Barefoot before God

(Ancient sandals from the Neolithic period, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

 

Daily Office Readings for Friday, January 4, 2019:

 

AM Psalm 85, 87; PM Psalm 89:1-29

Exod. 3:1-12; Heb. 11:23-31; John 14:6-1

 

Holy Ground

 

When God called Moses

And the burning bush appeared,

God said to Moses,

“Remove the sandals

from your feet,

for the place

on which you are standing

is holy ground.”

 

Why is it

When we hear this passage

That we immediately think

Of those purity code things

where we are always unclean,

we are always lacking,

we are never enough

in the sight of God.

 

Could it be?

Is it possible?

Dare we believe that God had no intention

of making Moses feel small

but instead what God wanted

was for Moses to feel the presence of God

through the sensation of his own skin upon holy ground.

 

Could it be?

Is it possible?

Dare we believe that God desires

to relate to us

in our own bodies,

to experience the sensation of the Divine

embodied, through our own pores, in our own skin.

 

And yet we have no burning bush, but only burning words

that we cling to in our minds

in the hope that our bodies shall see God.

that we ourselves shall see,

and our eyes behold

the One that is our friend

and not a stranger.

 

Maria Evans splits her week between being a pathologist and laboratory director in Kirksville, MO, and gratefully serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri . She presently serves as Interim Assistant Priest at two churches, Church of the Good Shepherd in Town and Country, MO, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Manchester, MO, as they explore a shared ministry model.