Thin Places – Introduction

Thin Places – Introduction.

“The thin place is where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer that it is easy to step through.” (Barbara Brown Taylor, Home By Another Way).

This term from an ancient Celtic tradition has stood the test of time. The idea of a thin place between heaven and earth has captured our imaginations, and yet is not just a metaphor.  Thin places are literal as well.

The traditional thin place as the Irish understood it has been described in many ways:  where the veil between heaven and earth is so thin as to be porous, permeable, practically transparent; where the space between the divine and the human has narrowed; where the boundary between heaven and earth has collapsed; where the wall between heaven and earth have become indistinguishable; where the doors between heaven and earth have cracked open enough to walk through, if only temporarily; the place where eternity and time seem to join together.

Those descriptions of thin places have recently been expanded to include… wherever God has chosen to reveal Himself and make Himself known with unusual intimacy; wherever the sacred interaction with God’s presence is more pronounced and accessible; wherever the Holy Spirit is released in a particularly powerful way; a physical space where one can more directly and intensely experience God’s presence. I like to think of a thin place as when the Spirit of God opens the skylight of the earth’s roof and helps us climb through it into the cellar of heaven.

On the one hand, God is present everywhere. As the ancient prayer of the Christian Church says, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might! Heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosannah in the highest!” (based on Isaiah 6:3). It is preposterous to think that the Lord of the Universe is somehow more present in thin places than in thick places. There is literally not one micro-inch of the world in which God is not present. God is present everywhere, no matter what the place. His glory fills the earth, whether the space on earth is thin or thick, on a mountaintop or in a whirlwind, in a garden or in a cave. As King Solomon said in 1 Kings 8:27, “Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give You breathing room, there isn’t enough room in all of the heavens for You! The highest heaven cannot contain You!” So on the one hand, we don’t have to seek a thin place to have access to God, or for God to have access to us.

On the other hand, there are moments of special intimacy with God. It’s not unlike what happens in a healthy marriage or a deep friendship. Marriage partners or special friends spend a lot of time together, and those moments aren’t all necessarily intimate. But there are moments the friends or spouses are more attentive, less distracted, more sensitive to the moment, are more open and accessible to the other. There are times with God, too, where we are more available and receptive, when our spiritual antennae are out in full force. Perhaps those are when the thin places present themselves and the presence of God is more pronounced. In human terms, we probably are not even equipped to experience the full, ongoing intensity of God’s intimate presence. I can’t imagine a marriage with continuous personal intensity, 24/7.

Attend! Attend! So perhaps the traditional Eastern Orthodox call to worship is what God asks from us. And when we are receptive and God wills, we will have our thin places, our thin moments, when the usual fence between heaven and earth are removed. Maybe an experience of a thin place depends somewhat on the spiritual gift of listening, of opening our hearts, of keeping active our eyes of faith to see what cannot be seen.

In this study of thin places, we will look at physical spaces that are thin, such as Mt. Sinai, Iona, the Wailing Wall and the Garden of Eden. We will study thin places in the context of biblical moments, such as the Cloud and Pillar, the Transfiguration and the Annunciation. And it is vital we consider thin places in our own earthly experiences, whether in worship or prayer, in the Sacraments or in each other. We will also discover that the ultimate Thin Place is actually a Person, Jesus Christ, in which the boundaries between heaven and earth were removed in His Incarnation. Jesus was the definitive Thin Place in the flesh, in which the veil between the divine and the human were blended into One. Yes, in the eternal union between the Father and the Son, Jesus is our walking, talking Thin Place, the veil of separation between heaven and earth eternally torn in two.

In Christ Alone | Celtic Worship ft. Steph Macleod (youtube.com)

Since we are exploring what is essentially an Irish tradition, each post in this category of “Thin Places” will conclude with a musical number from a splendiferous Irish worship band that will perhaps bring us to a thin place with God. Enjoy.

Blessed Assurance (Official Music Video) | Celtic Worship (youtube.com)