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Shoes off
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Tuesday, July, 27, 2010
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by John Fischer
When God met Moses through a burning bush, He told him to take off his shoes because He was standing on holy ground. I've been thinking about that holy ground lately and wondering why God had Moses remove his shoes.
In my research I came upon the teachings of a few rabbis whom I would assume have the inside track on the cultural meaning of this practice. I found there were not one, but a number of possible explanations. One possibility is to symbolically remove the dust and dirt (contamination) from the world so as to enter the holy place. The priests in the temple remove their shoes in this manner.
Another was the idea of humility. One rabbi remarked how Jews cover their heads as a sign of respect, but uncover their feet. That would seem to indicate to both humility and vulnerability.
Rabbi Yaacov Haber commented about that vulnerability. "With shoes, one can walk over stones, glass, water, even fire and not feel a thing. Without shoes, one can feel everything. Step on the slightest protrusion, even a little Lego, and the pain climbs right up the spine."
If you're going to be a leader... you must remove the insulation that you wear to protect yourself.... It will hurt but you must be able to feel every bump, every nick and cranny; you must be able to feel the pain. A person who is responsive to external conditions or stimulation is a person who will be susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others. It is this individual who can develop a meaningful relationship."
As if this wasn't enough, there is still one more interpretation of the metaphor, and perhaps it is the most important. For Moses, the burning bush represented the presence of God. Today, the kingdom of God has come; His Holy Spirit is here; and thus the presence of God is everywhere. So Rabbi Melanie Aron can say, "The place upon which you are standing, that is the exact situation in which you find yourself, is a holy place. In whatever distracting and difficult situation you find yourself, there are opportunities for holiness."
Or as Woodie Guthrie wrote in his song, "Holy Ground:"
Take off your shoes and pray.
The ground you walk, it’s holy ground.
Every spot on earth I traipse around.
Every spot I walk, it’s holy ground.
Every spot, it’s holy ground.
Every little inch, it’s holy ground.
Every grain of dirt, it’s holy ground.
Every spot I walk, it’s holy ground.
So which one of these is it? Well, this is what I have found to be true about God's metaphors. They do not apply to only one aspect of the analogy and we are supposed to figure out which one that is. God is just too thorough for that. He has created the world so that all aspects of his metaphors are true; in fact that is why He created them: so He could say many things all at once.
May we walk today as if our shoes were off -- sensitive to the environment and to the needs of those around us, humble and vulnerable before the Lord, and aware of the fact that wherever we step, it's holy ground.
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