or place immune to the intrusion (if you will) of the living God. Even in a city strident with buying and selling, God is able to reveal himself to people.”
American Pastor Rob Bell makes a similar point: "Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
So, in the words of Woody Guthrie:
“Take off, take off your shoes
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
Take off, take off your shoes
The spot you’re standing, its holy ground
Amen
Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Sunday, 15 October 2023
Excuses, excuses!
Here's the sermon I shared at St Catherine's Wickford this morning:
Excuses, excuses! There were certainly plenty of them in the story that Jesus told (Matthew 22. 1-14) and we hear plenty as we go about our daily lives too.
Have you heard about the notice that was on display in a works office which read: “All requests for leave of absence on account of bad colds, headaches, sick relatives, funerals, weddings etc. must be handed to the Head of Department before 10.00am on the morning of the match”?
Or what about the mother trying to get her son up and out of bed in time to go to church:
MOTHER: Son, it’s getting late. You must get up and go to church!
SON: I don’t want to go to church.
MOTHER: Give me two good reasons why you shouldn’t go to church.
SON: First, I don’t like the people. Second, the people don’t like me.
MOTHER: I don’t care. It’s getting late, now get up and go to church!
SON: Give me two good reasons why I should go.
MOTHER: First, you are 50 years old, and second, you are the vicar.
They say, don’t they, that there are always two reasons why we do things; the good reason and the real reason!
The people Jesus identified as making excuses in his story were the people of God; in his case the Israelite leaders and the many people who followed them. Tom Wright has described well what was going on in Jesus’ story. He says that Israel’s leaders in Jesus’ day and the many people who followed them were like guests invited to a wedding – God’s wedding party, the party he was throwing for his son. But they had refused to come to the party. Jesus had spent lots of time travelling around Galilee spreading the news about this invitation but, for the most part, people had refused to come. Now he was in Jerusalem and, again, people were refusing the invitation as well. God was planning the great party for which they had waited so long. The Messiah was here, and they didn’t want to know. They abused and killed the prophets who tried to tell them about it, and the result was that their city, Jerusalem, would be destroyed.
As a result, God was sending out new messengers to the wrong part of town to tell everyone and anyone to come to the party. And the good news was that they were coming in droves. We don’t have to look far in Matthew’s gospel to see who they were. The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the riff-raff, the nobodies, those who were blind or lame, the people who thought they had been forgotten by others and rejected by God. They were thrilled that God’s message was for them after all.
But there was a difference between this wide-open invitation and the message that many would like to hear today. Sometimes, we want to hear that we are all right exactly as we are; that God loves us as we are and doesn’t want us to change – that our behaviour and actions are excused. People often say this when they want to justify particular types of behaviour, but the argument doesn’t work. When those who were rejected by others came to Jesus, he didn’t simply say, ‘You’re all right as you are’. Instead, he forgave sins, healed people, and set them off on a new path. His love reached people where they were, but his love refused to let them stay as they were. Love wants the best for the beloved so their lives were transformed, healed, changed.
And that is the point of the end of the story, which is otherwise very puzzling. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love, justice, truth, mercy and holiness. There are many places in the Bible where it speaks of us wearing dirty clothes, stained with blood and these being cleansed and washed clean by the blood of Christ, so that instead of standing in the shame we deserve we stand in the shining white garments of righteousness. These images are saying that it is Christ who makes the difference for us, who gives us garments of righteousness – which doesn’t simply mean that we are forgiven but also means that we now actively pursue love, justice, truth, mercy and holiness – but we still have to put these garments on and live in them. These are the clothes that we must put on if we are to be at the wedding party that God throws for his son. And if we come but refuse to put them on, then we are saying that we don’t really want to stay at the party at all. That is the reality and if we don’t acknowledge them then, once again, we are making excuses.
God cares about all people including those of us that do evil. But the point of God’s love and care is that he wants us to change. He hates what we do when we sin and the effect that that has on others too. That is why his love reaches us where we are but refuses to let us stay as we were. But if we accept the invitation and then don’t change, there is a problem and this story suggests that, if that is genuinely the case, the person who is refusing to change, refusing to put on the wedding clothes is saying that he or she does not wish to be a part of the party and will not be able to remain.
So, this story presents each of us with a challenge as we reflect on the extent to which our lives have changed as a result of responding to love of God that we have found in Jesus. Total change does not happen overnight and God understands the difficulty we experience in making fundamental changes to our lives. This story is not speaking about that situation. What it does speak about is our will, our intent. Are we seeking ongoing change in our lives, praying for it to come, reflecting on our failures and seeking to learn from them, being inspired by examples of love, justice, truth, mercy and holiness to want to act in these ways ourselves? If we are, then we are, at the very least, seeking to put on those wedding clothes and wishing to be at the party.
Excuses, excuses! There were certainly plenty of them in the story that Jesus told (Matthew 22. 1-14) and we hear plenty as we go about our daily lives too.
Have you heard about the notice that was on display in a works office which read: “All requests for leave of absence on account of bad colds, headaches, sick relatives, funerals, weddings etc. must be handed to the Head of Department before 10.00am on the morning of the match”?
Or what about the mother trying to get her son up and out of bed in time to go to church:
MOTHER: Son, it’s getting late. You must get up and go to church!
SON: I don’t want to go to church.
MOTHER: Give me two good reasons why you shouldn’t go to church.
SON: First, I don’t like the people. Second, the people don’t like me.
MOTHER: I don’t care. It’s getting late, now get up and go to church!
SON: Give me two good reasons why I should go.
MOTHER: First, you are 50 years old, and second, you are the vicar.
They say, don’t they, that there are always two reasons why we do things; the good reason and the real reason!
The people Jesus identified as making excuses in his story were the people of God; in his case the Israelite leaders and the many people who followed them. Tom Wright has described well what was going on in Jesus’ story. He says that Israel’s leaders in Jesus’ day and the many people who followed them were like guests invited to a wedding – God’s wedding party, the party he was throwing for his son. But they had refused to come to the party. Jesus had spent lots of time travelling around Galilee spreading the news about this invitation but, for the most part, people had refused to come. Now he was in Jerusalem and, again, people were refusing the invitation as well. God was planning the great party for which they had waited so long. The Messiah was here, and they didn’t want to know. They abused and killed the prophets who tried to tell them about it, and the result was that their city, Jerusalem, would be destroyed.
As a result, God was sending out new messengers to the wrong part of town to tell everyone and anyone to come to the party. And the good news was that they were coming in droves. We don’t have to look far in Matthew’s gospel to see who they were. The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the riff-raff, the nobodies, those who were blind or lame, the people who thought they had been forgotten by others and rejected by God. They were thrilled that God’s message was for them after all.
But there was a difference between this wide-open invitation and the message that many would like to hear today. Sometimes, we want to hear that we are all right exactly as we are; that God loves us as we are and doesn’t want us to change – that our behaviour and actions are excused. People often say this when they want to justify particular types of behaviour, but the argument doesn’t work. When those who were rejected by others came to Jesus, he didn’t simply say, ‘You’re all right as you are’. Instead, he forgave sins, healed people, and set them off on a new path. His love reached people where they were, but his love refused to let them stay as they were. Love wants the best for the beloved so their lives were transformed, healed, changed.
