A THIN PLACE

"Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?" (Psalm 24:3)

Development is progressing slowly but steadily here on Pincushion, accompanied by a similarly slow and steady drain on our bank account. While Rick’s wheelhouse is sequencing consultations with contractors, foundation preparation, cement pouring, and sewer system planning, my sojourn here may be more of a spiritual one.

My thin place

I’m sure many of you have heard of the concept of “thin places” I can’t remember exactly when I first came across it – probably at our Regina church when learning more about contemplative prayer. A short time later, I encountered the term while visiting the isle of Iona off the coast of Scotland, learning that Iona is considered one of the world’s best known thin places. It is described as the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland, site of a Benedictine Abbey and Augustinian nunnery where monks and nuns lived, worked and worshipped for three and a half centuries. It remains an austere landscape barely touched by civilization, still a place dedicated to prayer and spiritual undertakings. It is thought that the term “thin place” was first coined by ancient pagan Irish Celts to describe locations where “the veil between this world and the other world is porous, where there is mystery in the landscape.”¹ Later, Christians used it to refer to sacred spaces “where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent.”²

Our trip to Scotland in 2019 was preceded by a heavy dose of Outlander, which features a mystical stone circle that indeed turns out to be a place where the veil is porous and Claire is transported to another time. Combine this with a visit to Iona where one could easily feel the mystical spiritual atmosphere, and my interest in such places was ignited. More reading revealed that many spiritual writers define thin places as “a location or moment in which our sense of the sacred is more pronounced, where the space between the transcendent and the commonplace is exceptionally narrow.”³ While some, like Iona or St. Peter’s Basilica or the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, have been well known for centuries, others are particular to a person’s own experience of God. They aren’t the same for everyone; in fact, one person’s thin place can be another’s thick one. It’s been said that you don’t plan a trip to a thin place, you stumble upon one. Well, here in the Similkameen, I believe I’ve stumbled upon my thin place.

It just overwhelmed me on my first trek up the mountain road that runs through our land. I was praying on the way up because I’ve discovered that I really like to pray while moving. (I started this practice during morning walks around “the loop” at Jan Lake and reasoned that a morning hike up the mountain would yield even better prayer time as I put forth more effort and climbed closer to God!) As I neared the end of my climb, I came to a place where the road leveled out for a bit. A spot to the right opened out to a clearing topped by a sort of knoll encircled by four Douglas Firs and a big pine tree. 

The knoll

As I entered this space, I felt myself getting emotional. Tears moistened my eyes and I instinctively cried out to God. I stepped around the depression that sits in the middle of the ring of trees, and just over the brink was an expansive view of the town of Keremeos. As I looked down upon the town that was to become “my town,” I felt like God was making a place, a mission for us there, and I sensed a need to pray for God to show us His purpose for us in this place. The next day as I approached the knoll, I felt overcome with emotion again! Is it God’s spirit? I asked. Does He want to meet me here? A glance down the slope at my feet this time revealed a simple wooden cross with a name and the epitaph “Safe in the arms of Jesus.” I thought, “This is a sacred space; this is my thin place.”

The village of Keremeos

Rick told me that the trees surrounding my thin place are Douglas Firs. Did you know that Douglas Firs are especially strong trees? They are fire-resistant, rot-resistant, fungus- and insect-resistant, less susceptible to shrinkage, very highly rated in strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness – a very durable building material. It is fitting that these trees guard my thin place, establishing the boundaries of a sacred space which has now become part of my spiritual practice.

And so . . . five days a week, I lace up my KEEN© hikers and follow the mystical pull up this rugged mountain to my thin place, where I dare to hope that the Holy Spirit will increasingly breach the veil between heaven and earth for me and my family.

Back to progress on the cottage build - to date it's been all about the foundation, which will be the focus of my next blog! But here's a shot of what we will see when we look out of the cottage front window.

References
1 Koch, Kevin. The Thin Places: A Celtic Landscape from Ireland to the Driftless. Accessed at https://books.google.com
2 Weiner, Eric. “Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer.” The New York Times, March 9, 2012. Accessed at nytimes.com
3 “Thin Places, Holy Spaces: Where do You Encounter God?” Accessed at asacredjourney.net