What Makes a Place Holy?
Good Moring Friends,
How about a little holy history. Here goes. Let’s see where a random bit takes us in the way back machine. In England in the 600’s there were several small kingdoms, some ruled by pagans and some by Christians. Oswald, the son of the pagan king of Northumbria, fled to Scotland’s island of Iona when his father was killed in battle and there under the influence of monks became a Christian. When Oswald came into power, having defeated a pagan king named Cadwallon he brought a monk named Aidan with him to Northumbria to convert others. Oswald and Aidan worked together. Aidan was fearless and cared for the poor and Oswald translated what he said to his people. Unfortunately on August 5, 642 Oswald was crushed by Penda, a pagan, at a site called Maserfield. Penda dismembered Oswald’s head, arms and legs and though he physically defeated him, Oswald’s good works lived on and ultimately the pagan culture was conquered, proving once again that you cannot defeat the spiritual world by killing a good man. God always has the ultimate victory. Now one of the places in this story is of interest to me, namely Iona, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. It is considered to be one of the most holy places in the world. The Book of Kells was written there. But is its holy geography due to the pioneering Christian efforts of the early Irish missionaries, the island’s sanctity itself, or the reality that God is worshipped in this place? So here is today’s question: What Makes a Place Holy?
Scripture: But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57 (NRSV)
Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre. For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron, to execute on them the judgement decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 149 (NRSV)
And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 28:12 (NRSV)
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:22-23 (NRSV)
Message: I hope that all of us have encountered at some point in our lives a place where we can feel the Holy Spirit very close. I am told many feel it at Iona. I have never been there so cannot comment on it specifically. But perhaps it is like a waking dream. The Celtic Christians call it a thin place. Places where the boundary between heaven and earth is less veiled. And those experiences I have shared…the birth of a child…the death of a loved one. A wedding. Worship with great music. A walk in nature with God. Even a great meal or a good book. But there is something more at play here. For certainly there are times and places of grace and mercy and remembrance where heaven seems closer to earth. Some call them sacraments, but I do not think we can so easily put the experience in a box and be true to what is happening. Biblically I am reminded of many stories of God’s Spirit at work. The story of Jacob’s ladder helps us wrestle with the idea that redemption is part of the equation in understanding thin places. It is interesting to me that although I have experience thin places I did not feel that Spirit pervasive in the place we call the Holy Land. There seemed too many distraction restraining such an experience…too much blood spilled. When I talk to others it seems I am not alone in this perception. There is a sense of awe but also an uneasiness in the Land we call Holy. The worship experience is not always embedded in the tours. Still there is something about a place of prayer and a place where sacrifice has been made that relates to holiness. Regardless I did not feel it on the Temple Mount so much as in the garden. Not at Waling Wall but more so in the church on the Sea of Galilee at the site of Peter’s mother’s home in Capernaum. I guess the final victory celebration has yet to take place. Still I seek those thin places when I worship…when I pray…when I serve. It is after all nothing more or less than the presence of God. And since our God is a God of history it seems fitting that we would experience it in a place of stories as well as the conscious presence of the divine. Some places have a distinctive atmosphere that pervades people’s experience.
But what intrigues me are our diverse spiritual practices for, though they differ in style, they share a commonality that seems to transform physical places as they transform our own interior landscapes. And friends here is where it gets interesting. You see, when we share our faith, that inner authenticating witness of the Holy Spirit of Christianity’s truth, it can also bring a little of heaven to earth. Sharing the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life personally with the essence of the gospel is important for our spiritual growth as well as the conversion of others. It is about being a visible sign of something invisible. It is about showing others the thin place in us. It is about, as Paul puts it, the redemption of all of creation.
Pray that we not get so caught up in climbing Jacob’s ladder that we lose sight of others that need a hand to climb up out of the pit. Pray we realize that Jesus came and opened up a new kind of relationship possibility on sacred places. Pray we can feel the brush of angel wings. Pray we can feel God’s mighty power and grace. Pray we can acknowledge the presence of the LORD wherever we go. Pray we worship for a purpose. Pray we worship in the joy of God’s presence. Pray that even in our brokenness we pray down a little bit of heaven until Jesus’ reign is on all the earth as it is in heaven. Pray we appreciate the testimony of men by but more so the witness of God. Pray we experience the transformative effect of the Sacraments and Word in union and harmony of the Body.
Pray for community formed by the Holy Spirit. Pray that we appreciate that God loves by his Spirit. Pray that the presence of God shows up in our lives. Pray we would share in God’s power, purity and presence as the New Covenant in each of us. Pray God would build us together into a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Pray the Spirit would take up residence in our hearts. Pray we experience with all our senses the truth of our recreation in Christ….His love and His law. Pray the thin places in us reflect an image of the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 