I’ve been chewing my way through The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus Borg, a professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University. Borg’s is a very universal, ecumenical message. He’s Christian, and his heart is committed to his faith, but he’s not exclusivist. I love his message and want to just share one of many interesting snippets from this book.
Borg talks about what he calls “thin places”-a metaphor that comes from Celtic Christianity in the fifth century. In Borg’s words:
“Thin places” has its home in a particular way of thinking about God. Deeply rooted in the Bible and the Christian tradition, this way of thinking sees God, “the More,” as the encompassing Spirit in which everything is. God is not somewhere else, but “right here.”
Now, before I go any further, I’ll just explain that this idea is quite contrary to the Mormon belief in an anthropomorphic God. The Mormon God has a body-just like ours, although better, of course. ;) Borg’s God, however, is “right here” as well as “more than right here.”
“Thin places” are places where the “right here” and the “more than right here” intersect. Places where those boundaries become thin and blurred. Thin places enable us to connect with and experience God more deeply.
Borg says that thin places can be all of the following:
1) Geographical places — These may be special religious buildings (like cathedrals or temples) or sites of pilgrimage. I love to travel abroad and get to walk around all the beautiful cathedrals. I love that they are open-to anyone-all day. I recently sat in a little Catholic church in a tiny mountain town in Costa Rica. That was a thin place for me.
2) People — People can become a medium through which we experience the divine. For me, some of these people might include Carol Lynn Pearson, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Desmond Tutu, and former Mormon leader Gordon B. Hinckley.
3) Worship — This usually is not a thin place for me. Mormon worship services are often, umm, dull. Not always-but often.
4) Music within worship — Music is often a thin place for me. Teaching certain songs to the kids at church (“If You Don’t Walk” always does it, as does “Holding Hands Around the World”) always does it. Singing in Handel’s Messiah always does it. “Do You Hear the People Sing” from Les Mis is a thin place for me as well.
5) Participation in rituals or what Mormons call “ordinances” — Children’s baptisms do it for me in the Mormon church. I know some people wonder why we baptize 8 year old kids, but if you’ve ever been to one and seen the little 8 year old, all dressed in white, all excited to be doing this adult-type thing, with all kinds of family all around to support him/her in wanting to live a more Christlike life, you’d love it, too.
6) The Bible — not much of a thin place for me, but I’ve never been much of a scriptorian.
7) Liturgical words — I have very little experience with this because Mormons don’t do this.
Another “thin place” for me which is not on Borg’s list is reading good books. I am an avid reader and have had some of my most spiritual experiences while reading a book. It doesn’t matter whether it’s fiction or non-fiction; both have the potential to be thin places for me.
What about you? Do you have “thin places”? Are any of your thin places like the ones on Borg’s list? What other things/ideas/people are thin places for you?
My thin places (Just being honest, so no poking fun please):
Reading or teaching the 1832 POP account of the First Vision
The place in the endowment where we ask God to hear us
Almost all of the parables of Jesus in the KJT, especially the Good Samaritan
Funerals
Moving someone into/out of the ward
Primary, especially singing in Primary (unless it’s “♫Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet..over the cliff♫”)
Spending time with my kids one on one and thinking of Heavenly Parents (whatever problems that doctrine poses theologically, it’s my fav)
Any place I can see stars clearly.
Lee, what a great list!!
Why the part where we ask God to hear us? Do you mind elaborating why that’s meaningful to you?
Should be 1842 FV account
Great post, Heather. Love Borg and love this metaphor. I don’t think your aside about Mormonism’s anthropomorphic God is nearly the challenge to Borg’s kind of thinking as you do, as I think Mormonism’s view is truly of an immanent God in and through all. Section 88’s opening is a naming of the interconnectedness of all in all–God as well as all of us. My sense of the theology of embodiment in Mormonism is that whatever God’s “body” is, as well as whatever our bodies are, it/they may have a physical location but are intrinsically and internally connected with every other existent in the universe, that the access to that connection and presence of everything in everything is available to us all. Evolutionary processes (physical and social, including language) have taught us to select certain things to focus on, creating our everyday working modes of experience and relationality. But retraining minds and hearts, quieting discursive and sensory filters, spending a lot of time in “thin places” all can give glimpses of the very real way of God’s and Our presence in all, and the “all’s” presence in us. My thinking, anyway, but I also think it has deep resonance with several key Mormon texts. (Plus it’s true, so that makes it “Mormon,” right?! At least according to JS and BY…)
In terms of my “thin places,” definitely music, scripture, contemplative prayer, being “present” with people, like you reading in general, and as much as I fight it because it’s so hard, writing.
Again, thanks for this great post and reminding me of this wonderful metaphor!
Thanks for the additional info, Dan. I’ve never read anything of Borg’s before, but this book has been SO profound and enlightening to me. I feel like it’s one that I’ll have to go back and read and re-read and really think about.
Love your idea of “being ‘present’ with people” as a thin place. Yes!
Hiking in the mountains and looking out at a long vista of nothing but mountains and more mountains is a thin spot for me. Being alone in the wilderness is the most relaxing thing I do.
This is awesome, Michael! I’m not much of an outdoors(wo)man. Who am I kidding? I’m not one at all. But I definitely felt some of what you describe when I was in some very remote areas of Costa Rica.
Heather, It’s so nice to reflect on “thin things.” I agree with Michael. It’s the mountains for me. Also music and being with someone I love.
This gives a name to places where I’ve felt this — Maroon Bells, near Aspen, ancient Danish churches, Orkney Islands, White Pine Lake near Logan, Utah, Kihola Bay in Hawaii are some of those places for me– I realize that my list probably sounds pretentious, but I’ve been fortunate enough to travel, and those are some of the standout places that I’ve always thought of as “magical” where there is some kind of other worldly spiritual quality.
I agree with Paula – this phrase gives a name to the many places/times I’ve experienced the overwhelming sense of the divine, something that did feel quite magical. For me, traveling is a big one. Every time I go some place new and other worldly, I experience the “thinness”. I also love old cathedrals, churches, and temples and have had many “thin” experiences simply being near/inside one.
What a beautiful metaphor. I will have to think about this some, but immediately I think of churches and other buildings in which light is an important part of the architecture. So, where light is is a thin place for me. Also in books, sometimes I feel the divine just reading a single sentence or paragraph. There are places in the New Testament. I have a friend who is far away, but with whom I connect in a way that I can only describe as holy. And then, as Dan said, there is writing. It is a struggle for me too (and the end result is never as beautiful as what Dan writes), but I have had experiences when I have felt the Divine oozing through my fingers onto the keys. Ah, that is a very thin place.
Oh, Lee, you’ve ruined “Follow the Prophet” for me now and forever! ;/
But I have to agree with you on most of your list. I don’t get all of them, but I definitely agree with funerals being thin places. I have had sacred experiences in the most mundane places, such as a quiet, clean, sunlit, empty kitchen (HEAVEN), so I guess that’s a thin place, and in the hall of the temple (on the escalator, of all places).
My thin places: open places under a clear night sky, my favorite tree next to the university chapel, old churches and graveyards, really good prayers, and singing my favorite hymns.
When I was a teenager (very many years ago!) I went to a week long Christian summer camp. One of the activites (or should I say “non activity”) that we were asked to do, was to spend 30 minutes alone, or at least not talking to anyone else. We could pray, read our scriptures or just enjoy the beautiful California Sierras where the camp was located….I will never forget how close to God I felt at that time…