Mission Trip - Day Five

Reflections:

"You Are Standing On Holy Ground"

I've read it in the Bible, I've sung it in hymns, I've even felt it on occasion. But exactly what does it mean? While I was at UMCOR Sager Brown I felt it often and I thought about it a lot. Holy ground, I've decided, doesn't mean a grand sanctuary, although it could mean that. It doesn't mean a sweet little chapel, although it could mean that too. Holy ground can be anywhere God's people come together to worship Him and/or to serve His children. UMCOR Sager Brown is only one of those places.

I said in an earlier post that when I walked across that campus I felt God walking beside me. But it wasn't just that. God was a constant presence from the Blessing of the Hands when we first met together, to the stations where workers were emptying a box of health kits and getting them sorted and counted and ready for shipment, to the sewing room where school bags and Christmas stockings and drapes were sewn, to the maintenance area where men went to check out tools before going out into the neighbors of the community to repair roofs and steps and windows and to paint the homes of those in need, to the offices where plans were being set in place for new groups arriving in the coming weeks and for a new depot to be built in Utah in the coming months, to the Vesper service on Thursday night put together and done by volunteers, to the cafeteria where we all gathered in a circle and held hands before each meal to thank God for His bounty. Every place where people were serving...the warehouse, the dormitory, the kitchen, the chapel, the offices, the maintenance shop...every place there was Holy Ground.

When I got home I thought it would be a separation of sorts from that Holy Ground until I realized that's not true at all. This house is Holy Ground for Jerry and I. Out of this house comes prayer and study and gifts of both money and time for God's work. Out of this house comes prayer for our children and grandchildren, our friends who have health issues and who encounter sad things in their lives, our church and church leaders, our nation and world. Out of this house comes study...both formal and informal. Out of this house come gifts to our church and to other charities we help support. Out of this house comes time given to community organizations and church ministries. Now don't mistake me. This is not out-of-the-ordinary stuff....this is the same stuff you're doing at your house. But that means your house is also Holy Ground. It puts a whole new perspective on home when you think about it that way.

No matter where I am, that's Holy Ground. No matter where you are, that's Holy Ground. It's what we do; it's what we say; it's who we love and worship that make it Holy Ground.