And that is the point of the end of the story, which is otherwise very puzzling. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love, justice, truth, mercy and holiness. There are many places in the Bible where it speaks of us wearing dirty clothes, stained with blood and these being cleansed and washed clean by the blood of Christ, so that instead of standing in the shame we deserve we stand in the shining white garments of righteousness. These images are saying that it is Christ who makes the difference for us, who gives us garments of righteousness – which doesn’t simply mean that we are forgiven but also means that we now actively pursue love, justice, truth, mercy and holiness – but we still have to put these garments on and live in them. These are the clothes that we must put on if we are to be at the wedding party that God throws for his son. And if we come but refuse to put them on, then we are saying that we don’t really want to stay at the party at all. That is the reality and if we don’t acknowledge them then, once again, we are making excuses.
God cares about all people including those of us that do evil. But the point of God’s love and care is that he wants us to change. He hates what we do when we sin and the effect that that has on others too. That is why his love reaches us where we are but refuses to let us stay as we were. But if we accept the invitation and then don’t change, there is a problem and this story suggests that, if that is genuinely the case, the person who is refusing to change, refusing to put on the wedding clothes is saying that he or she does not wish to be a part of the party and will not be able to remain.
So, this story presents each of us with a challenge as we reflect on the extent to which our lives have changed as a result of responding to love of God that we have found in Jesus. Total change does not happen overnight and God understands the difficulty we experience in making fundamental changes to our lives. This story is not speaking about that situation. What it does speak about is our will, our intent. Are we seeking ongoing change in our lives, praying for it to come, reflecting on our failures and seeking to learn from them, being inspired by examples of love, justice, truth, mercy and holiness to want to act in these ways ourselves? If we are, then we are, at the very least, seeking to put on those wedding clothes and wishing to be at the party.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gungor - Please Be My Strength.
Sunday, 3 September 2023
The ground we are standing on is holy
Here's the sermon I shared at St Mary's Runwell this morning:
"A man named Moses is tending his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes across a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy.” (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
Holy Ground is an art installation by Paul Hobbs which includes a collection of shoes and stories from Christians all around the world. The stories are short statements about what it means for each person to believe in Christ in their particular situation. Among those represented are: a thief, a refugee, the despised, the rejected – people who Jesus specially sought out – as well as those who have known great opportunity, wealth and success. There are those who are beautiful, those who are disabled, those struggling to make a living and raise a family, those who have known great loss and tragedy, and those asking the deep questions of life. All have encountered the living God, arriving at a place of holy ground; where they must, metaphorically at least, remove their shoes in acknowledgement of God’s holiness.
Some contributors are persecuted and despised for their faith, yet retain confidence in the living God. Several people need to be anonymous due to the lack of religious freedom in their lands. For others, anonymity allows them to speak more easily. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5/10).
For some the idea of giving up their shoes for this project seemed amusing and culturally odd. For others it was costly to give their only pair of shoes in exchange for another. For some it was an honour to be featured in this way, to have their story told to represent others from their situation. For many, it was an expression of thankfulness to be able to share their stories with others.
At the burning bush, God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3/2-5). Similarly, acknowledging God’s holiness is the beginning of life as a Christian.
What would your story be of metaphorically taking off your sandals in acknowledgement of God’s holiness?
Hobbs goes on to say that “as a believer follows Jesus Christ, he or she finds that this holy God is also a servant king, humbly and lovingly attending to one’s needs, just as when he washed his disciples feet (John 13/3-5).
As testified in many of the stories, Christians are encouraged to bring this gospel to others with “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6/14-15) and thus they realise the prophecy of Isaiah, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation” (Isaiah 52/7).”
So he “trusts that this collection of shoes and stories will show the rich variety of believers across the world, their strength of faith despite hardship, and their joy in knowing Christ. The collection also demonstrates God’s love to all types of people, and is a testimony of how the gospel has spread - often at great cost - throughout the world over the last two thousand years, and how it is reaching every part of the globe.
Please pray for people like these – many of whom make great sacrifices and take great risks to follow Christ where they live.” In this way he reminds us of those, such as Christians in North Iraq at present, who need our prayers, our giving and our action on their behalf. He says, “I am struck, in looking at these shoes, by Jesus’ words, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10/31).”
Here is a very different figure; this time a sculpture by the Canadian artist David Robinson. Irena Tippett writes: “Dressed in his finest uniform (suit, tie, pants perfectly pressed) the bronze figure would blend in well with the teeming businessmen of the city. He is tidy. His hair is groomed. Not too young, not too old, he is in his prime, at the top of his game. One expects his head to be held high and it is. Is he, like everyone else, focused on the horizon of his ambition?
Thousands might note in passing that this is no hero, no grand general and no great statesman; in fact the crowds of the morning rush might not find him notable at all. Yet, though in business there is never a minute to spare, allowing him even a moment’s notice would pay off a hundredfold. Would some turn aside and see that he is not rushing as they are? Would anyone take time to look at his hands, to look at his feet?
Bare feet. What has caused this perfectly dressed businessman to humbly remove his shoes? In the stillness of the erect figure, face looking upward, we do not see what he sees but we can perceive a heavenly and personal encounter. Perhaps it is a gesture of repentance that he holds his shoes so lightly?”
These details should bring to mind that “man of another era who similarly, while busy at his workday job, had an encounter which changed his life forever.” As we have heard, “while minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert, this man came upon a contradiction: a green bush aflame but not consumed. He could have hastened on his way but for some reason did not.”
“As the story goes, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, he called to him from out of the bush by name, saying, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
It is by no means certain that everyone would catch the allusion to Moses’ powerful call in the wilderness or know how in that place he met the living God face to face. Nevertheless, David Robinson’s sculpture speaks clearly. Today, under the bare feet of his everyday man, there is holy ground.
Like Barbra Streisand in her song ‘On Holy Ground’ we’re much more comfortable with the concept of God’s being limited to churches or other sacred spaces. Yet the universal message of the sculpture is clear: the whole world is potentially holy ground. Look how the globe extends beneath those shoeless feet.”
Reflecting on this sculpture Irena Tippett concludes, “So here is the truth: There is no time or place immune to the intrusion (if you will) of the living God. Even in a city strident with buying and selling, God is able to reveal himself to people. And a corollary is this: There is no one immune to an encounter with him. Through Jesus Christ God’s great mercy extends to all who hear his voice.”
