Take Off Your Sandals

One of the interesting traditions we had in our church was when someone would come to church, they would take off their shoes or sandals before entering. Now you’re probably thinking, isn’t this what Muslims do before entering the Mosque.

The answer is yes, but what is the origin of this practice? Where does it come from?

Well, looking at one of the readings today, we see Joshua comes in contact with the presence of God. And the person he encountered asked him to take off his footwear, his sandals, “for the place you stand is holy.” He was standing on holy ground.

We often ask people who visit our homes to do the same. I’ve visited people who at their doorstep, they have a doormat asking you to do so.

Now this is for often cleanliness. Not bringing the dirt and grime of the outside world into the home where you live.

What is asked of Joshua, and the old tradition of the church, is not a matter of simple cleanliness—removing his sandals was the intentional act of leaving behind the dirt we’ve collected when we enter the presence of God or a sacred space.

The invitation for us is to consider that we stand on holy ground far more often that we realize.

When we enter our homes or other people’s homes, we enter holy ground.

The conversations we have with friends we enter holy ground.

The times we enter in personal prayer with God.

We enter and stand on holy ground so often in our lives but we often bring the dust of the past heartaches and mistakes, the bloodshed fights we have with each other, and the fear and anxiety of the future into the Holy Ground of the Presence of God.

It’s like when we tell people, “Take that off, I don’t want that in my house.”

We’re frustrated when we do this and St Paul feels this frustration in today’s Epistle Reading. He says “the evil I do NOT want to do is what I keep doing” and “the good I to do, I don’t end up doing”. want

We so often want to move forward in our lives, move forward with our life with God, move forward in our relationships with our spouses, but we recognize that we carry with us the dirt we dragged along that weighs us down .

Jesus gives us an example and solution of how we can recognize who we are and what we’re called for.

When the mother of James and John come to Jesus asking for the seat of honor with Jesus.

He responds to them that you don’t know what you’re asking. Because you don’t know what it costs. To be a leader you have to be a servant. To be a follower of Christ you have to suffer with him. To stand on the holy ground of the presence of God we have to put aside, our ego, our pride, our past, our worry for the future.

So the question I pose to you today, like Joshua, where is God telling us to remove our sandals? It’s not because we are not worthy, but what territory is God asking us to completely rely on him?

May Our Lord open our hearts that we can lay aside the dirt we’ve collected to be ever in his presence on Earth and in the Heavenly Glory he’s prepared for us.