Thin places...

George MacLeod (the founder of the Iona Community ) believed that in this world there are places (and times) where only a 'tissue' separates us from a deep sense of God's presence. Not surprisingly Iona was for him one of these places.

Having been to Iona earlier this year I can understand why, but I've also been thinking about my own 'thin places'.

Interestingly the first two 'places' that sprung to mind both involved beaches and both involved STOPGAP cross-cultural missions. I couldn't help recall two similar nights; two nights in two different continents with two completely different groups of people yet two nights where God's awesome creation dramatically reminded me of glorious presence.

Sitting on a brilliant white sandy beach on the east coast on Zanzibar and watching the night sky so unpolluted by man-made light that shooting stars seems to streaking everywhere it was easy to sing...


'O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!'


Two years later (2002) I was on another beach this time in South America - Rio's famous Copacabana. Above the hubbub of the evening market and the ever-throbbing Rio night-life and beneath the distant out-stretched arms of the Cristo Redentor it was the roaring waves of the South Atlantic crashing down onto the beach that vividly represented God's power and majesty as we sang...

'Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down
And the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands.
Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand.
Nothing compares to the
Promise I have in You.'

I'm not sure that all my 'thin places' have been, or will be so exotic, but then whenever we're aware of God's presence it's pretty exciting!