Caol Ait (kweel atch) is a Gaelic term that describes a “thin place” which is where the veil between earth and heaven seems to be lifted in a way that allows us to get a glimpse of God.  There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller.  In those places they saw the veil between the two as being so thin that you could literally step from one to the other. 

In a thin place the other world is nearer and the connection to it seems effortless and the signs of its existence are easy to discern.  Thin places are like a hole in a fence where human beings can touch God and in return be touched by God.   A thin place is wherever we can feel strongly connected to God and keenly aware of God’s presence.  It is in those “thin places” where the presence of the holy goes beyond what we can see (Mindie Burgoyne and Tadhg Jonathan).

Dorothy Bass talks about how we often we ask each other the question, "how was your day?"  Most days, she says, we probably forget to notice.  She then tells the story of a mother who came up with a different way of asking that question. As she tucked her children into bed each night, she asks them this: "Where did you meet God today?"  As they got used to the question the children began to respond to her with things like, a teacher helped me, there was a homeless person in the park, I saw a tree with lots of flowers in it.  She would then tell them where she met God, too.  Before the children would go to sleep, Bass writes, the stuff of their day has become the substance of their prayers and the presence of God is very near (Receiving the Day).

Every time we come together for worship at St. Peter’s we have a chance to be in a thin place.  When we receive the sacrament of Holy Communion that becomes for us the body and blood of Jesus, as we listen to the sounds of beautiful music, when we see the light streaming through the windows, when we say our prayers, every time we go into that sacred, holy and beautiful place we have a chance to touch and be touched by God and to know that God is very present and very near.

Where did you meet God today?

With every blessing,
David+