Take off your shoes, you holy and wondrous human

In today’s first reading from Exodus, Moses has spotted the burning bush on Mount Sinai. God calls to him by name. Moses answers “Here I am.” Then, God says, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” With these instructions, the Lord has not only called his servant by name but has also called attention to the sanctity of an ordinary place, a bush in a mountainous region. 

I love the visual of this passage: a burning bush, a call by name, an answer of presence, and the instruction to remove shoes. God tells Moses that this ordinary place is holy. The space, occupied by both Moses and the burning bush is sanctified. 

Benedictine Macrina Wiederkehr has a beautiful poem, “Holy Ground” that reflects the idea that many things, places, and feelings can be sacred.  She writes, “The ground you stand on is holy. The ground of your being is holy.” Could my being be holy? Is my presence in this world, in partnership with God’s presence, needed to make these sacred spaces? How would I, should I, be treating myself differently in the sacred ground of my being?

Wiederkehr invites readers to also explore what we might need to take off in order to be more fully present, aware, and open to the divine. Is it our shoes, made gritty by our every day tasks enough to enter into that space? Might there be more we need to shed?

Today’s reading invites us to accompany Moses as we look to our own lives to consider:

• Where and how is God calling us by name?

• How are we responding?

• What do we need to take off to enter these sacred spaces?