The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; …
(yet) Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade;…: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
— Gerard Manley Hopkins
Moses, we are aware, took his shoes off at the sight of the burning bush in the desert, in respect for the holy ground he was standing on (Exodus 3). His encounter led him into action that would shape the future of his people.
One of the more notable memories I have from a visit of some Burmese (Myanmar) Christians to our Island was the way in which they would slip their shoes off at the door as they entered our church buildings.
I am sure that one benefit of this is purely to allow the soles of your feet to connect to the ground in a closer and more tangible way than they do when mediated by socks, shoes, and boots.
The further benefit is the sense of humility embodied in the action. Closeness to the ground (humus) is the more literal Latin sense of the word humility. At a deep level, we acknowledge that we are one and connected with the earth beneath our feet, whose dust composes us, and to which our bodies all return in due time.
Christians talk about our inter-connectedness using the image of the body (Romans 12, I Corinthians 12), with many parts, which can be named independently, yet which have no function except as they are connected to each other part. We are members of Christ’s body — an invisible, mystical reality made visible in real and tangible gatherings of people in community.
Contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber uses the term holon to describe this kind of inter-connectedness. A holon is something that is simultaneously whole within itself and yet also part of something larger. His purpose in A Brief History of Everything is to show how everything in the universe — whether it is in the physical and biological, or psychic and spiritual — is actually a holon.
An endless series of living Russian dolls, or as theologian Thomas Berry would say it, a communion of subjects, rather than a collection of objects. It really is one connected universe of meaning.
And all we need to do is stand in awe, and acknowledge our infinitesimally small yet profoundly dignified and complete place within a vastly complex world. We shine with the very glory of God. And for that reason, can only respond by removing our shoes in gratitude and humility.
There are outcomes to this act of humility and listening.
In our highly individualistic world, we are often trapped between the two extremes of our private self and the few people around us who share our living space, and the other extreme of the cyber-world and the vastness of society in urban jungles.
What we lack is a mediating structure. A place bigger than a coffee shop that allows us to feel part of a community. Something to call a home beyond home, where we are visibly part of something bigger, without being lost. (I think there was a time when we used to call this experience church).
Where do you find the places and people that help you to feel part of something bigger, where you can contribute, without being overwhelmed by the immensity of it all? Worth pausing for thought, may I suggest.
The Rev. Andrew Twiddy is the Rector (pastor) of the Anglican parish of St. Anne & St. Edmund, Parksville.