American Pastor Rob Bell makes a similar point: "Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
One of my favourite quote comes from David Adam. You will no doubt have heard me use it before, but it bears repeating: “If our God is to be found only in our churches and our private prayers, we are denuding the world of His reality and our faith of credibility. We need to reveal that our God is in all the world and waits to be discovered there – or, to be more exact, the world is in Him, all is in the heart of God. Our work, our travels, our joys and our sorrows are enfolded in His loving care. We cannot for a moment fall out of the hands of God. Typing pool and workshop, office and factory are all as sacred as the church. The presence of God pervades the work place as much as He does a church sanctuary.” (Power Lines: Celtic Prayers about Work, SPCK, 1992)
So, in the words of Woody Guthrie:
“Take off, take off your shoes
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
Take off, take off your shoes
The spot you’re standing, its holy ground
These words I heard in my burning bush
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
I heard my fiery voice speak to me
This spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground
That spot is holy holy ground
That place you stand it’s holy ground
This place you tread, it’s holy ground
God made this place his holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot it’s holy ground
Every little inch it’s holy ground
Every grain of dirt it’s holy ground
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Klezmatics - Holy Ground.
"A man named Moses is tending his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes across a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy.” (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
Holy Ground is an art installation by Paul Hobbs which includes a collection of shoes and stories from Christians all around the world. The stories are short statements about what it means for each person to believe in Christ in their particular situation. Among those represented are: a thief, a refugee, the despised, the rejected – people who Jesus specially sought out – as well as those who have known great opportunity, wealth and success. There are those who are beautiful, those who are disabled, those struggling to make a living and raise a family, those who have known great loss and tragedy, and those asking the deep questions of life. All have encountered the living God, arriving at a place of holy ground; where they must, metaphorically at least, remove their shoes in acknowledgement of God’s holiness.
Some contributors are persecuted and despised for their faith, yet retain confidence in the living God. Several people need to be anonymous due to the lack of religious freedom in their lands. For others, anonymity allows them to speak more easily. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5/10).
For some the idea of giving up their shoes for this project seemed amusing and culturally odd. For others it was costly to give their only pair of shoes in exchange for another. For some it was an honour to be featured in this way, to have their story told to represent others from their situation. For many, it was an expression of thankfulness to be able to share their stories with others.
At the burning bush, God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3/2-5). Similarly, acknowledging God’s holiness is the beginning of life as a Christian.
What would your story be of metaphorically taking off your sandals in acknowledgement of God’s holiness?
Hobbs goes on to say that “as a believer follows Jesus Christ, he or she finds that this holy God is also a servant king, humbly and lovingly attending to one’s needs, just as when he washed his disciples feet (John 13/3-5).
As testified in many of the stories, Christians are encouraged to bring this gospel to others with “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6/14-15) and thus they realise the prophecy of Isaiah, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation” (Isaiah 52/7).”
So he “trusts that this collection of shoes and stories will show the rich variety of believers across the world, their strength of faith despite hardship, and their joy in knowing Christ. The collection also demonstrates God’s love to all types of people, and is a testimony of how the gospel has spread - often at great cost - throughout the world over the last two thousand years, and how it is reaching every part of the globe.
Please pray for people like these – many of whom make great sacrifices and take great risks to follow Christ where they live.” In this way he reminds us of those, such as Christians in North Iraq at present, who need our prayers, our giving and our action on their behalf. He says, “I am struck, in looking at these shoes, by Jesus’ words, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10/31).”
Here is a very different figure; this time a sculpture by the Canadian artist David Robinson. Irena Tippett writes: “Dressed in his finest uniform (suit, tie, pants perfectly pressed) the bronze figure would blend in well with the teeming businessmen of the city. He is tidy. His hair is groomed. Not too young, not too old, he is in his prime, at the top of his game. One expects his head to be held high and it is. Is he, like everyone else, focused on the horizon of his ambition?
Thousands might note in passing that this is no hero, no grand general and no great statesman; in fact the crowds of the morning rush might not find him notable at all. Yet, though in business there is never a minute to spare, allowing him even a moment’s notice would pay off a hundredfold. Would some turn aside and see that he is not rushing as they are? Would anyone take time to look at his hands, to look at his feet?
Bare feet. What has caused this perfectly dressed businessman to humbly remove his shoes? In the stillness of the erect figure, face looking upward, we do not see what he sees but we can perceive a heavenly and personal encounter. Perhaps it is a gesture of repentance that he holds his shoes so lightly?”
These details should bring to mind that “man of another era who similarly, while busy at his workday job, had an encounter which changed his life forever.” As we have heard, “while minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert, this man came upon a contradiction: a green bush aflame but not consumed. He could have hastened on his way but for some reason did not.”
“As the story goes, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, he called to him from out of the bush by name, saying, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
It is by no means certain that everyone would catch the allusion to Moses’ powerful call in the wilderness or know how in that place he met the living God face to face. Nevertheless, David Robinson’s sculpture speaks clearly. Today, under the bare feet of his everyday man, there is holy ground.
Like Barbra Streisand in her song ‘On Holy Ground’ we’re much more comfortable with the concept of God’s being limited to churches or other sacred spaces. Yet the universal message of the sculpture is clear: the whole world is potentially holy ground. Look how the globe extends beneath those shoeless feet.”
Reflecting on this sculpture Irena Tippett concludes, “So here is the truth: There is no time or place immune to the intrusion (if you will) of the living God. Even in a city strident with buying and selling, God is able to reveal himself to people. And a corollary is this: There is no one immune to an encounter with him. Through Jesus Christ God’s great mercy extends to all who hear his voice.”
American Pastor Rob Bell makes a similar point: "Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
One of my favourite quote comes from David Adam. You will no doubt have heard me use it before, but it bears repeating: “If our God is to be found only in our churches and our private prayers, we are denuding the world of His reality and our faith of credibility. We need to reveal that our God is in all the world and waits to be discovered there – or, to be more exact, the world is in Him, all is in the heart of God. Our work, our travels, our joys and our sorrows are enfolded in His loving care. We cannot for a moment fall out of the hands of God. Typing pool and workshop, office and factory are all as sacred as the church. The presence of God pervades the work place as much as He does a church sanctuary.” (Power Lines: Celtic Prayers about Work, SPCK, 1992)
So, in the words of Woody Guthrie:
“Take off, take off your shoes
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
Take off, take off your shoes
The spot you’re standing, its holy ground
These words I heard in my burning bush
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
I heard my fiery voice speak to me
This spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground
That spot is holy holy ground
That place you stand it’s holy ground
This place you tread, it’s holy ground
God made this place his holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot it’s holy ground
Every little inch it’s holy ground
Every grain of dirt it’s holy ground
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Klezmatics - Holy Ground.
