There are “thin places” in the world, places where we feel close to the edge of our everyday reality, places where we feel close to God, eternity and life in all its fullness. Many people, of all faiths and none, can talk about places where they experience that feeling that they are only a breath, a heart-beat, a finger-tip away from a greater reality.  I wonder if you have “thin places” where you go to encounter a reality bigger and fuller and more real than your everyday experience? 

Lent is a “thin place”.  During Lent we are invited to give up some of the things that anchor us to our everyday reality, whether that’s something as mundane as giving up sugar in our tea, or something as all-embracing as giving up meat, eggs and dairy in a strict Lenten fast; whether that’s as all-consuming as giving up scrolling through news-feeds or social-media posts, or as simple as giving up the newspaper and giving the money to the foodbank.  When we choose to give up something for Lent, we open the door into a “thin place”, turning away from our everyday reality towards the possibility of living in God’s reality, here on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led into the wilderness.  The wilderness is a “thin place” if ever there was one.  There is very little in the desert, very little to sustain us, very little to entertain us, very little to distract us.  There in the desert, in the “thin place” where Jesus was alone with the ultimate realities of life and death, there was nowhere to hide, no place to go, nothing to do, there the devil tempted Jesus with promises of food, of flattery, of fame.

The devil’s promises were not his to give.  He had never given food to hungry people in the desert, only God had done that; he had never given authority to a king, only God had done that; he had never rescued anyone from adversity and destruction, only God had done that.  In the emptiness of a wilderness “thin place,” the devil sought to trap Jesus with empty words and futile promises.

But Jesus withstood the temptations of the devil.  Against the devil’s empty promises, Jesus set the fullness of God’s promises, and Jesus defeated the devil. 

When we enter the “thin place” of Lent, we might feel vulnerable, as we lay aside things we usually hide behind.  What can protect us from sin, the world and the devil when temptation assails us?

Perhaps God’s word is our strength.  Perhaps meditating on God’s word will be our protection, our comfort, our security.  Perhaps in saying and hearing God’s word we, like Jesus, can know the fullness of God in this “thin place” where God’s true reality is only a breath, a heart-beat, a finger-tip away from us.