thin place

2004-03-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

ok, it has been FOREVER since i have posted on this site.
i don't think anyone even reads it anymore...
but in honor of lent, i have decided to begin again and actually
do what i talk about...
attempt to find god in the ordinary of life.
attempt to find a thin place in our amazingly busy, bustling 21st century, western culture.
can it be done?
well, i know one thing, we have a powerful creator who longs to be with us if we'd just take the time to
be with him.
and i believe that god is big enough to show me how!
so here is to a new era of thin place!
i'll get some comments put in too so we might chat a bit about what thin places you're finding or have found
along your journey.
peace and good sleep. more soon!
lilly

2003-12-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

seeing a winter sunset through the naked tree branches...the stark darkness againt the purples and blues...
the fading light of winter going down behind the hills...
the crunch of snow...the winter grass thick with frost...the crisp wind
all reminding me it is never to late to rejoice
in the beauty of his world...thankful that i am able to see it
thankful that i am able to feel it.
thankful that i am loves me.

2003-12-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

what if we could carry a "thin place" wherever we go...
so we could connect with jesus even in the midst of our daily grind...
in the midst of waiting in line...in a traffic jam...in class, wherever!

what would you carry around with you to remind you to connect with jesus?
what symbol or object? or would it be prayer bead?

found a great palm cross at greenbelt's prayer room this summer.
you actually grip the cross and it is made to fit your grip..
hard to explain, but a powerful, tactile prayer tool.

just thinking, pondering about this in the midst of the craziness of the holidays..more soon.

2003-12-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

creating a thin place as an opportunity for advent....
took the group publishing jesus in a can and re wrote the narration
tweaked the stations and am in the process of re recording the
cd...with back ground christmas music...
we used the christmas music last year with a print out of the narration
too much of a hassle to carry a cd player and the paper...
hopefully we will have the narration done by next wed when we are scheduled to
start.
wed-fri 6-9pm christ church glendale cincinnati oh 4546

2003-11-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

--The Problem of Pain

"[Pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul."

--The Problem of Pain

found these two quotes by c s lewis and was thinking of a conversation i had with beth this weekend.
she feels like grief is a thin place. when all your defenses are down and you are open to jesus in a powerful, vulnerable way...where jesus has an opportunity to break through the veil, to break through the thick walls we have built around our hearts and he allows us to actually feel ...to feel the hurt and the loss, the pain of the grief, but also to feel his presence, and to feel his love in a very tangible, intimate way.
hoping to find some thin time with God this weekend...
enjoyed the thin time in the prayer room at ys this past weekend...
"be still and know that he is god"

2003-11-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

quote for the day...
"healing is waking up to your own life.
no matter what your life look likes, it's yours and it's all you've got!
healing is making a decision to care for it." kathryn robyn

2003-11-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

haven't blogged here in way too long...sorry...
sadly it hasn't been a very "thin" fall...keeping up with doctor visits for hudson and work stuff
has kept me running instead of resting!
thankfully hudson made it back to school today! yeah!
got a great email from mindie in maryland ...she has a new website on thin places ...great photos
on some wonderful sacred spaces in the uk and ireland...check out thinplaces.net.

finally got some stuff out at our house to remind us of our time in lindesfarne....we now have a framed photo of st aidan's statue and aidan's cross finally made it in the box from sheffield...thanks to neill and lorna!
ready to order prints from the national gallery and the great one from ireland of the last supper with women and children...
would love to frame it for over the mantle...
just writing this makes me realize how much i need to get outside...get to water, space, vistas...maybe if the weather holds i can atleast get to the park this week...if not procter conf. center.

