Where do you go to get close to God?  Where are the significant spiritual locations in your life?  The early Celtic people believed that you could go to certain places to be closer to God.  The referred to these as “thin places,” geographical locations where there is only a thin line between the past, present and future, between the divine and the human.  

Agnes Norfleet writes,

“This Celtic sense of place designated significant natural locations as “holy trees, holy mountains, holy wells.” They were fascinated by shorelines where water met the land, by fjords and rivers, by wells where water bubbled up from deep below, by doorways which were the meeting places from the outside and inside. These places spoke of meeting, of transitions from one state to another, ‘where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer you can almost step through.’”  Over the years, the Celtic understanding of “thin places” broadened from not only geographical places, but special moments when the holy became more visible, when a person was able to “encounter a more ancient and eternal reality within the present time.”

Do you have a particular place that is holy to you in a similar way?  Can you recall a particular moment in your life when you felt especially close to God?  When was the last time you revisited a time or place of spiritual awakening? The significance of sacred places is not necessarily the places themselves.  “Their power lies within their role in marshaling our inner resources and binding us to our beliefs.”  Sacred moments, special memories, favorite pieces of music, significant words spoken at significant moments in our lives – my guess is that we all have experienced “thin places” whether we have been aware of them or not.

Certain passages of scripture can take us to such places.  Psalm 27 is one such passage. 

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Come, my heart says, ‘seek God’s face.’ Your face O Lord do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

” I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living…”

These words lead us to a place of encounter with God, where human and divine, eternal and temporal cross paths and create a “thin place.”  Lent invites us to a deeper intentionality in our living.  Lent invites us to “get closer to God,” to seek out those places where and moments when we are able see more clearly “the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living.”  

Where are the thin places in your life? When was the last time you paid a visit?