“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” – Exodus 3:5
This morning I want to pick up on an idea I have long held but that was articulated especially well by our guest speaker at church (HMPC) Wednesday evening.
The program was the ministry of Farm Church in Durham, a worshipping community committed to living as faithful stewards of their resources and addressing food insecurity in the community. The presentation was designed to be informative, but it was also inspirational inasmuch as it challenged us to always engage with the ground beneath our feet as sacred space.
All Ground is Sacred
I have worked to nurture the gift of awe and wonder for as long as I can remember. Not just the visible creation but every moment of every day. Life itself is sacred.
This is pretty much how I look through my lens when taking photographs, and the lens of my writing as an observer too. I think this is one of the reasons I find trash in public spaces so offensive: it’s not littering so much as it is desecration.
Good grief, this is sacred ground! How dare we trash such a gift!
I believe the hymn, “This world is not my home” represents poor theology. We were created of and for this Good Earth. I have no idea what eternity is going to look like and how God will reconstitute our physical bodies, but I do know that I was imagined, designed, created and then born into this planet. This place is home – and by design.
We were created of and for this Good Earth
God’s intention for me is sacred; the dust from which I was formed – and will return – is sacred too; anywhere that I stand, in proper relation to Jesus, is sacred ground.
The “Original” Garden of Eden
Our guest, Margie, shared a quirky story of a Florida lawyer and preacher (Elvy E. Callaway) who came to believe that a tract of land on the Apalachicola River – just west of Tallahassee – was in fact the original Garden of Eden, and that Noah built his ark from locally sourced Gopher Trees. Instead of making fun of his claims, however, or disparaging the man’s theology and scholarship, she resonated with and respected his deep sense of the sacred.
Fact is, all of creation is sacred ground, and everything that makes up our lives is evidence of the holy.
This is a theology that reminds me that here, sipping coffee and writing in this old house we have come to love, I am in the presence of God.
My own Garden of Eden – DEREK