August 6th…98 days from today…Saturday, August 6th…maybe about 5pm….I can feel it, I can see it, I can smell it now…August 6th, the beginning of my week-long beach vacation!  The beach is my happy place.  I love the smell of the salt air, I love the roar of the ocean, I love the vastness of the horizon, I love the texture of the sand…can I go today?  Do you have one of these places? A place that just thinking about makes you relax, smile, feel whole.

 

I don’t know when I realized that the beach is my place…I don’t recall when I started to understand that just visualizing the beach, the sand, the horizon would get my shoulders out of my ears, would calm my anxiety, would bring a smile to my face.  But, now….it’s where I go first…in my mind.  So you can imagine how much joy and peace the actual place brings me!

 

When I step onto the sand, feel it between my toes.  When I stand at the edge of the water and concentrate on the line where the sea meets the sky, where I become aware that there is far more than I can see, When I can hear the power of the waves.  I can’t help but give thanks to God.  In that moment I KNOW I am standing on holy ground.  The ordinary air, water, and sand become sacred in the awareness of God’s presence in God’s creation.

 

Today we read two stories from scripture where ordinary people became aware of the sacredness of the ground on which they were standing.

 

Moses, now 80 years old, doing the same job he has done for the last 40 years- tending sheep that belonged to his father in law.  Moses, as the son of a Jewish mother, was saved from being killed as a baby when he was placed in the basket and found, adopted and raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter.  Moses was raised in the Egyptian culture, with all the privilege and power that came with his upbringing.  However, he intervened during an altercation between an Egyptian and a Israelite slave.  In defense of the Jewish man, Moses killed the Egyptian and then, in fear, fled to Midian where he married and took on a very ordinary life.  For 40 years, Moses tended sheep, day and day out.  He knew the land.  He knew the terrain. He knew the area.  There was likely not a part of the pasture or wilderness he had not walked as he led his sheep to fresh grass or water.  But, then one day…one ordinary day…he saw a bush burning!  Now, remember, it was hot there, in the desert.  Likely some bushes and weeds caught fire daily from the sun’s strength.  But this burning was different.  There was fire, but the bush was not being consumed…there were flames but the branches were still intact.  Moses got curious and walked closer.  That’s when Moses hears God’s voice. “Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.”  The presence of God in that place, at that time, made that space holy.

 

God says take off your sandals…Moses obediently removes his shoes as a sign of respect for who God is and what God asked of Moses…maybe God wanted Moses to walk barefoot so that there is nothing between the presence of God in the dirt of the ground and the presence of God through the feet of God’s beloved child Moses.

 

Last week we talked about creation and how God sees all of creation as good.  Not just the beautiful flowers or vast ocean.  Even the dirt, the stones, the parts of creation we don’t recognize, we see as ordinary.  There God is present.  And where God is present, that is holy, sacred ground.  It reminds me of the passage in Psalm 139- “Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?”

 

Last week I asked you to take notice of God’s creation around you.  I asked you to notice what is usually unnoticed.  How did you do?  Did you recognize plants and animals you didn’t see before?  Did you see colors and textures that you overlooked in the past?  All of creation.  All around us.  What a gift from God!

 

So if God’s presence marks holy ground and God’s presence is in all of creation, then I guess it is safe to say that wherever we walk is holy ground, sacred space.  It’s where the natural, ordinary world intersects with the supernatural, extraordinary world.  The challenge for us is to notice, to be mindful, to expect God to be present and to anticipate an encounter with God whenever we are in relationship with any part of creation.  In Lent, we talk about slowing down for loving union with God.  This slowing down allows us to acknowledge the presence of God in the small things, in the everyday things, in the ordinary things in life.  When we live with the attitude of expecting God to be present and when we slow down to notice, we will undoubtedly encounter God and feel the holy ground on which we stand.

 

In our reading from the Gospel of Luke we meet two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Like any 2 friends, they are talking about the news of the day, recounting the strange events of last several days, the strange Passover meal, the death of Jesus on the cross, the fear that was common among the people who thought Jesus might truly have been the Messiah.  The dramatic events of the last 4 days were over and now the ordinary walk from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus was taking place.  They weren’t expecting anything but the typical walk on the dusty road.  But soon they were joined by a man they didn’t recognize.  A man who didn’t seem to know about what just went down in Jerusalem. How is it possible that he didn’t even know the headlines?  Of course we know the man was Jesus because we’ve heard this story before, but these disciples were unable to see Jesus in the ordinariness of their walk home.  They weren’t looking for Jesus or expecting Jesus so they couldn’t see Jesus.  Even when Jesus spoke, they did not recognize him.  Not until he broke the bread at the meal, were they aware of Jesus’s presence.  Jesus took an ordinary walk, another ordinary meal and made the time and space holy and sacred.  The entire walk was sacred all along, the road on which they traveled was holy all along.  What was missing was the awareness, the intentionality of expecting the presence of Jesus, the understanding that all ground is sacred and holy and Jesus was, is and will always be present with us.  But, not until Jesus shared a meal that must have reminded the disciples of the Passover meal, the meal we call the Last Supper, did those with Jesus think about him, remember him, see him in their midst.

 

God gives us a lot of opportunities to be drawn back to the awareness of God’s presence and to recognize the holy ground on which we stand.  The birds in my backyard the other day were so loud as I got in my car to head to work.  I thought to myself, are they always that loud?  Have I been so caught up in my own thoughts about my daily to do list, that I didn’t notice them?  Or had they turned up the volume a bit that day so I would take notice?  Whatever it was, I heard them, I saw them, I recognized them.  And in that recognition was reunited with creation and I could almost hear those word that Moses did- Take off your sandals, you are standing on holy ground.  What in creation draws you in?  What sights or smells?  What colors?  What do you see or feel that makes you aware of God’s presence in that space?

 

Today we celebrate Holy Communion.  John Wesley calls the sacrament a means of grace.  An outward action that draws us back to the awareness of God’s presence and God’s grace.  We will hear words that tell us of Jesus’s breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup.  We bring to mind those words and actions of Jesus.  This is remembering.  This is what Jesus told his disciples to do when they shared this sacred meal.  This is the instruction we follow today. Jesus was essentially saying, take notice, recognize what is going on around you, be aware of where you are.  Even though the bread and the wine are ordinary and routine, we are called to remember. In that remembering, we are reunited with Jesus. And the presence of Jesus is holy ground.

 

In Genesis 1, humans are tasked with taking charge of God’s creation.  To use for food what God intended for food, to use for shelter what God intended for shelter, to care for and protect all that God sees as good.  We are expected to be obedient like Moses was when God said “take off your sandals”.  Obedient out of respect for God and out of respect for creation.  God’s presence makes the ordinary ground sacred, God’s presence makes even the unnoticed sacred.  May our obedience to God enhance our ability to see all of creation as good.  May our respect for God move us to love all of creation.  And may our faithfulness to God open our eyes to see the ordinary around us, the mundane, the plain and simple and boldly, confidently and reverently sing,

 

We are standing on holy ground

And I know that there are angels

All around

Let us praise Jesus now

We are standing in his presence

On holy ground

Sing it with me….

 

 

Benediction

Always walk gently upon the Earth, in right relationship, nurtured by God’s love,

open to the wind of the Spirit, taking only what we need, always open to the needs of others,

making choices that bring wellbeing, generosity, and justice.  Honoring all with reverence, reconciling and peacemaking, being mindful of those who will come after, recognising our proper place as part of God’s creation.

Go from this place with the strength and courage to make a radical transformation in the Kingdom of God. Amen.