Comments on: Thin Places

By: preacherman

preacherman — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:47:14 +0000

There is nothing more beautiful than hearing Bono & Povarotti singing ONE as a duet. Povarotti will be missed by many, many people.

By: Lee Ann

Lee Ann — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:29:13 +0000

If a thin place is where the gap between heaven and earth seems particularly small then my life is thankfully full of thin places right now. A huge part of my heart is no longer on this earth so my spirit longs for those thin places. Mike thank you for reaching out to Bailey…she is being blessed by ACU and so many there. Now about the “classics”…loved it when I first saw it and still do. Made me laugh out loud and I need that.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:53:15 +0000

I just looked at that You Tube site again – hilarious. Some of the comments are even funnier. What I can’t believe is it has had over 20K views. I didn’t think there were that many of us left in the coc!

By: Candy

Candy — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:51:18 +0000

I discovered the “classics” quite by accident but thought it was hilarious. I’m a middle age COC girl who I guess, has my sense of humor. Maybe I’m a dying breed. I think more people should lighten up!

By: Richard B

Richard B — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:55:22 +0000

Hi Annie,
Let me clarify. I wasn’t saying that Randy was shallow. You’re very right, Randy is one of the deepest people out there.

No, what I was pushing back against is how many people can come to correlate “thin places” with geographical beauty. That association, whenever I hear it (and you hear it a lot in Abilene) is what I’m calling shallow.

Further, “thin places” implies “thick places,” and, for theological reasons, I tend to resist carving up the world that way.

By: annie

annie — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:30:27 +0000

Richard B., Have you ever sat in a window-seat of an airplane & gazed down/up, & not been just overwhelmed with the magnitude of HIM?

I have relatives who have lived in Abilene, & they all have commented, at one time or another, about being on a mesa near there & witnessing the amazing sunsets. That would be a “thin place” imo. Physical place/spiritual filling.

I don’t know Randy well, except to say “hi” after one of his deep, deep lessons, and the word “shallow” just doesn’t apply to him—at all.

By: Kathy S

Kathy S — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:18:27 +0000

I am thankful for the “thin places” in my life. As spiritual humans don’t you think that there are certain places we seek out to be alone with God? He lives within us and we go to Him in the dark, in the sun, in solitary places and in crowds. And of curse we see Him and feel Him in places of beauty and in places that are mundane and even unattractive. Yet–even Jesus went to a garden to be with Him, even Jesus went to the mountainside by himself to pray, Jesus went out to lonely places to pray, He went to his “certain place” (Luke 11) to pray. And to me it is a blessing to have certain thin places in my life.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:03:54 +0000

I had seen the Mike Cope sings the Classics mentioned several times on this blogspot but had never gone to the video. I did today, and I just don’t understand “why”. Think about the words of these songs. I don’t doubt that the video was just meant to be funny and for people to have fun, but I don’t think we have fun by making light of what has been sacred and precious to many. We haven’t “progressed” that far, I hope.

By: Richard B

Richard B — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:15:48 +0000

Although I understand what Randy is saying, I tend to disagree. I think thin places are more about your inner geography than the external landscape.

Living in Abilene I often hear complaints about the lack of beauty here. That is, Abilene is not on many people’s “thin place list.” But I really think that reaction is more diagnostic of the inner topography of the person making the complaint than Abilene. I think, to be blunt, such comments portray a kind of spiritual shallowness.

By: preacherman

preacherman — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:09:18 +0000

Mike will Brian McLaren be speaking at the Arlington conference?

By: Keith Brenton

Keith Brenton — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:27:24 +0000

My favorite thin place is Thorncrown Chapel, a non-denominational gathering place for those who just want to meditate or worship ... a glass house where no one throws stones ... an inner place that does not shut the outside out.

By: Monty M.

Monty M. — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 04:47:30 +0000

Most desert places, especially if there are isolated canyons or mesas. Some of my favorite places are Big Bend NP, Guadalupe Mountains NP, the Davis Mountains of far west Texas, the four corners area. I feel a kinship with T.E. Lawrence, who, when asked why he liked the desert, said “Because it is clean.” It is interesting that many of the natural places that we would list as “thin” are the places that Native Americans have gone to for centuries for the very same reason.

By: julie

julie — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:00:11 +0000

Sorry, that was me and not TimD, my husband.

By: TimD

TimD — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:59:03 +0000

Lee and Val, amen!

By: annie

annie — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:38:20 +0000

Thin place for me is being on top of a mtn. in Colorado, turning like Julie Andrews did in the opening scene of “Sound of Music”. I feel close to God, and yet realize what a speck I am in the Universe.

Am so thrilled Zoe is coming to Downtown….”When you’re alone, & life is making you lonely, you can always go—-Downtown. When you got worries, all the noise & the hurry, seems to help I know—Downtown”. Petula Clark, mid-60’s. I think Brandon, Sheryl & the rest of the Zoe Group could open the conference with that, don’t you think?