Posted on: 10th September 2024

I can remember one particular camping holiday with my family in France when we were all huddled together in our tent as a powerful thunderstorm ripped across the heavens, with loud crashes of thunder and incredible lightning flashes. All that separated us from this was the thin membrane of the tent. It certainly felt like we were in a thin place!

There is an old Celtic saying “The distance between heaven and earth is three feet, but sometimes less than that.” A ‘thin place’ can be described as where two modes of existence seem to converge, heaven and earth, time and eternity. The islands of Iona (off the Isle of Mull) and Lindisfarne (Holy Island in Northumberland) have often been referred to as ‘thin places’, maybe because they were the birthplaces of Christianity in Scotland and England in the sixth and seventh centuries. These were places of special revelation and early starting points for mission throughout Europe. Although some visitors to these hallowed shores experience something of the closeness of heaven to earth, it’s probably becoming more difficult with over half a million tourists arriving every year!

This raises the question of whether we need to go to specific places to experience ‘thinness’. There are certainly many biblical examples of people experiencing God in a ‘thin place’, e.g. in Eden when Adam and Eve ‘heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ (Gen. 3v 8); Jacob and his dream of a ladder depicting the connectivity of heaven to earth; Moses and the burning bush when God told him to take off his sandals ‘for the place where you are standing is holy ground’ (Exod.3v5); the transfiguration of Jesus when Peter James and John experienced Jesus in the illuminating brightness of his heavenly glory. But did any of these people travel to find a thin place and the closeness of heaven to earth?

It has been said, “You cannot look for ‘thin places’, ‘thin places’ find you”. In this place, God comes to us where we are.” Although some have extraordinary experiences perhaps this should raise our expectations in realising that we can all know those ‘thin places’ in our lives.

It is interesting that many biblical examples point to a clear sense of mission resulting from such ‘thin’ encounters. As we enter this new season, which for many is the busiest time of the year, it’s important that we make time and space wherever we are and in the demands of everyday life, to allow ourselves to be open to a meeting of heaven and earth even though we cannot force things to happen. We can know the ‘thin place’ in times of suffering or loss, in times of reconciliation and jubilation, in our homes, communities and workplaces, whatever the circumstances.

 "The purpose of ‘thin places’ is to realise that all places can be thin, or to train us to make other places in our lives ‘thinner’ - Barbara Brown Taylor

By Paul Lancaster, Hope For The Nations