Friday, 11 March 2016
Paying attention: Ethics
"All this should make us think a bit harder about how we as Christians approach the whole business of ethics. . . . if the desert literature is right, then we all need training in listening and attending almost more than anything else. Unless we are capable of patience before each other, before the mysteriousness of each other, it’s very unlikely that we will do God’s will with any kind of fullness. Without a basic education in attention, no deeply ethical behavior is really going to be possible; we may only keep the rules and do what is technically and externally the right thing. but that 'doing the right thing' will not be grounded yet in who we are, in the person God wants us to become, and it may not survive stress and temptation. It may also be quite capable of existing alongside attitudes and habits dangerous to ourselves and each other; it may not bring us life with and through the neighbour. Our Christian codes of behaviour quite rightly tell us that some sorts of action are always wrong - torture or fraud, killing the innocents or the unborn, sexual violence and infidelity - but to see why that is so requires us to go back a step or two to see why this or that action is bound to speak of inattention, why this or that action makes it impossible to listen for the word in another person. Unless we can grasp something of that, our ethics will never really be integrated with our search and our prayer for holy life in community."
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Jennifer Warnes - Joan Of Arc.
Saturday, 2 January 2016
Past Life - Present Mission (2)
Chapter 1: The principles and practices of Celtic Christianity
In his book Restoring the Woven Cord Michael Mitton identifies fourteen Biblical Themes that became the background frame of reference at St Edmund’s Tysley for our own ‘Woven Cord’ programme. Mitton’s choice of themes and their content seemed to me to be a populist set of material about Celtic Christianity and were, as a result, appropriate to urban priority area residents and their non-book culture.
Whilst not exhaustive, the principles and examples of practice within Mitton’s themes provide an overview of key aspects of how Christianity was practised in Celtic areas during the 4th-7th centuries AD. The result is a collection that synthesises this wide-ranging material into a set of principles and practice about Celtic Christianity as found in Celtic lands.
1. The Authenticity, Simplicity and Holiness of Celtic Christian Living
The Celtic Church had a creation affirming spirituality. Christians looked for and expected to see signs of God’s presence within creation and their daily lives. Celtic Churches were aware of the damage done to creation by sin. Their standing crosses were signs of God’s redeeming work in the heart of His wonderful but damaged creation. This prevented a dualism between nature and humanity emerging.
6. Creativity and Spiritual Gift within the Christian Community
The lives of such as Ninian, Patrick and Columba demonstrated the presence and acceptance of spiritual gift among Christian people. At the centre of this openness to God’s gift to His people, lay a Spirit of outstanding creativeness. Caedman, for example, was an uneducated lay monk who was given the gift of Christian songs. The gift of song writing for him was not merely a technical gift, but one that was of a spiritual nature that blessed and inspired others.
The music and poetry of the Celtic Church was transmitted orally, and was influenced by the sounds of the natural world of creation. There was a beauty of language, a freshness of imagery and a depth of piety within the creativeness that surrounded spiritual gifts among Celtic Christians. This was particularly illustrated in Patrick’s ‘Loricas’; Columba’s poems and Carmichael's documentary of ancient Hebridean songs and poems from oral sources that were lost in historical time.
7. The Ever Present Fact of Death and the Presence of the Dead
Many illnesses in Celtic times frequently led to death. The Plague could afflict whole communities, as could tribal warfare. The knowledge of redemption through Christ and belief in the resurrection were key teachings, together with the reality of Heaven and Hell. To many this represented the only hope they had. The sanctity of special places was significant and behind lay the belief in immortality. Death was seen as a connecting point between the world of Heaven and Earth.
Drythelm was a devout man who had a detailed, near death, visionary experience whilst in the grip of the Plague. He was returned “from the grasp of death.” Drythelm shared his experience with many others, of how he was led by an angel to see something both of Heaven and Hell. Drythelm became a monk at Melrose and his ministry led to many conversions. He is an example of a missionary monk committed to evangelism.
The place of burial was significant to the Celtic Christians. They saw it as a place where the prayers of the saints in Heaven had particular effect.
Caedmon's Call - We Delight.
In his book Restoring the Woven Cord Michael Mitton identifies fourteen Biblical Themes that became the background frame of reference at St Edmund’s Tysley for our own ‘Woven Cord’ programme. Mitton’s choice of themes and their content seemed to me to be a populist set of material about Celtic Christianity and were, as a result, appropriate to urban priority area residents and their non-book culture.
Whilst not exhaustive, the principles and examples of practice within Mitton’s themes provide an overview of key aspects of how Christianity was practised in Celtic areas during the 4th-7th centuries AD. The result is a collection that synthesises this wide-ranging material into a set of principles and practice about Celtic Christianity as found in Celtic lands.
1. The Authenticity, Simplicity and Holiness of Celtic Christian Living
These characteristics were widely found in the lives of individual Christians and within the Monastic system. Celtic Christians practised humility and a gentle approach to people, encouraging them toward commitment to Christ, baptism and confirmation. Established Christians were nurtured and established in their faith and led into discipleship. Much of what we know is based on monastic living where monks and those not under vows accepted a disciplined cycle of daily prayer, creative activity and work.
Nora Chadwick summed up this Principle as reflected in the Sancti: “We see in their gentle way of life, their austere monastic settlements and their island retreats, the personalities of their saints, and the tradition of their poetry, which expresses the Christian ideal with a sanctity and a sweetness which have never been surpassed and perhaps only equalled by the ascetics of the eastern desert.”
Even Wilfred who spoke for the European Church of Rome at the Synod of Whitby in AD 664, referred to Celtic Christians as people “who in their rude simplicity loved God with pious intent.”
2. The Centrality of the Bible in the life of the Celtic Church
Celtic Christians were deeply dependent on the Bible, accepting it directly and with much spiritual intuition. Their beliefs and way of living were moulded by Scripture. This is profoundly illustrated in Patrick’s ‘Confession’ and his lorica prayers.
Patrick saw himself as an Ambassador for Christ within a hostile and changing world (Ephesians 6.20). He witnessed the power of the resurrection to change and transform peoples’ lives. Patrick’s personal faith reflected his commitment to the Bible. Similarly, Aidan taught all his faith sharing teams to memorise scripture as they travelled.
Within the monastic system there was a deep immersion in the study of Scripture and its scribal writings. The Book of Kells, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the High Standing Crosses illustrate the Celts love of the Scriptures. This helped the growth of spirituality and an orthodox living out of the faith.
3. The Importance of Children within the Celtic Christian Family
This was particularly illustrated in the Lindisfarne monastic and mission approach under Aidan. He took children in his monastery for training and teaching in the faith including four Anglo-Saxon boys, Cedd, Cynebil, Caelin and Chad, who became influential as adults. This is the first recorded example of a school for boys.
The Lindisfarne mission base included a wide range of life experience that included: teaching and preparing children and adults for life as monks; memorising Scripture; a daily rhythm of prayer and worship; English and Latin was taught; helping on evangelistic missions; learning and living the life of faith; and an underlying expectation that children would encounter God in experiential ways.
Numbers of Celtic Saints first emerged as young people responding to a call from God. Columba was an example. As a teenager he asked God for three virtues: Chastity (i.e. Celibacy); Wisdom; Opportunity for Peregrinatio. Cuthbert was the subject of a prophetic forecast about his future whilst still a boy. Later as Prior of Melrose he used to take a young boy on pastoral and evangelistic visits to neighbouring villages.
