Thin Space
Dear Friends,
All Saints’ Day is the day we celebrate the lives of those who have sown their love, faith, and service into us and the life of the Church. In places of prayer, some people call that a “thin place.” It's a place where heaven and earth seem to touch down and connect because of years of prayer.
When you encounter a “thin space,” you feel the presence of God and your spirit quickens with awareness of God’s power and love. Bethesda-by-the-Sea is a thin place where a hundred years of ongoing prayer has changed the atmosphere and coated the walls and the ceilings with praises and lamentations, with hopes, dreams, and tears.
Some people say that on All Saints’ Day, “the veil is thin.” It is a day that invites us to become more aware of the interconnectedness of all things seen and unseen. The truth is that every day and every moment the veil is thin through faith in Jesus Christ.
St. Paul says that in Christ we have become temples of the Living God “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). The temple in ancient times was the dwelling place of God, but now God promises to dwell with and in us! “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Cor. 6:16).
When we think about it that way, every single person who has believed and received Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior is a walking “thin space” by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Imago Dei. As C.S. Lewis writes, “there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal” (The Weight of Glory).
As we reflect on this past All Saints’ Day, observed on November 2nd, may we continue to grow in awareness of God’s closeness within, in thankfulness for the lives and prayers that have gone before us, and to rejoice in the newly formed saints of God who were baptized.
I think it is fitting that our ministry fair on November 9th follows All Saints’ Day, as it reminds us that the mission to love and serve in Christ continues in the living saints here at Bethesda-by-the-Sea, supported by the prayers of the saints that always surround us.
Blessings,
Rev. Tara