God’s time in the world
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:1-2
in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:1-2
Celtic Christianity is rich in it’s connections to the world and seeing God in that. Within it there is a concept of ‘Thin places’ where the division between Heaven and Earth is thinner than normal and it’s easier to feel God in that place. I guess while many agree on some ‘Thin places’ others will find God in very unique places. These places are often wild and untamed, a Scottish island for instance. For me a certain Essex salt marsh is a thin place where often find God. It may also be that an ancient church that has been soaked in the prayers of the faithful for hundreds of years is something that’s a thin place.
Whether it’s a desolate isle, a muddy salt marsh, a mountain top or an ancient place of prayer what can we say about these places? Well one thought is that they have a different timescale to that of busy daily life. Tides and waves come in and out and time feels like it slows down and doesn’t rush in a quiet church. On the mountain side we track time through the arc of the sun, and minuets are hard to discern. To step into these thin places causes us to abandon the timescale of our clocks, watches, and diaries. It is to accept something closer to a natural time scale, and so perhaps in a thin place, to stop and feel. To stop and feel the God of creation.
Escaping our own timescales, allows us to put down our agenda’s and to-do lists and receive the beauty of the world around.
