"Though I was no longer at Union when he gave his final lecture there, I am told that a number of students from the Jewish seminary across the street attended it and, before entering the great room, left their shoes in the corridor outside to indicate that the ground on which they stood with him was holy ground."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 34)
What actually makes something "holy?" One definition would be that it has been set apart by special prayers and blessings by duly authorized people. As a duly authorized person that works to a certain extent for me.
I also believe that something is "holy" when I or the beholder senses the presence of God in it. Thus many people, places and things, can be "holy," with or without a duly authorized prayer.
While I have never taken my shoes off as an act of reverence, I do understand the gesture. It of course comes from Moses' encounter with the burning bush. He of course had to be told to take his sandals off. I don't take my shoes off in church, though that has more to do with Western propriety than irreverence.
When I think of places where I do remove my shoes, a number of them involve outdoors and water. A cool mountain stream or the ocean come immediately to mind. I wonder if we take our shoes off, not only to not get them wet, but to take in the feel of the water, the sand, the smooth stones. The freedom of wiggling your toes.
Where for you are those places that you should literally or metaphorically take off your shoes? What and where for you is "holy ground."
Blessings,
Ed
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