Thin Place
by: Craig J. Sefa
Throughout this Advent season I am sharing several Christmas / Advent songs that I have written over the years. If you missed the intro to this series, including the title track, “Beautiful,” you can see it here.
This week I’m introducing a track that is actually a combination of two earlier songs, “It’s Christmas” from 2010 and “Glory” from 2012. Neither of those songs ever felt quite right, but in 2015 I dug them back out and realized a common thread weaving them together; Christmas as a “Thin Place”. In the Celtic Tradition, a “Thin Place” is that holy or sacred space where it almost seems that heaven touches earth. It may be the church where you were baptized or a special spot on the beach or in the mountains where you love to go and pray, but it doesn’t always have to be a physical place. It may be a sacred moment such as a meaningful time at the Communion Table or at the birth of a child. In these spaces or moments in our lives, it is as if the veil between the Holy and the ordinary are so thin we could almost reach out and touch the presence of God.
We’ve all experienced such sacred moments throughout our lives and I believe there are also a number of “thin places” in scripture. Some of the more obvious ones include the Garden of Eden, Mount Sinai, the Holy Place in the Temple, the Cross when the Temple veil was torn, and of course Pentecost when the Holy Spirit indwelt all of God’s people and made them a living Temple.
This song reflects on the idea of Advent and Christmas as a “Thin Place.” In the Incarnation of Jesus, heaven quite literally touched earth in a way never seen before or since. It was a perfect moment, a perfect season, when God walked among us in the flesh, and yet we still failed to notice. “Thin Places” are gifts from God to give us hope and remind us that we are never alone. I believe this Advent that God may be inviting us to pay more attention to those Thin Places and receive them as a gift.
When we find ourselves immersed in such a “Thin Place,” we are changed. In Christ, the Holy took on the ordinary realities of human life so that God might transform our ordinary into something entirely Holy and sacred. There is no possible response short of singing the praises and glory of God just as the angels sang before the shepherds the night Jesus was born.
As you reflect on this song, what Thin Places have you experienced in your life? How have they shaped and changed your life?
May you respond to God’s invitation to the Thin Place of Christmas this year, and in your encounter with the Holiness of Christ wrapped in ordinary flesh, may you never be the same again.
Thin Place
Verse 1:
Has there ever been
Will there ever be again
Such a perfect moment
When pure love breaks in
And the angels sing
Inviting humanity to Christmas
Chorus:
Glor - ia in the heavens
Glor - ia in all the earth
Verse 2:
Oh, it’s such a thin place
Where Holy and ordinary meet
Where the poor and hungry
Dine at the Royal Feast
Where sinners become saints
We’ll see the face of grace, it’s Christmas!
Chorus:
Glor - ia in the heavens
Glor - ia in all the earth
Bridge:
See the invisible
Touch the untouchable
Know the unknowable
Infinite God
Hear the light spoken
Into the darkness
The word becomes life
Before time begins
Chorus:
Glor - ia in the heavens
Glor - ia in all the earth
If you are a musician and would like to play along, you can link to the chord sheet for “Thin Place” here. These are free to copy for personal or public use in worship. I would only ask that you share with me how they are being used.
If you or someone you know would be interested in recording a more professional version of any of these songs, please contact me. I would love to work with you.