The Usefulness of Sacred Space

"I don't really care about the building", said my friend, as we talked about the sacred architecture and the place of worship. Her congregation, an international church, meets in a rented location normally used by the scouts. It has no religious art, no specific layout; it is a room with furnishings. However, on Sundays, when this congregation meets, the chairs are line up in rows, and the focal point is the small pulpit. The room is small and easy to relate to - not much room for hesitation. What constitutes the sacred is the defining sacred time. They come together to be with God, to sing, worship in their hearts, and to receive instruction and encouragement in the faith. They share communion. This constitutes sacred space.

          In our conversation, it came clear that her notion of 'sacred architecture' was the old, grand, ecclesiastical buildings of history, large stone cathedrals - and as such somewhat removed from the experience of fellowship between people in the congregation. In short, the notion of the art historical samples created in the history of the western world - with its art-historical styles: byzantine, renaissance, gothic, norman, romanesque, baroque, rococo, neo-classical... modern, funkis, experimental..etc., this was her immediate association with the term 'sacred architecture'. Indeed, there is much truth to that. The vast majority of books on the subject deal with the art historical aspects of the building. We see detailed illustrations of the exterior, layout, and interior decor. We read vivid descriptions of artefacts, building material, and artistry. We are introduced to trends in change, and we might enter into a suggestion about the reason why such change in style and taste occurs. There are some theological deliberations in some of these publications. However, it does not speak of the church in function, of the interaction between people and what is going on in the building. It does not define its space based on the sacred time.

           God can not be contained in any building, nor in nature. What constitutes the sacred time is based in His own promises of presence, of interaction, of means to be forgiven and be reconciled. Any space becomes sacred with this function.

          Christian sacred spaces are not in themselves 'holy grounds', even though they may have been consecrated for certain usage by a procedure by church officials. In my definition of what makes something sacred, there is alway the sanctifying agent, which is God, who is at work. Unlike the Hindu temple, where the building itself is sacred because of the indwelling of the god, the visitation during hours, the Christian sacred space is always defined by the presence of God, based on His promise to be where two or three are gathered in his name.

          Interestingly enough, as my friend and I talked, she needed to tell me about a beautiful experience in one of London's cathedrals - one of these impersonal, large and majestic structures she had no need for - and it was when visiting the cathedral at Evensong. The singing, the atmosphere, the moment of beauty, the worship of the local congregation and visitors - still played in her memory as a taste of the Kingdom Come. Exactly, I concurred; for here you experience the building in action, for its purpose, in its liturgical occasion.

          As we parted, my friend and I, I had the sense of having shared something meaningful together, and I hoped she agreed with my sentiments of the usefulness of sacred space.