4. The Embracing Nature of Christian Community within Monastic life
Iona, under the direction and control of Columba was an outstanding example. At one time over a thousand monks lived in its community. The monastic rules and cycle of worship involved everyone and great skills emerged in scribal writing of religious texts, liturgy and worship.
There was much involvement in missionary evangelism stemming from its strong community base. These characteristics were reflected in most Celtic monasteries. Bede suggested that “The Ionian community was characterised by their purity of life, love of God and loyalty to the monastic rules.”
5. The Sense of Unity within Creation
Nora Chadwick summed up this Principle as reflected in the Sancti: “We see in their gentle way of life, their austere monastic settlements and their island retreats, the personalities of their saints, and the tradition of their poetry, which expresses the Christian ideal with a sanctity and a sweetness which have never been surpassed and perhaps only equalled by the ascetics of the eastern desert.”
Even Wilfred who spoke for the European Church of Rome at the Synod of Whitby in AD 664, referred to Celtic Christians as people “who in their rude simplicity loved God with pious intent.”
2. The Centrality of the Bible in the life of the Celtic Church
Celtic Christians were deeply dependent on the Bible, accepting it directly and with much spiritual intuition. Their beliefs and way of living were moulded by Scripture. This is profoundly illustrated in Patrick’s ‘Confession’ and his lorica prayers.
Patrick saw himself as an Ambassador for Christ within a hostile and changing world (Ephesians 6.20). He witnessed the power of the resurrection to change and transform peoples’ lives. Patrick’s personal faith reflected his commitment to the Bible. Similarly, Aidan taught all his faith sharing teams to memorise scripture as they travelled.
Within the monastic system there was a deep immersion in the study of Scripture and its scribal writings. The Book of Kells, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the High Standing Crosses illustrate the Celts love of the Scriptures. This helped the growth of spirituality and an orthodox living out of the faith.
3. The Importance of Children within the Celtic Christian Family
This was particularly illustrated in the Lindisfarne monastic and mission approach under Aidan. He took children in his monastery for training and teaching in the faith including four Anglo-Saxon boys, Cedd, Cynebil, Caelin and Chad, who became influential as adults. This is the first recorded example of a school for boys.
The Lindisfarne mission base included a wide range of life experience that included: teaching and preparing children and adults for life as monks; memorising Scripture; a daily rhythm of prayer and worship; English and Latin was taught; helping on evangelistic missions; learning and living the life of faith; and an underlying expectation that children would encounter God in experiential ways.
Numbers of Celtic Saints first emerged as young people responding to a call from God. Columba was an example. As a teenager he asked God for three virtues: Chastity (i.e. Celibacy); Wisdom; Opportunity for Peregrinatio. Cuthbert was the subject of a prophetic forecast about his future whilst still a boy. Later as Prior of Melrose he used to take a young boy on pastoral and evangelistic visits to neighbouring villages.
4. The Embracing Nature of Christian Community within Monastic life
Iona, under the direction and control of Columba was an outstanding example. At one time over a thousand monks lived in its community. The monastic rules and cycle of worship involved everyone and great skills emerged in scribal writing of religious texts, liturgy and worship.
There was much involvement in missionary evangelism stemming from its strong community base. These characteristics were reflected in most Celtic monasteries. Bede suggested that “The Ionian community was characterised by their purity of life, love of God and loyalty to the monastic rules.”
5. The Sense of Unity within Creation
The Celtic Church had a creation affirming spirituality. Christians looked for and expected to see signs of God’s presence within creation and their daily lives. Celtic Churches were aware of the damage done to creation by sin. Their standing crosses were signs of God’s redeeming work in the heart of His wonderful but damaged creation. This prevented a dualism between nature and humanity emerging.
6. Creativity and Spiritual Gift within the Christian Community
The lives of such as Ninian, Patrick and Columba demonstrated the presence and acceptance of spiritual gift among Christian people. At the centre of this openness to God’s gift to His people, lay a Spirit of outstanding creativeness. Caedman, for example, was an uneducated lay monk who was given the gift of Christian songs. The gift of song writing for him was not merely a technical gift, but one that was of a spiritual nature that blessed and inspired others.
The music and poetry of the Celtic Church was transmitted orally, and was influenced by the sounds of the natural world of creation. There was a beauty of language, a freshness of imagery and a depth of piety within the creativeness that surrounded spiritual gifts among Celtic Christians. This was particularly illustrated in Patrick’s ‘Loricas’; Columba’s poems and Carmichael's documentary of ancient Hebridean songs and poems from oral sources that were lost in historical time.
7. The Ever Present Fact of Death and the Presence of the Dead
Many illnesses in Celtic times frequently led to death. The Plague could afflict whole communities, as could tribal warfare. The knowledge of redemption through Christ and belief in the resurrection were key teachings, together with the reality of Heaven and Hell. To many this represented the only hope they had. The sanctity of special places was significant and behind lay the belief in immortality. Death was seen as a connecting point between the world of Heaven and Earth.
Drythelm was a devout man who had a detailed, near death, visionary experience whilst in the grip of the Plague. He was returned “from the grasp of death.” Drythelm shared his experience with many others, of how he was led by an angel to see something both of Heaven and Hell. Drythelm became a monk at Melrose and his ministry led to many conversions. He is an example of a missionary monk committed to evangelism.
The place of burial was significant to the Celtic Christians. They saw it as a place where the prayers of the saints in Heaven had particular effect.
8. The Importance of Evangelistic Mission with the Good News of Christ
This was one of the central concerns of the monastic church in the Celtic lands, and its outpouring of trained monks to go on wandering pilgrimage. Patrick practised a wide-ranging peripatetic ministry involving much journeying to remote areas in Ireland. Patrick believed he was living in end times. To reach the Irish people “who lived on the edge of the world” was for him an urgent task. He witnessed to the power of the resurrection to change and transform people’s lives. He defended his ministry in his ‘Confession’:
“I, though ignorant, may in these last days attempt to approach this work, so pious and wonderful that I may imitate some of those the Lord long ago predicted should preach this gospel for a testimony to all nations (Matthew 24v14), before the end of the world.”
9. The Reality of Christian Healing and Miracles
The majority of Celtic Saints were deeply involved in this type of ministry. An example was John of Beverley who overflowed with the Presence of the Holy Spirit and whose ministry was noted for its miracles. Ninian prayed for healing of people together with the laying on of hands. Martin Wallace referred to Ninian as “someone who not only believed, but practised the power of prayer to protect, heal, pardon and release.”
We should nevertheless note that many Celtic Saints prayed for other New Testament gifts that are not fashionable today e.g. the gift of celibacy or poverty.
10. The Acceptance of the Ministry of Women
Some women were very influential within the Celtic Church. A primary example was that of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby. Both priests and bishops were under her authority. Brigid who founded a famous monastery in Ireland at Kildare and became its Abbess, was another example of influential ministry by a woman. Kildare was a centre where Christ was exalted, and the light of the gospel was taken out into the pagan community.
