The Third Sunday of Lent Remove Your Sandals  -  Where You Stand Is

Holy Ground!

A reflection by Brother Leo Smith

Can you picture yourself taking care of a flock of sheep, keeping an eye out for wolves, probably day dreaming a bit as you move along, maybe wondering what price you might get for the sheep at the next market? Then in the distance you see a bush that seems to be on fire but not burning up and like Moses you go to investigate. As you draw closer you hear your name called out from the bush and a shiver runs down your spine and your palms begin to sweat. Then a command: Come no nearer! Remove your sandals for where you are standing is holy ground.  The very place where you stand made holy by the presence of God.

In his book Now and Then Frederick Buechner relates a wonderful incident in the life of Dr. James Muilenburg, professor of Old Testament at Union Theological in New York.  He was renowned for his legendary introductory course on the Old Testament and to accommodate the number of students and their friends who attended he was given the largest lecture hall in the seminary.  As Buechner described the course: “He never merely taught the Old Testament he was the Old Testament.” He became Adam or Eve or David weeping at the death of Jonathan.  It was said that the day he gave his final lecture a number of students from the Jewish seminary across the street attended and before they entered the great lecture hall where he taught they took off their shoes and left them in the corridor.  They knew that the ground where they stood was holy ground, that God was present here in the teaching of this great professor.

It is often good to remind ourselves that the earth we live on and are nourished by is God’s earth.   In faith we believe that God is truly present with us in this place and at this time.  Theophanies of the magnitude of the manifestation of God to Moses on Mt. Horeb or the transfiguration of Jesus on Mt. Tabor are not everyday occurrences.  Breakthroughs of the sacred of a lesser modality, however, are experiences that are granted to us.   Because God is always present all ground is holy ground, but with our shoes on, with our minds and hearts caught up in the ordinary of our lives we often live unaware of the closeness of God.  At times we need to remove our sandals, maybe literally as well as figuratively, and open the eyes of our hearts to this Presence, to the glow of Sacred that enfolds everything including ourselves.   During the week ahead take off your sandals at least once, feel the earth or at least the floor under your feet and realize that you are on holy ground, that you are standing in the presence of God.  Who knows, you may even glimpse a burning bush or hear a voice within whispering: I am present - you are standing on holy ground!