2003-10-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

If we are the witness to Christ in today's market places, where there are constant demands on our whole person, we need SILENCE. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding ....we need SILENCE.
To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need SILENCE. Catherine de Hueck Doherty(1896-1985)

We need SILENCE so desperately...then why is it so noisy...so loud...so full of sounds that clog our ears with nonsense?...every jingle, every slogan, every horn and siren screaming in the street...erasing the still small voice of God...we keep expecting Him to yell in the thunder when he would much rather whisper in the wind....
that we would...that i would listen to his whisper in the wind today and every day...that still small voice that longs for me to be still and know that he is God and that i am fully and completely loved.
Lilly

2003-10-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

had an email from my california friend anita day...she has been reading and participating in a discussion on holy spaces/ holy places on theooze.com today...many, many thoughts are there...it's funny how some people view holy space.

i did a google search on 'thin place' today and this blog is the second listing! wow...the web is an amazing thing...you just never know where you will end up and who will find you.

i do believe there are sacred places, places where the presence of jesus is felt and experienced more readily than in other places...

the celtic saints believed that these were "thin places" places where the veil between heaven and earth was very thin ...places where it wasn't hard to experience the presence of the holy spirit. these were places usually away from the hustle and bustle of culture and the "rat race"

these were usually on the edges of things...like coastal places, mountains, islands, places where land formations come together, and also places where much prayer had taken place.
for example the island of Lindesfarne in Northumbria, UK is also called Holy Island, as is the more famous island of Iona...both were, and are places where people have worshiped jesus for over 1200 years!!! The celtic missionaries established monastaries on both of these islands. these monastaries were not ones to escape to but ones which sent out missionarys who brought jesus to the entire UK and europe! It was these celtic monastaries that kept christianity vital thru the Dark Ages.

one of the things we are missing today is the experience of nature that calls us and enables us to see God...we are missing thin places.

the book of Romans states that all of nature declares the glory of God and that we are without excuse cause we have nature screaming at us that there is a magnificant creator.
but that puts our urban dwelling, fast paced, rat race selves at a great disadvantage...
we too often miss god because we aren't out in nature and we forget him and his glory...
we miss thin places and don't even know where or how to find them.

a great book that discusses this is THE CELTIC WAY of EVANGELISM by dr. george hunter. dr hunter is a prof at asbury seminary and a great guy too.
he is the dean of the school of world mission and is greatly concerned about all the folks whom the church is leaving out and just why so many folks are missing jesus.

in the book, dr. hunter says that we have a whole tribe of people who have missed jesus because they can't get to nature...they don't have the mountains, the water, the trees, the stars, the sunsets to tell them there is a great big, awesome God out there who loves them...

that's why we really need to bring thin places to them...to create the both/and of urban thin place...the new monastary perhaps, as well as enabling people to get to places of natural beauty and experience God in his glorious creation.
i have much more but i'll give it a rest for now...
if you'd like to comment try
lilly@oasisglendale.com and lillylewin.blogspot.com

2003-10-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

"Community is a safe place precisely because no one is attempting to heal or convert you, to fix you, to change you. Instead, the members accept you as you are. You are free to be you. And being so free, you are free to discard defenses, masks, disguises: free to seek your own psychological and spiritual health."

M. Scott Peck

2003-10-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

had a thin place moment at our very own home today! my buddy suzanne, who is a wonderfully gifted woman who hails from england...rang up and just came by...you need to know that this in it self is miraculous because we very rarely see each other...
we actually got to talk and PRAY!!!
i had just told jesus yesterday that i really needed to pray WITH someone not just by myself...
thanks for that quick answer jesus!
thanks also for reminding me that people are THIN PLACES too!
suz is a thin place for me...she always helps me see jesus and believe more!
here's to more prayer together with other thin place people...
here's to being a thin place for each person we meet tomorrow!
lil