It is important to note with this Theme, that the women who became leaders in the Celtic world generally or within a Christian community were usually from aristocratic families. A woman at that social level could be elected as Chief of a Tribe, or be the leader of a warband, or an Abbess.
Certain monasteries such as Iona were for males only and were based on celibacy. Other monasteries were double monasteries where monks and nuns lived within the one community. Within such monasteries there was a general acceptance of women. In that respect, Celtic Christian attitudes towards women seemed softer than that of the European Church of Rome. One of the longer term consequences of the Synod of Whitby was that Celtic openness to a wider role for women within Christian living; was stifled by the establishment of the Roman Church approach after 664 AD and its Synod of Whitby.
11. The Place and Importance of Prayer in the life of Celtic Christians
Patrick was an influential example that illustrates the daily relationship between prayer and evangelism. His prayer life deepened his love for God. His faith was strengthened and his spirit stirred. Prayer was often linked to ascetic practices, particularly with monks who became hermits in remote areas. For them a disciplined prayer life also involved celibacy and fasting. Patrick wrote,
“I prayed frequently during the day. The love of God and the fear of Him increased more and more and faith became stronger and the Spirit was stirred, the Spirit was then fervent within me.”
Columba had the reputation he would not spend one hour without including study, prayer or writing.
12. The Place of Prophecy and Awareness of God’s Will
Fursey had a travelling ministry in Ireland, then a wandering pilgrimage to the east coast of Britain from 633 AD. He experienced extraordinary visions where he saw the fires of falsehood, covetousness, discord and cruelty. This gift strengthened the effectiveness of his ministry.
Patrick is another example as reflected through his eight major visions. His first vision, which was his call back to Ireland, is illustrative:
”And I saw, indeed in the bosom of the night, a man coming as it were from Ireland. Victorious by name, with innumerable letters, he gave me one ... And while I was reading aloud I heard a voice ‘we entreat thee, holy youth, that thou come and henceforth walk among us.’”
To the Celtic Christian, the material and immaterial, the visible and invisible, the physical and spiritual, were dimensions that inter-penetrated each other.
13. The Reality of the Powers of Evil and the Acceptance of Spiritual Battle
There was a strong awareness amongst Celtic Christians of this reality, and the significance of the need for spiritual protection. Examples include, Illtyd and Cuthbert. To Illtyd the Christian was involved in conflict with demons and the powers of darkness. Creation was good and benevolent; but equally it was a world marred by evil spirits. Cuthbert was another example with his deliverance ministry engaged in spiritual battle with demons on the Farne Islands. The Celtic Church took seriously the darkness found within their world. They developed prayerful ways of protecting themselves from its influence, but also delivering people and land from the power of evil. The Celtic Church had this ability to hold together an acceptance of the forces of the dark as well as the light. Ascetic practices often formed the backcloth for those involved in such conflict.
14. The Living Reality of the Holy Spirit
The ‘Confession’ of Patrick is filled with the involvement of the Holy Spirit. To Patrick, it was God who had initiated the process of his conversion and sanctification. The Holy Spirit also communicated with him through visions and dreams. Brendan, part of Columba’s group and one of the so called twelve Apostles of Ireland, was filled with the restless spirit of adventure and wandering pilgrimage. His “Voyage of Brendan” with fourteen monks reflected the openness to God’s Spirit reflected within their wandering pilgrimage. The story of their voyage integrates love for creation; a desire to bless others who they met on their journey with the faith; and a longing to reach the place of their own spiritual resurrection i.e. their place of spiritual rightness with God. This was the ultimate personal experience in their wandering pilgrimage. The reality of the Spiritual Presence of the Holy Spirit was central to that experience.
This was one of the central concerns of the monastic church in the Celtic lands, and its outpouring of trained monks to go on wandering pilgrimage. Patrick practised a wide-ranging peripatetic ministry involving much journeying to remote areas in Ireland. Patrick believed he was living in end times. To reach the Irish people “who lived on the edge of the world” was for him an urgent task. He witnessed to the power of the resurrection to change and transform people’s lives. He defended his ministry in his ‘Confession’:
“I, though ignorant, may in these last days attempt to approach this work, so pious and wonderful that I may imitate some of those the Lord long ago predicted should preach this gospel for a testimony to all nations (Matthew 24v14), before the end of the world.”
9. The Reality of Christian Healing and Miracles
The majority of Celtic Saints were deeply involved in this type of ministry. An example was John of Beverley who overflowed with the Presence of the Holy Spirit and whose ministry was noted for its miracles. Ninian prayed for healing of people together with the laying on of hands. Martin Wallace referred to Ninian as “someone who not only believed, but practised the power of prayer to protect, heal, pardon and release.”
We should nevertheless note that many Celtic Saints prayed for other New Testament gifts that are not fashionable today e.g. the gift of celibacy or poverty.
10. The Acceptance of the Ministry of Women
Some women were very influential within the Celtic Church. A primary example was that of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby. Both priests and bishops were under her authority. Brigid who founded a famous monastery in Ireland at Kildare and became its Abbess, was another example of influential ministry by a woman. Kildare was a centre where Christ was exalted, and the light of the gospel was taken out into the pagan community.
It is important to note with this Theme, that the women who became leaders in the Celtic world generally or within a Christian community were usually from aristocratic families. A woman at that social level could be elected as Chief of a Tribe, or be the leader of a warband, or an Abbess.
Certain monasteries such as Iona were for males only and were based on celibacy. Other monasteries were double monasteries where monks and nuns lived within the one community. Within such monasteries there was a general acceptance of women. In that respect, Celtic Christian attitudes towards women seemed softer than that of the European Church of Rome. One of the longer term consequences of the Synod of Whitby was that Celtic openness to a wider role for women within Christian living; was stifled by the establishment of the Roman Church approach after 664 AD and its Synod of Whitby.
11. The Place and Importance of Prayer in the life of Celtic Christians
Patrick was an influential example that illustrates the daily relationship between prayer and evangelism. His prayer life deepened his love for God. His faith was strengthened and his spirit stirred. Prayer was often linked to ascetic practices, particularly with monks who became hermits in remote areas. For them a disciplined prayer life also involved celibacy and fasting. Patrick wrote,
“I prayed frequently during the day. The love of God and the fear of Him increased more and more and faith became stronger and the Spirit was stirred, the Spirit was then fervent within me.”
Columba had the reputation he would not spend one hour without including study, prayer or writing.
12. The Place of Prophecy and Awareness of God’s Will
Fursey had a travelling ministry in Ireland, then a wandering pilgrimage to the east coast of Britain from 633 AD. He experienced extraordinary visions where he saw the fires of falsehood, covetousness, discord and cruelty. This gift strengthened the effectiveness of his ministry.
Patrick is another example as reflected through his eight major visions. His first vision, which was his call back to Ireland, is illustrative:
”And I saw, indeed in the bosom of the night, a man coming as it were from Ireland. Victorious by name, with innumerable letters, he gave me one ... And while I was reading aloud I heard a voice ‘we entreat thee, holy youth, that thou come and henceforth walk among us.’”
