The Oxford English Dictionary says:
sacred /ˈseɪkrɪd /
adjective connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration
▪ religious rather than secular
▪ (of writing or text) embodying the laws or doctrines of a religion
▪ regarded with great respect and reverence by a particular religion, group, or individual
▪ regarded as too valuable to be interfered with; sacrosanct
I have been thinking about sacred space and sacred spaces. How can I make space for God in my life, sacred space?
To start with the physical, what makes a space sacred? To what or whom it is dedicated? What happens there or has happened there? Who is in the space or has been there?
The ancients had spaces they considered objectively sacred, even as magic. The prophets railed against the blasphemy. I cringe when a church names itself or its gathering place a temple.
And yet. And yet. Even in this age when we no longer see this space or that as objectively sacred we still treat certain spaces as set apart for godly purpose. Saint Benedict insisted the monks' oratory, their place of prayer, be used for for nothing else. It irks us when the kids run in the church sanctuary (even if, as I suspect, it disturbs God much less than it does us). I say some times, any room in our house with a cross or crucifix is a chapel.
But is my heart, my soul, a sacred space? That seems the far more important question.
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