Shoes

What I love about these two stories about shoes, or more specifically sandals, is that they are actually very instructional for us.

During the beloved story of Moses and the burning bush we hear the words once again that Moses must remove his sandals for he is standing on holy ground. That is why I encouraged you to take off your shoes earlier. To sit and embrace this time with your feet tangibly touching the ground that we are standing on. There is definitely a different feeling and connection when we can really feel the ground beneath our feet. I wonder if Moses felt that sense of the holy presence of God flow from his feet up into his body and his very being as he took off his sandals and connected with the world that God created.

What I also take from this story is that the holiness of the place that Moses was standing was because of the presence of God. That wasn’t always and forever a holy place just because it happened to be a holy site, but it became holy during that time that God came to speak with Moses. Just like when we gather we call them holy because we hear the promise from Jesus that where two or three are gathered he is here in our midst. A holy place felt with our feet touching the ground.

The next story is about Jesus sending the twelve out in mission into the world. Jesus tells them the only things that they are meant to bring with them are: a staff, sandals, and one layer of clothing. They don’t need anything else, and they should rely on people who hopefully accept them in the towns they visit.

So while in the first story with Moses we are told to take off our sandals, in this story we are told they are essential. Wearing good walking sandals or shoes are an important part of what Jesus says we need to share the gospel message with people. We have paved roads and other quality of life improvements when it comes to transportation, but back then sandals were very important.

I had a conversation with a fellow pastor when we were serving congregations in California and during that conversation he shared his new ‘advertising plan’ with me. He said that he and the council agreed to eliminate their traditional advertising budget of ads in the newspaper and name in the phone book. Instead they took those same funds and put them in the evangelism part of the budget. The subsection of that part of the budget was then labeled shoes. The pastor then told people that if they were willing to walk around the neighborhood to share what their church was about and doing for the community then the church would buy them a good quality pair of walking shoes.

What I get from these stories is that God gives us instructions, reminders, or maybe tools with which to understand when and when not to use our shoes/sandals. With Moses we are reminded that a way to encounter the holy presence of God is to remove our shoes and feel that connection with God. Then with Jesus we are reminded that we are called out into the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ, and an important part of sharing the good news is having the essential tools like a good pair of walking sandals. Just through our everyday shoes we are invited to experience the holy in different ways. Amen.