To the Celtic Christian, the material and immaterial, the visible and invisible, the physical and spiritual, were dimensions that inter-penetrated each other.
13. The Reality of the Powers of Evil and the Acceptance of Spiritual Battle
There was a strong awareness amongst Celtic Christians of this reality, and the significance of the need for spiritual protection. Examples include, Illtyd and Cuthbert. To Illtyd the Christian was involved in conflict with demons and the powers of darkness. Creation was good and benevolent; but equally it was a world marred by evil spirits. Cuthbert was another example with his deliverance ministry engaged in spiritual battle with demons on the Farne Islands. The Celtic Church took seriously the darkness found within their world. They developed prayerful ways of protecting themselves from its influence, but also delivering people and land from the power of evil. The Celtic Church had this ability to hold together an acceptance of the forces of the dark as well as the light. Ascetic practices often formed the backcloth for those involved in such conflict.
14. The Living Reality of the Holy Spirit
The ‘Confession’ of Patrick is filled with the involvement of the Holy Spirit. To Patrick, it was God who had initiated the process of his conversion and sanctification. The Holy Spirit also communicated with him through visions and dreams. Brendan, part of Columba’s group and one of the so called twelve Apostles of Ireland, was filled with the restless spirit of adventure and wandering pilgrimage. His “Voyage of Brendan” with fourteen monks reflected the openness to God’s Spirit reflected within their wandering pilgrimage. The story of their voyage integrates love for creation; a desire to bless others who they met on their journey with the faith; and a longing to reach the place of their own spiritual resurrection i.e. their place of spiritual rightness with God. This was the ultimate personal experience in their wandering pilgrimage. The reality of the Spiritual Presence of the Holy Spirit was central to that experience.
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Sunday, 31 August 2014
The whole world is holy ground
"A man named Moses is tending his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes across a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy.” (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
Holy Ground is an art installation by Paul Hobbs which includes a collection of shoes and stories from Christians all around the world. The stories are short statements about what it means for each person to believe in Christ in their particular situation. Among those represented are: a thief, a refugee, the despised, the rejected – people who Jesus specially sought out – as well as those who have known great opportunity, wealth and success. There are those who are beautiful, those who are disabled, those struggling to make a living and raise a family, those who have known great loss and tragedy, and those asking the deep questions of life. All have encountered the living God, arriving at a place of holy ground; where they must, metaphorically at least, remove their shoes in acknowledgement of God’s holiness.
Some contributors are persecuted and despised for their faith, yet retain confidence in the living God. Several people need to be anonymous due to the lack of religious freedom in their lands. For others, anonymity allows them to speak more easily. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5/10).
For some the idea of giving up their shoes for this project seemed amusing and culturally odd. For others it was costly to give their only pair of shoes in exchange for another. For some it was an honour to be featured in this way, to have their story told to represent others from their situation. For many, it was an expression of thankfulness to be able to share their stories with others.
At the burning bush, God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3/2-5). Similarly, acknowledging God’s holiness is the beginning of life as a Christian.
What would your story be of metaphorically taking off your sandals in acknowledgement of God’s holiness?
Hobbs goes on to say that “as a believer follows Jesus Christ, he or she finds that this holy God is also a servant king, humbly and lovingly attending to one’s needs, just as when he washed his disciples feet (John 13/3-5).
As testified in many of the stories, Christians are encouraged to bring this gospel to others with “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6/14-15) and thus they realise the prophecy of Isaiah, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation” (Isaiah 52/7).”
So he “trusts that this collection of shoes and stories will show the rich variety of believers across the world, their strength of faith despite hardship, and their joy in knowing Christ. The collection also demonstrates God’s love to all types of people, and is a testimony of how the gospel has spread - often at great cost - throughout the world over the last two thousand years, and how it is reaching every part of the globe.
Please pray for people like these – many of whom make great sacrifices and take great risks to follow Christ where they live.” In this way he reminds us of those, such as Christians in North Iraq at present, who need our prayers, our giving and our action on their behalf. He says, “I am struck, in looking at these shoes, by Jesus’ words, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10/31).”
Here is a very different figure; this time a sculpture by the Canadian artist David Robinson. Irena Tippett writes: “Dressed in his finest uniform (suit, tie, pants perfectly pressed) the bronze figure would blend in well with the teeming businessmen of the city. He is tidy. His hair is groomed. Not too young, not too old, he is in his prime, at the top of his game. One expects his head to be held high and it is. Is he, like everyone else, focused on the horizon of his ambition?
Thousands might note in passing that this is no hero, no grand general and no great statesman; in fact the crowds of the morning rush might not find him notable at all. Yet, though in business there is never a minute to spare, allowing him even a moment’s notice would pay off a hundredfold. Would some turn aside and see that he is not rushing as they are? Would anyone take time to look at his hands, to look at his feet?
Bare feet. What has caused this perfectly dressed businessman to humbly remove his shoes? In the stillness of the erect figure, face looking upward, we do not see what he sees but we can perceive a heavenly and personal encounter. Perhaps it is a gesture of repentance that he holds his shoes so lightly?”
These details should bring to mind that “man of another era who similarly, while busy at his workday job, had an encounter which changed his life forever.” As we have heard, “while minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert, this man came upon a contradiction: a green bush aflame but not consumed. He could have hastened on his way but for some reason did not.”
“As the story goes, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, he called to him from out of the bush by name, saying, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
It is by no means certain that everyone would catch the allusion to Moses’ powerful call in the wilderness or know how in that place he met the living God face to face. Nevertheless, David Robinson’s sculpture speaks clearly. Today, under the bare feet of his everyday man, there is holy ground.
Like Barbra Streisand in her song ‘On Holy Ground’ we’re much more comfortable with the concept of God’s being limited to churches or other sacred spaces. Yet the universal message of the sculpture is clear: the whole world is potentially holy ground. Look how the globe extends beneath those shoeless feet.”
Reflecting on this sculpture Irena Tippett concludes, “So here is the truth: There is no time or place immune to the intrusion (if you will) of the living God. Even in a city strident with buying and selling, God is able to reveal himself to people. And a corollary is this: There is no one immune to an encounter with him. Through Jesus Christ God’s great mercy extends to all who hear his voice.”
American Pastor Rob Bell makes a similar point: "Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
One of my favourite quote comes from David Adam. You will no doubt have heard me use it before, but it bears repeating: “If our God is to be found only in our churches and our private prayers, we are denuding the world of His reality and our faith of credibility. We need to reveal that our God is in all the world and waits to be discovered there – or, to be more exact, the world is in Him, all is in the heart of God. Our work, our travels, our joys and our sorrows are enfolded in His loving care. We cannot for a moment fall out of the hands of God. Typing pool and workshop, office and factory are all as sacred as the church. The presence of God pervades the work place as much as He does a church sanctuary.” (Power Lines: Celtic Prayers about Work, SPCK, 1992)
So, in the words of Woody Guthrie:
“Take off, take off your shoes
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
Take off, take off your shoes
The spot you’re standing, its holy ground
These words I heard in my burning bush
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
I heard my fiery voice speak to me
This spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground
That spot is holy holy ground
That place you stand it’s holy ground
This place you tread, it’s holy ground
God made this place his holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot it’s holy ground
Every little inch it’s holy ground
Every grain of dirt it’s holy ground
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground”
The Klezmatics - Holy Ground.
