Summer Heat

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God, hear the message, heatwave, holy ground, hope, Moses, open heart, plan, pray, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I am sitting in an air-conditioned bubble, knowing about the dangerous heat index only because there is a large television on the wall in front of me constantly running today’s temperatures across the screen as the biggest news of the day. It is scheduled to reach 99 degrees F. by noon in St. Louis where I am and the headline right now is that the heat index across the country will reach 100F. for over a million people and will shatter heat records – over 150 of them – this week. It’s not just the 100 but the 111 in Virginia and elsewhere that makes me want to corral all the poor or aged people and bring them to our climate-controlled conference venue where we will need to remember to bring our shawls or sweaters to our session.

As I turn to the Scriptures for comforting news I hear God calling to Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground…I will be with you…” I can usually twist and turn and fit the messages I find to my daily circumstances. Today I wish only to note for myself that God was speaking all those centuries ago and I am here now to hear the message. I can do nothing about the heat or the storms except to trust the generosity of people and local governments to open places of safety for their citizens.

So with that hope and the knowledge that I am privileged to stand this day on holy ground to pray and plan with my Sisters from near and far (see recent posts), I go about the work that is mine to do asking only for an open heart.

I AM

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Exodus, feet, gratitude, holy, holy ground, I AM, Israelites, Moses, pure being, reverence, sandals, simple joy of being, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I often say that if I lived in a warmer climate, one of the best things about that would be not having to wear shoes all the time. I much prefer to feel the ground under my feet, especially if it is grassy, but even a stony path connects me to the earth in a way that is impossible if mediated by shoes or boots. One advantage that I often take while on retreat is to bring “slipper socks” and spend the days shoeless. Sometimes in those situations I’m even conscious of a connection with Moses whom God directed to remove his shoes at the sight of the burning bush. “Remove the sandals from your feet,” God said, “because you are standing on holy ground.” Shoes or not, that directive took on palpable energy in a song some years ago in a song entitled Holy Ground.

This is holy ground, the lyrics said. You’re standing on holy ground, for the Lord is present and where God is is holy. The second verse was a perfect accompaniment to the anointing that often concluded a retreat. These are holy hands. God’s given us holy hands. God works through these hands and so these hands are holy. As I was signing or being signed with oil as those words were proclaiming God’s presence, not only in the room but in each of the participants, the reality of our call to serve was always clear and our motivation strong.

The deeper recognition from this morning’s reading (EX 3:1-8,13-15) comes from the exchange between Moses and God when Moses asks God about the message to the Israelites whom God is planning to save through the agency of Moses. “When I go to the Israelites,” Moses says, “and say that the God of your ancestors has sent me, if they ask your name, what do I tell them?” God answers, “Say: ‘I AM sent me to you.'” God is saying, it seems, that God’s identity is pure being, not necessarily connected with any doing (as in ‘the God of the Harvest’ or the God of War, etc.) It follows for me, then, that if we are made in the image and likeness of God, we ought to be more concerned with how we are being than with what we are doing. We not only have holy hands; we have holy bodies, holy minds and holy spirits. So the question for today for me is: How am I manifesting the holiness of “I AM” presence in this world? It is, of course, our responsibility to do our best at whatever we do but the doing should flow from our understanding of the primacy of our being. So today, let us walk on God’s holy ground in gratitude for life and the call to live it with reverence and the simple joy of being.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Ground

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Exodus, God, Here I am, holy ground, Moses, presence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, we are not alone, Who am I

This morning’s reading from Exodus (3:1-6, 9-12) is one of those cinematic pieces that includes the image of the “bush that burns but it is not consumed.” Moses was, of course, curious about that bush but in approaching it he is stopped in his tracks as he hears God call his name. When he responds, “Here I am!” God tells him to take off his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. It is in this place that Moses is given the charge to lead the Israelites out of the slavery of Egypt. He demurs, saying “Who am I?” [to accept this role]. Instead of giving him reasons for the choice, God says, “I will be with you.”

There are three things in this short summary that speak to me. 1. Each morning as I try to be conscious in meditation, “Here I am” is the phrase I use to bring me back from random thoughts to presence. It’s as if God is calling, “Lois, Lois…” (just like “Moses, Moses…”) and I am jolted into a deeper silence. 2. The notion of “holy ground” always brings to mind a song of that title that was popular in spiritual circles sometime ago; we often used it in rituals during retreats.  The refrain began with the words: This is holy ground. We’re standing on holy ground, for the Lord is present and where God is is holy. More and more I believe that to be true. It is God’s presence that makes holy each place we visit, each encounter with people, each moment we live. All we need to do is wake up to that presence. 3. The promise that God will be with us in all the days and events of our lives is what makes possible a positive response to challenges. Whether or not we question our ability to rise to those challenges (“Who am I…?”) just remembering that we are not alone should allow us to step forward into what awaits.

So it’s all one really: our presence to God, God’s presence to us, God’s presence everywhere we look…Holy ground is the place we live and where we have the potential for great holiness.