2003-10-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

what if my whole life was a Thin Place? what would it be like to have my whole life focused around Jesus ...not work, not stress, not money, not pride, not popularity...
but truly creating a life and a lifestyle of Thin Place...
what would it really take to live life as Thin Place...
what would it really take to become a Thin Place for someone else?
a Thin Place where others would truly see Jesus reflected and get excited and want more!
I am pondering this concept this week...
i haven't felt very Thin at all of late.
i've been very impatient and demanding of myself and my circumstances and very frustrated that traction hasn't been happening in almost any area of my life...
walking the dog yesterday, Jesus asked me if it was OK if stuff was just in park for a while...
he asked if it was OK just to be in a "slow space" rather than in a face paced, get stuff done, be productive space....
that is sooo very hard for me...
that is so so hard in my culture...my self made, family of origin, culture that says performance is everything...
a Thin Place life would mean "YES JESUS" it is really OK to NOT produce, to NOT accomplish anything right now...
rest, reflection, relationships....rather than run, run, race, race, report on all the cool stuff i've done.
Matthew 11
28"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. 29Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

now that is living in a THIN PLACE with Jesus!

2003-09-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

discovered my friend jonny baker has this site on his latest post, so I guess I should post something myself...
the last two weekends I have set up experiential worship experiences for our diocese ( the episcopal diocese of southern ohio). The first weekend I did worship for the youth convocation( a poor word for retreat) and this past weekend was for the ladies of the diocese...ECW ...I was not sure if the more mature crowd would be up for experiential worship or not. thankfully they actually loved it and many, including an epicopal nun, wanted more. Even though I know how powerful this form of worship is, it is still fun to see people connect with Jesus in a new unexpected way.
For the past two years, I have called this type of worship Sacred Space...a name i "borrowed" from another friend, steve foster at Holy Joe's in London. (i confessed my theft of his name while hanging out with steve and his lovely wife laura this summer before greenbelt)
I was pondering the name sacred space today and realized that what i like to do is to create "thin places" for people to encounter Jesus...it has become my passion!
I love to take scripture and help it come alive with touch, taste, scent, action, and use practical tangible stuff like sponges and cheeze its, stuff that they'll hopefully see again and be reminded of their God encounter. as "pastors" and curators of worship, it is so important to let the Holy Spirit speak rather than just our voices or the same old same old...
How do we continue to create unique stuff or take old things and make them new...helping people to see in new ways and attach sacred meaning to the everyday stuff...(as jonny would say!)

I truly love the concept of using the everyday stuff of life to bring the Word to life.
thanks to all of you who have inspired me...steve foster, steve collins, and jonny just to name a few!

went with the family to see Secondhand Lions on Saturday...great film..
really went to see the trailer for Return of the King...I can't wait for the Dec. release...
so many powerful images in both films...
inspiration for a worship experience are happening as i write...how many different worship ideas could we come up with from the lord of the rings...
thoughts, comments, thin places you've found...
lilly@oasisglendale.com

2003-09-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

found this quote about worship in the New World...
DJ Kenny Mitchell captures how I feel about music and how powerful a medium it is for connecting myself and others ...and especially new"tribes" to Jesus...the creator of all music and melody

"Spirit and Sound: the connection of the vertical and horizontal, where our world and God's world become intertwined. Sonic vibrations translated into Spiritual Power.
The ancient people of God knew of this connection. The horns were played before the battle, musicians were used to calm and bring healing, to fight evil spirits, to assist the prophets to hear the word of the Lord, to bring glory and honor to the one true God.
In those days it was the Harp, Drum, Cymbal, and Horn. Today, along with those instruments, are the Turntables, CD players, Drum Machines, Samplers and Computers. These are the tools of our modern day temple musicians. Except now there is no more temple fixed to one location. We are the temple. This temple is beyond any one city.
Our temple is mobile, global, diverse in sight and sound. But God's Spirit is the same. God has given us modern ways to express and engage with ancient truths.
Enter the DJ…" Kenny Mitchell 2002

2003-09-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

creating a new blog today to capture thoughts and feelings, quotes and insights on finding a Thin Place in life today.
Also I hope that this will become a place to store ideas for experiential worship
we will see how it goes! Lilly