Thin Places
Rev. Lee Ann Bryce
Community Christian Church
February 19, 2012
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. Mark 9:2-9
There are moments in life when we move closer to the God we seek; when we leave that which is familiar and we get an unexpected glimpse of the divine; flashes when we are given pause to wonder
about a reality that lies beyond the mundane rituals, the grief, trials and boredom of our day-to-day life. To be human means to possess a hunger to be connected, to be a part of something greater,
to be loved, to find peace.
Have you ever heard the expression “thin place”? The term comes from the Celtic tradition and it describes those moments in time when the veil between this world that we know and the other world is thin; when the usual barriers that exists at the edge of what we know to be human, finite, mortal is almost transparent. There are physical places in the world that some have called thin, places to which people make pilgrimage like Iona off the coast of Scotland or Rome or Jerusalem or Mecca. A thin place can happen unexpectedly anywhere, anytime really. Some experience a thin place while keeping vigil with someone who is dying. Some might call the other world heaven, to others it may be the abyss of the unknown. Whatever you perceive the other world to be, a thin place is a place where connection to that world seems effortless and signs of its existence are palpable.
Mahatma Gandhi speaks of this in his Spiritual Message to the World:
There is an undefinable, mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen power that makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses.
Simply put, a thin place is a place where you can feel that mysterious power that Gandhi refers to. For Gandhi, that mysterious power was God. A thin place calls you, draws you into itself, transports you into the presence of the world beyond this world.
If you have ever encountered a thin place in space or time, you know how deep the experience is and how difficult it is to describe without sounding crazy. Most of our lives are lived in the thicker places, places where we feel the illusion of separation and the desire for certainty and predictability. But from the those thicker places, we can seek out the thin ones because it is thin places that give depth and substance and meaning to our lives.
Our text today is about one of those thin places, this one on a mountaintop long ago. While the disciples watched, Jesus’ face and his clothes changed. They became “dazzling white.” Elijah and Moses show up to talk with Jesus. A cloud overshadowed them and a voice from heaven is described as saying, “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him!” In the Bible, the divine presence is often described as being in clouds and speaking from clouds. And the language used, the voice speaking from the sky, no doubt references Jesus’ baptism when a similar voice spoke from the clouds to declare Jesus God’s beloved son.
Peter - impetuous, befuddled, terrified Peter cannot remain silent. He speaks up, offering to build three shelters, perhaps in an attempt to preserve the magic moment. He had not yet learned that you can’t preserve a thin place. It mysteriously vanishes as quickly as it appears.
Last week, Lisa and I had the joy of spending the week in Puerto Rico. And though Puerto Rico is home to beautiful beaches and interesting history, you may not realize that it is also home to El Yunque, a cool, mountainous, sub-tropical rain forest. We’d heard about how beautiful El Yunque was so we took our own pilgrimage there. As we drove away from the hustle and bustle of the city of San Juan, the terrain became more and more green, the hills rose, and the temperature cooled as we gained in elevation. We turned off the main highway on a small road that leads to the visitor’s center at the entrance to the rain forest. We picked up a map that marked the various trails and outlooks on the way to the highest peak, each stop filled with such beauty – waterfalls big and small and thousands of native plants including 150 different types of ferns, 240 tree species, 88 of them rare and 23 species of trees found nowhere else on Earth but El Yunque. It is a magical place.
We headed up the road, stopping along the way at the various observation points until we wound up as far as the road would take us in our car then we parked to take the foot trail towards the top of the mountain. As we set out on the hiking trail we naturally assumed a hushed silence upon encountering such beauty; lush green vegetation, brightly colored flowers, the brook rushing by the trail. Looking up, we saw a dense canopy of trees overhead.
What I have not yet told you is that as we looked up we could see enough of the sky through that dense canopy of trees to realize the clouds were getting darker. Apparently we didn’t really understand that it actually rained in the rain forest because we didn’t have a pancho or an umbrella. (That’s why they sold panchos at the gift shop!) A gentle rain began to fall though we could hear it rather than feel it since the trees were so dense. We kept walking, the rain kept falling, louder now, definitely feeling the rain on my skin now, hair soaking wet, water dripping into my eyes. As we walked, I realized that the funny sound I was hearing was actually the squishing of my shoes. At one point, the rain was particularly heavy and we took shelter under a tree with these wide palm like branches. It provided enough relief that I could take my camera out of its case and take the panoramic video I’ll show you now.
You might think that just being in that beautiful forest was my thin moment, but that’s not entirely true. As I stood in the rain, soaking wet, at the beginning of a long trail I had hoped to hike for an hour but now realized I would be unable to, I had a choice. I could choose to be disappointed, even miserable. I could choose to dwell on the fact that the rain was not letting up, that there was a chill in the air that made me shiver, that my shoes were squishing and I was soaked and it was time to go back to the car. Or I could simply accept that that was how it was going to be that day and instead take in the rightness of pouring rain in the rain forest.
Isn’t that how life works? There are things and circumstances, like rain and dripping hair and soggy clothes and squishy shoes that can distract us from really living life fully. The circumstances of our lives can make us feel miserable but we can always choose – we can choose to accept those things we cannot change, those circumstances for what they are, and instead focus on discovering the good, the true, and the beautiful, in each moment of this precious gift called life.
It’s true that we traveled thousands of miles for the magic of El Yunque. But you and I both know that you don’t have to take a plane and then a car and wind your way up a mountain in Puerto Rico to find heaven. It fact, you need look no further than your own home or office or church. For the truth of the matter is this: in the end, all places are thin places if we are only willing to pay attention. For as surely as the disciples experienced a divine moment on top of a mountain long ago, so too God is always present for you, and for me. Rain or shine.
Please join me in our prayer of transformation printed in your bulletin. Let us pray responsively.
Prayer of Transformation
One: We climb mountains seeking you, God,
but not knowing quite what we are looking for.
Many: Your presence appears as a voice from the clouds,
bright as dazzling light,
as incomprehensible mystery,
the extraordinary breaking through into the ordinary,
and we are touched by the holy.
One: In these high places,
in the thin places,
we see, we hear, we know you, God –
closer, deeper, beyond imagining, beyond expressing.
Many: Take us to the thin places.
Lead us to moment of epiphany and revelation.
Guide us to thin places where holiness touches ordinariness,
and where we long to see you face to face.
ALL: Amen.
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