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By Lynne Elwinger, O.C.D.

Autumn's flaming orange, red and gold leaves bring to my mind Moses' experience with the Burning Bush in the desert.   I want to take off my shoes!   The title above was inspired by the following excerpt from R. S. Thomas' poem entitled The Bright Field:

 

 

Life is not hurrying on to a receding future,

nor hankering after an imagined past.

It is the turning aside like Moses

to the miracle of the lit bush….

 

Reflecting on the Burning Bush story, I was struck by the clear outline of the contemplative approach to life contained within it. In very simple form, it speaks of the same transforming effects of the encounter with God described in much greater detail and symbolism by St. Teresa in The Interior Castle .

 

Being Open To The Possibility

 

The key elements that I see in Moses' God-encounter are these – paying attention and being open to the possibility of appearances of the extraordinary in everyday life; choosing to turn aside to take a deeper look; taking off the shoes; learning something about God and about ourselves, and leaving with a new way of seeing everything, embracing a new sense of direction, new insights and ideas, a new vision.   Every day of our lives contains possibilities of experiences of the Sacred Presence, opportunities to enter into relationship with the Holy One.   When we are paying attention, they will catch our eye as the bush did Moses' eye in the desert.   An ordinary bush became extraordinary and he saw it.   When this happens, it is important to turn aside from the hustle and bustle of our busy schedules, however briefly, to take a closer, deeper look.   God continually breaks into our world, gracing everyday places, faces, and situations.   If we are looking for it, we are more likely to notice when it occurs for us.   We need to live with our eyes open in anticipation, aware of God's Presence breaking through into the “everydayness” of our lives.

 

Having noticed the bush and having stopped to investigate, Moses saw that it was burning but not being consumed by the flames.   Something beyond the usual was happening and he recognized that God was involved.   Perhaps encouraged by the fact that the bush wasn't destroyed by its close contact with divine fire, Moses chose to remain rather than to flee, to risk his own encounter with Divine Mystery.   The first instruction he received was to take off his shoes because the ground on which he was standing was holy.

 

We Must Take Off Our Shoes

 

Any time we open ourselves to the presence of God, we are standing on holy ground, wherever we are.   To remain there, we must take off our shoes.   We have to let go of our control, of our anxieties, of our endless “to-do” lists for a while, and just be fully present to these graced moments and all that they offer.   Only then can we come into deep dialogue with the One who has come seeking relationship with us.   Only then can we find out something about who God is and who we are.   Moses asked for and was given the name of God, and he also learned something about who he himself was.   He received a new direction, a new mission for his own life, one that he had not imagined on his own. When we turn aside and take off our shoes, we too will experience something of who God is for us and who we are called to be in response.   We will discover that we are standing on holy ground.

 

Moses went forth from his time of deep experiencing of God, seeing with new eyes and with a new understanding of what was being asked of him.    This can happen to us too.   Familiar things begin to take on new dimensions that we hadn't noticed before.   We have a new perspective on life or on a particular concern.   We can tune in to the previously unnoticed wavelength of the marvelous hidden within the everyday noise around us.   We learn to see the beauty of human relationships, of the creation around us, of God's abiding presence within us and within other people.

Recognizing that we are on holy ground, where the lit bush burns brightly inviting us to turn aside awhile, we pause,

take off our shoes, and plunge into the experience of the Divine awaiting us.   It can happen anywhere, at any time.   It can even happen when we simply turn aside and wait.   When we enter wholeheartedly into this encounter, whether we understand it or not, we will be changed by it and we carry that transforming energy back into our daily life.   As we continue to pay attention, we find ourselves surrounded by lit bushes.   We ourselves become holy ground.

 

 

 

All kinds of marvelous things go on.  

I don't see how anyone who has looked and seen,

can do ought but say, ‘where I stand,

wherever I stand, I am on Holy Ground.'

                                                                                                                        John Wood