Thin Moments – Br. Lain Wilson
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One mid-December evening, I remember passing through the sanctuary of my former parish, and stopping dead in my tracks. In the darkened building, amber light streamed through the window, falling delicately on the wood of the pews. I was certain that in this glimpse of gentle and beautiful light I was experiencing God’s presence, a quiet revelation of God’s own Beauty. I’ve never forgotten it, and I frequently pray with the memory.
In this season after the Epiphany, we hear about and celebrate God’s other self-revelations, in the person of Jesus Christ. His Baptism, the wedding at Cana, the Transfiguration—all moments that revealed God’s presence and activity in the world, in a particular place, at a particular moment in time.
For many of us—perhaps, even most of us—we will encounter God in quieter, in subtler ways than a voice from heaven, or transformed water, or a vision of glory. We will instead encounter and experience and know God in fleeting and ephemeral moments—in the fall of light, or a sound faintly heard, or a memory or intuition briefly held. Our attention to—our noticing of these moments comprise our lifelong pilgrimage, not in a quest for thin places but in our attentiveness to thin moments.
This noticing, this attentiveness, of God’s presence and activity in our world and our lives is vital, because times withoutmay threaten to overwhelm us. Our Rule notes that we all will experience periods of dryness in prayer and the seeming absence of God. Our noticing and recalling of those thin moments give us strength and assurance that in those inevitable times of dryness and seeming absence, God is with us.
But it’s not only that. In our own time, when we face uncertainty and fear and suffering from so many directions, our reading from Hebrews is so helpful for framing what our own attentiveness to God’s presence and activity means not only to us and to others. “Recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated” (Heb 10:32-33). Our assurance that God is present with us gives us the strength and courage to endure, and gives us the strength to be present to others.
How have you noticed these thin moments in your life? And how has that noticing helped to make you present for others in their time of need?
Amen.
I have had these thin moments, and recall them from time to time, but have never thought to pray with them. Thank you so much for giving me yet another way to relive these beautiful moments.
This quote from Hebrews brings to mind an interview I heard yesterday with two young pastors who were at the site of the killing of the woman who was warning a Minneapolis neighborhood that federal enforcement was in the area:
“But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.”
We must remind each other that God is with us through it all.
Dear Br Lain, thank you for this beautiful reflection. For me, your most important statement is “Our assurance that God is present with us.” Assurance, unshakable faith that God is true and keeps his promises, that God’s Spirit is indeed with us and in us through all circumstances, is the foundation of sanity. It is the touching trust of our Almighty Father by the human child of God. Our assurance, our firm grasp of faith, makes all other essentials possible. It is our faithful assurance of the goodness and trustworthiness of God the Father that makes us whole.
Thank you for this reflection Br Lain.
This reflection is a true revelation to me. I, too, have had experiences of thin moments rather than thin places, but never knew how to articulate it. I suddenly feel validated and seen — this term fits my experience perfectly. I’m also in a time in life where absence and spiritual dryness persist, where this passage from Hebrews applies, and over which I have no control. Your words have brought comfort in the midst of sadness and longing today. Thank you, Br. Lain.