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SANCTUARIES IN THE SKY

Many mountains have served as holy spaces and meeting places with God. Moses ascended Mount Sinai and, in thunder, lightning, and cloud, received the Law (Exodus 19). Jesus was transfigured into a vision of his true glory on Mount Hermon (Mark 9:2-8). Mount Zion, where Jerusalem and the temple were built, came to represent the presence and the salvation of God. “On Mount Zion will be deliverance” (Obadiah 1:17).

It was a chilly, overcast day on the west coast of Ireland when I climbed my first “holy mountain.” Located on the west coast of Ireland, it is named Cruach Phádraig, meaning “Patrick’s stack.” It is believed that, in a.d. 441, Patrick spent forty days and forty nights fasting and praying before God here. For over fifteen hundred years, it has been revered by the Irish as a holy place.

The ancient Celts saw all of creation as sacred. They often referred to nature as the Great Cathedral of Earth, Sea, and Sky. They believed that everything was made from the very substance of God and created out of a loving-kindness that is woven throughout the fabric of creation.

Today, many refer to sacred spaces in the wild as “thin places,” for they are where the veil between Heaven and Earth are the thinnest. The oceans, forests, rivers, snow and ice fields, and mountains I have referred to in these devotionals can all be thin places. They are places of wild wonder that surround us as gifts to be enjoyed and nurtured. They invite us to behold beauty through nature’s lens and to see the unseen with a renewed vision. And as Jesus prayed, they can guide us in seeing our creator’s “kingdom come” and his “will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Think of your favorite awe-inspiring scene in nature. Maybe it’s a mountain, or perhaps it’s a sky full of stars. If you’re able, go somewhere that holds sacred meaning for you and seek perspective. Feel the thinness of the place.