Ah …, the beauty of going barefoot. Standing on solid ground feeling the grass between your toes. Or maybe you remember being at the beach and the cool sand shifting under your weigh as it squished between the toes and the gentle waves lapped on your feet with the coolness of the water. With each step your feet left footprints in the sand marking the place where you had been and pointed the direction to where you were going. Of course, there was the occasional rock that pressed into the bottom of your foot. Or maybe the broken sea shells would leave an impression on the flesh as it sunk deeper into the wet sand. Even with these potential dangers, there was a sense of freedom from wiggling toes in the wet sand and feeling the fresh earth beneath our feet.
I tried an experiment when I first started preaching. I put my robe on and at the appropriate time, stepped up to the pulpit and delivered the message. As I stood in the pulpit, I slipped off my shoes. There was a wave of holiness that engulfed me standing in the pulpit. There was a sense of groundedness standing barefoot in the pulpit. It felt as if I were standing on holy solid ground of preachers that have gone before me and that I was literally standing on God’s Word. There was also a vulnerability standing barefoot before God, allowing God’s Word to rise and be proclaimed. The depth of tradition and knowing in the spiritual sense of being aware of God’s very presence, was with me as I stood in the holy space of the pulpit and proclaimed the good news of God.
The Scripture
The Scripture from Exodus 2:23-3:7, when God called to Moses out of the burning bush and told him to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, has always intrigued me. Can any location be holy ground? What was so special about that piece of land on which the bush that was burning stood? Did Divine energy from the underground roots of the bush warm the ground on which Moses stood? Was there something significant in the act of removing one’s shoes when intentionally coming before God? The desert ammas and abbas, spiritual mothers and fathers went away from the populated places of the urban life seeking to encounter God. Did they remove their shoes each time they personally encountered the living Divine presence of God?
Taking off one’s shoes is a sign of respect. It is an outward act expressing the interior attitudes of reverence and humility. This is like baptism, an outward sign of an inward and spiritual grace and power of God. Taking off one’s shoes in the presence of God expresses one’s deep love for and desire to worship God with the fullness of our lives. This act shows one’s submission to God’s presence. We are not self-made persons. We are people who are reliant upon the grace and mercy of God.
Removal of Moses’ was an act of obedience. God told him to remove his sandals and Moses obeyed. Moses did not engage God in conversation as to why he should remove his shoes. He did not suggest to God a better way. Listening for and hearing the resounding word of God invites us to obedience. The question becomes if we are willing and able to heed what is being asked and surrender our control to engage God not just with our words, but with our actions. Moses had to participate in this act of taking off his shoes. It was Moses’ hands which untied the laces of the sandals. It was Moses’ energy that enabled him to bend over and reach his feet. Becoming obedient to God’s commands invites us to become co-creators, partners with God in the unfolding drama of God’s salvation story during this time in history. We truly become willing servants of God as we act upon God’s Word and live God’s instructions. Together, as Divine Leader and faithful follower, we are invited into the dance of obedience when God speaks.
Invitation for Contemplation and Journaling
Today you will ponder the insightful and powerful presence of God as you consider “standing on holy ground.” Themes of obedience, humility, and reverence for God will be explored.
Contemplative Journaling Experience
Please plan a two-step approach for each weekly Lenten devotional. First, read the devotional and mentally review the reflection questions. This could be your morning devotional time. If this is completed in the morning you can contemplate on the material throughout your day. The questions are simply to prime the heart’s creative imagination in preparation for writing your Love Letter to God and your imagined response from God. Your Love Letter portfolio is your gift of this process. It is to be a written record of how you and God companion one another through this Lenten season. It is the inward formational journey of these six weeks during which you may find yourself becoming God’s Love Letter to others through your daily life.
At the end of the day, center yourself before God in silence and solitude for writing your Love Letters. To begin, enter your sacred space and invite God into your awareness. This invitation may begin with the repetition of your favorite name for God silently in your mind. This may look like focusing your mind and heart upon the name Jesus: Jesus… Jesus… Jesus…Take an intentional breath slowly in through your nose as the Divine presence of the risen Christ breathes into you. Let that breath of Jesus float slowly down your throat, into your lungs and imagine it going into each cell of your body. After a moment, exhale slowly and let the air escape through your slightly parted lips. With this exhale let the stale air carry away resistances and busyness of your day, so that you may come fully into God’s presence. Repeat this breathing invitation to God several times before moving to the next step of contemplation and letter writing.
