Thin Places

Since the beginning of time people from all walks of life have been fascinated by places where the veil between our world and the world beyond is thin.  There are many places in Europe where legends and descriptions of thin places exist, such as Glastonbury, England and The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.  Places such as this make me think of Stonehenge and other places shrouded in mystery.  Images of these sites make me want to re-read Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon.  I believe that people are hardwired to long for the presence of God, to seek places in their lives where God’s presence is palpable; holy ground, thin places.  We learned this from Moses, who needed assurance from God that his presence would go with him; he wanted to meet God face to face. 

Montreat, NC is one of these thin places for me.  I was able to spend just a few short days there a few weeks ago while attending a Wee Kirk Conference as part of my continuing education.  For me, the five hour drive to get there is nothing but a blip in time and the higher into the mountains of North Carolina I climb, the more my spirit elevates as well.  As I drove through the beautiful stone gate of Montreat, I thought to myself, “I hope I always feel this way when I come up here.”  There really are no words to describe my feelings, I’m giddy like a child and yet overwhelmed with a sense of peace at the same time. 

On my second day there, we had a free afternoon.  The weather was a perfect 70 degrees, a gentle breeze and a clear blue sky.  The trees were bursting with every hue of goldenrod, flame, and crimson imaginable.  I have never seen it so beautiful; I spent the entire day outside thanking God for the beauty of creation and bringing me to the place that my soul calls home.  Indeed, when sitting around Lake Susan I feel as though I am resting in the curve of God’s smile. 

I was not ready to come down from the mountain after just two days.  I could have lingered there, in that thin space between heaven and earth where the Holy Spirit seems to dance so freely.  I heard God’s voice lifted in song; I learned of God’s wisdom in the words of my peers, I smelled the aroma of Christ on the wind. 

And as I made my way home, down from the mountain, back to reality, I began to wonder, what your thin places are?  Do you have a place in God’s good creation where you feel the mighty presence of God?  How is your soul nurtured there, how is your spirit fed?  Some would argue that since God is everywhere, the entire world is a thin place.  That it is not the physical place itself but the people that are there.  It is true that God is everywhere, but I know for a fact that there are times and places where God creates just the right combination of elements to make his glory known to each of his children.  Each time I have made the pilgrimage to Montreat, I have found myself on holy ground, where that perfect, mysterious, veil was lifted; where I my faith was renewed and my spirit rested with my Creator.

Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, in the fortieth year, Moses said, “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain; turn and take your journey.’”