Holy Ground is an art installation by Paul Hobbs which includes a collection of shoes and stories from Christians all around the world. The stories are short statements about what it means for each person to believe in Christ in their particular situation. Among those represented are: a thief, a refugee, the despised, the rejected – people who Jesus specially sought out – as well as those who have known great opportunity, wealth and success. There are those who are beautiful, those who are disabled, those struggling to make a living and raise a family, those who have known great loss and tragedy, and those asking the deep questions of life. All have encountered the living God, arriving at a place of holy ground; where they must, metaphorically at least, remove their shoes in acknowledgement of God’s holiness.
Some contributors are persecuted and despised for their faith, yet retain confidence in the living God. Several people need to be anonymous due to the lack of religious freedom in their lands. For others, anonymity allows them to speak more easily. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5/10).
For some the idea of giving up their shoes for this project seemed amusing and culturally odd. For others it was costly to give their only pair of shoes in exchange for another. For some it was an honour to be featured in this way, to have their story told to represent others from their situation. For many, it was an expression of thankfulness to be able to share their stories with others.
At the burning bush, God said to Moses, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3/2-5). Similarly, acknowledging God’s holiness is the beginning of life as a Christian.
What would your story be of metaphorically taking off your sandals in acknowledgement of God’s holiness?
Hobbs goes on to say that “as a believer follows Jesus Christ, he or she finds that this holy God is also a servant king, humbly and lovingly attending to one’s needs, just as when he washed his disciples feet (John 13/3-5).
As testified in many of the stories, Christians are encouraged to bring this gospel to others with “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6/14-15) and thus they realise the prophecy of Isaiah, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation” (Isaiah 52/7).”
So he “trusts that this collection of shoes and stories will show the rich variety of believers across the world, their strength of faith despite hardship, and their joy in knowing Christ. The collection also demonstrates God’s love to all types of people, and is a testimony of how the gospel has spread - often at great cost - throughout the world over the last two thousand years, and how it is reaching every part of the globe.
Please pray for people like these – many of whom make great sacrifices and take great risks to follow Christ where they live.” In this way he reminds us of those, such as Christians in North Iraq at present, who need our prayers, our giving and our action on their behalf. He says, “I am struck, in looking at these shoes, by Jesus’ words, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10/31).”
Here is a very different figure; this time a sculpture by the Canadian artist David Robinson. Irena Tippett writes: “Dressed in his finest uniform (suit, tie, pants perfectly pressed) the bronze figure would blend in well with the teeming businessmen of the city. He is tidy. His hair is groomed. Not too young, not too old, he is in his prime, at the top of his game. One expects his head to be held high and it is. Is he, like everyone else, focused on the horizon of his ambition?
Thousands might note in passing that this is no hero, no grand general and no great statesman; in fact the crowds of the morning rush might not find him notable at all. Yet, though in business there is never a minute to spare, allowing him even a moment’s notice would pay off a hundredfold. Would some turn aside and see that he is not rushing as they are? Would anyone take time to look at his hands, to look at his feet?
Bare feet. What has caused this perfectly dressed businessman to humbly remove his shoes? In the stillness of the erect figure, face looking upward, we do not see what he sees but we can perceive a heavenly and personal encounter. Perhaps it is a gesture of repentance that he holds his shoes so lightly?”
These details should bring to mind that “man of another era who similarly, while busy at his workday job, had an encounter which changed his life forever.” As we have heard, “while minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert, this man came upon a contradiction: a green bush aflame but not consumed. He could have hastened on his way but for some reason did not.”
“As the story goes, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, he called to him from out of the bush by name, saying, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
It is by no means certain that everyone would catch the allusion to Moses’ powerful call in the wilderness or know how in that place he met the living God face to face. Nevertheless, David Robinson’s sculpture speaks clearly. Today, under the bare feet of his everyday man, there is holy ground.
Like Barbra Streisand in her song ‘On Holy Ground’ we’re much more comfortable with the concept of God’s being limited to churches or other sacred spaces. Yet the universal message of the sculpture is clear: the whole world is potentially holy ground. Look how the globe extends beneath those shoeless feet.”
Reflecting on this sculpture Irena Tippett concludes, “So here is the truth: There is no time or place immune to the intrusion (if you will) of the living God. Even in a city strident with buying and selling, God is able to reveal himself to people. And a corollary is this: There is no one immune to an encounter with him. Through Jesus Christ God’s great mercy extends to all who hear his voice.”
American Pastor Rob Bell makes a similar point: "Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
One of my favourite quote comes from David Adam. You will no doubt have heard me use it before, but it bears repeating: “If our God is to be found only in our churches and our private prayers, we are denuding the world of His reality and our faith of credibility. We need to reveal that our God is in all the world and waits to be discovered there – or, to be more exact, the world is in Him, all is in the heart of God. Our work, our travels, our joys and our sorrows are enfolded in His loving care. We cannot for a moment fall out of the hands of God. Typing pool and workshop, office and factory are all as sacred as the church. The presence of God pervades the work place as much as He does a church sanctuary.” (Power Lines: Celtic Prayers about Work, SPCK, 1992)
So, in the words of Woody Guthrie:
“Take off, take off your shoes
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
Take off, take off your shoes
The spot you’re standing, its holy ground
These words I heard in my burning bush
This place you’re standing, it’s holy ground
I heard my fiery voice speak to me
This spot you’re standing, it’s holy ground
That spot is holy holy ground
That place you stand it’s holy ground
This place you tread, it’s holy ground
God made this place his holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Take off your shoes and pray
The ground you walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot on earth I trapse around
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground
Every spot it’s holy ground
Every little inch it’s holy ground
Every grain of dirt it’s holy ground
Every spot I walk it’s holy ground”
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Monday, 1 August 2011
On holy ground
The latest Visual Meditation from Artway, which arrived yesterday, is based on David Robinson's sculpture On Holy Ground. Click here to see the image and read the meditation.
Today I sent the following Rob Bell quote to the work-based email group at St John's Seven Kings:
"A man named Moses is tending his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes across a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy. Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
As the two fit together well, I thought I would make the link here.
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Larry Norman - Moses In The Wilderness.
Today I sent the following Rob Bell quote to the work-based email group at St John's Seven Kings:
"A man named Moses is tending his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes across a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy. Moses has been tending his sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?
Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast and returning so many calls and writing so many emails and having such long lists to get done that we miss it?" (R. Bell, Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005)
As the two fit together well, I thought I would make the link here.
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Larry Norman - Moses In The Wilderness.
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