“God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground’” (Exodus 3:4b-5).
When I was growing up in church, I was taught that there were no “Holy Places”. There was nothing sacred about our church building. It was just a building. What made it sacred were the people that gathered there. There was no holy alter or sacred pulpit. Everything was ordinary and nothing was special in and of itself.
Yet, in Exodus 3, Moses, who is literally out in the middle of nowhere in the desert of Midian, stumbles upon “Holy Ground”. He is warned not to take this lightly, because he is in the presence of the living God.
What? How did that happen? How did Moses find the one spot, in the entire world, that was “Holy Ground”? Furthermore, why is it located in such a remote spot? Something is wrong here.
Well, what if my early instruction was wrong? I mean, I get the point that people were trying to make and I still believe it. Buildings are not special. You can gather with others to worship under a tree as easily as in a church building (maybe it is even a better place to worship). There is no special “holy place”.
But what if the opposite is also true? What if “Everywhere” is “Holy Ground” because God is already there?
Would that thought change the way you go about your days? Would it change your conversations in the coffee shops, at work or over the neighbour’s fence if you thought, “This is a place to see God at work”?
The challenge is to see the “extraordinary” in the “every day”. Think about this: When visitors come to Estevan and I take them to see the draglines, they are impressed (as I was the first time I saw them). After living here for 21 years, though, I drive right by them and hardly give them a second glance. If I slow down and actually look at them, though, they become impressive to me again because I am actually “seeing” them. That makes me wonder how much “Holy Ground” and how many “Kingdom opportunities” I pass by every day without even seeing them. Maybe if I was looking for God more often, I would find him in more places.
The ground that Moses stumbled across was Holy simply because God was there.
Everything starts with encountering God wherever you are.
When I was growing up in church, I was taught that there were no “Holy Places”. There was nothing sacred about our church building. It was just a building. What made it sacred were the people that gathered there. There was no holy alter or sacred pulpit. Everything was ordinary and nothing was special in and of itself.
Yet, in Exodus 3, Moses, who is literally out in the middle of nowhere in the desert of Midian, stumbles upon “Holy Ground”. He is warned not to take this lightly, because he is in the presence of the living God.
What? How did that happen? How did Moses find the one spot, in the entire world, that was “Holy Ground”? Furthermore, why is it located in such a remote spot? Something is wrong here.
Well, what if my early instruction was wrong? I mean, I get the point that people were trying to make and I still believe it. Buildings are not special. You can gather with others to worship under a tree as easily as in a church building (maybe it is even a better place to worship). There is no special “holy place”.
But what if the opposite is also true? What if “Everywhere” is “Holy Ground” because God is already there?
Would that thought change the way you go about your days? Would it change your conversations in the coffee shops, at work or over the neighbour’s fence if you thought, “This is a place to see God at work”?
The challenge is to see the “extraordinary” in the “every day”. Think about this: When visitors come to Estevan and I take them to see the draglines, they are impressed (as I was the first time I saw them). After living here for 21 years, though, I drive right by them and hardly give them a second glance. If I slow down and actually look at them, though, they become impressive to me again because I am actually “seeing” them. That makes me wonder how much “Holy Ground” and how many “Kingdom opportunities” I pass by every day without even seeing them. Maybe if I was looking for God more often, I would find him in more places.
The ground that Moses stumbled across was Holy simply because God was there.
Everything starts with encountering God wherever you are.
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