Morning: In preparation for writing your Love Letters, mentally consider the following queries. There is no need to write responses unless that is helpful for you to focus writing your Love Letter to God this evening.
- With imaginative prayer re-read Exodus 2:23 – 3:7.
- What would it be like to be Moses? What did it feel like, how was he thinking, what sounds and smells did he notice?
- How would Moses think about this experience after the fact? Do you think he may have ever seconded guess if he just imagined the entire thing?
- Put yourself in the place of Moses and imagine what it would be like to have God speak directly to you, cause a bush beside you to burst into flame, and invite you to take your shoes off?
- How do you imagine that Moses experienced obedience, humility and reverence of God as he stood on that Holy ground?
- Consider the bush. A shrub, created and deeply planted with roots grounded into the earth. What would it be like for that bush to experience the flaming passion and presence of God? Would there be residual effects from this Divine encounter for the bush?
- What questions arise for you around your word from scripture as God invites you into this season of Lent?
Writing your Love Letter to God
Evening: Continue your time of prayer in the evening after a contemplative day with pen in hand and imagination open before God. Today’s Love Letter to God focuses on your thoughts that you discerned from scripture. Consider:
- How will you address God? Maybe you will use “Dear God”, possibly something more extravagant such as “To my Heart’s Love.” Be as creative and free in expression as your soul desires as you write to God.
- What do you imagine that you could whisper to God about today’s Scripture and your imaginative prayer? Maybe your Love Letter to God will focus upon how you are starting this Lenten trek with God’s resounding Word. Are there fears, joys, concerns that you would like to express to God?
- How will you close your letter. Might you close in gratitude, humility, or another posture of love?
Next write the imaged response letter from God to you. This may take a leap of faith. Possibly a conversation with a spiritual director may be helpful to open imagination for how God whispers to your heart. Consider your image of God. Is God a judge, a Shepherd, inclusive Love, or perhaps the Vine to your branches? How does your image of God influence your imagined response letter from God.
What do you imagine God longs to whisper to your heart in response to your Love Letter to God?
- How does God feel about what you have written?
- How does God embrace and care for your concerns, or celebrate your joys?
- Sit silently and listen. Imagine how God desires to write a letter back to you. How does God address you in the greeting of the letter? What feelings are expressed within the letter from God to you? Try to look at yourself through God’s eyes and with God’s heart. Remember in your imagination that God looks upon the inward nature of those whom God loves. Your image of God will shape how you imagine God could respond to your Love Letter.
- How does God close this Love Letter to you?
With these two letters, the one you write to God and God’s imagined response to you, you begin your portfolio of becoming a living Love Letter to God. You may desire to create a cover page for your Love Letters so that you can store them in a binder or possibly create a folder upon the computer just for your Lenten Love Letters. Upon completion of your letters, pause for a moment of silent thanksgiving for God’s resounding Word and love in life.
After giving thanks for uncovering God’s presence through imaginative prayer discovery and writing your Love Letters to God and response from God, re-read your own words. Be gentle with yourself. You are not evaluating what is written. Simply come to the text with the wonder if God has any other wisdom or words to share with you through this archeological reading of your words. If you discover any further insight from God, you are free to add to your portfolio with additional resounding Words of wisdom.
When you have completed praying, place your Love Letter portfolio on your altar table or in the absence of a table, bring it to your heart in an embrace. Offer a prayer of gratitude for all the gifts of God’s insights. You may use this prayer or one of your own.
Dear God, I am humbled this day. I long to stand on your Holy Ground, and yet I am hesitant to take my shoes off sometimes for fear of being burned. Gift me with ears to hear and a heart to love as I enter this Lenten trek with you, that I may become aware of even the slightest nudge of your Spirit for my prayer, life, and engagement of others. Open the way. Lead me to where you have me go for these next six week so that I my truly love you and live as You love. Amen.
