Tags
… about sacred space.
I visited a local church this Sunday for a fairly disastrous worship service. First off let me say, the toughest people to preach to are other preachers, so I hold my hand up as a tough crowd. Acknowledged. But this past weekend was disastrous for two reasons, insufficient preparation and lack of respect for that which is considered by many to be holy space.
There were two young people reading the scriptures, it was painfully obvious that the one young lady hadn’t read the scripture before she got up, so she stumbled over words and kept stopping and starting and giggling over long biblical names. I am all for using the body of Christ to reach out for Christ, but surely there should be some reverence when we approach the scriptures?
The preacher for the evening was also a young man from the congregation who confidently stepped into the pulpit to announce that he was writing exams and so hadn’t had time to do any preparation. He proceeded to struggle and flail and repeat himself and get completely lost with his message. It was awful to watch and I think what made it worse was that he was unapologetic about his lack of preparation, he was blasé and flippant and again, the feeling that came across was a lack of reverence and respect for what it was that he was doing. Preaching is a privilege. No?
God is holy, holy is sacred, scripture is sacred, it should be read with care and reverence. It highlighted for me the need to hold and respect sacred space. ‘Christ in you’ is not all that meaningful if that Christ is not considered sacred and I am starting to wonder whether our lack of respect and reverence for one another is rooted in our inability as people to hold sacred space. I am not talking about pomp and prestige, just a little bit of respect and reverence for the God in whose image we are made – I read these words yesterday:
Being made in the image of God confers on us godlike qualities of creativity, rationality, personality, free will, self-awareness and consciousness and also gives us a special dignity, which deserves respect. (Peter Saunders)
My prayer is that we would remember to hold sacred space for God, perhaps then we would be encouraged to hold sacred space for one another.
Today, let’s hold Africa as sacred space, Africa and all of her children.
In peace.
I AGREE!
We need to step into the pulpit or up to the lectern with fear and trepidation – that’s where we represent God. I am very grateful to a church that pays serious attention to preaching. Strict trial services and high standards of homiletics. We pray that preachers will become aware of the huge responsibility that lies on our shoulders every time we have the privilege to speak on behalf of Christ.
That is what always scares me when I take a Service. I am so conscious of the fact that the congregation have come to receive a word from GOD and not me sharing my own opinions. It’s an awesome responsibility
Beautifully, wisely said . . .
Something that I grapple with – albeit in a different tradition – is how to communicate a sense of sacred space (and actions, and things) to those who seem oblivious to it. I’m inclined to think that this is “caught” rather than “taught” (although teaching has a role to play) but enabling that to happen is not always so simple.
And, perhaps only partially related, I suspect that this is also connect to a loss of respect for matter, for how we treat things in general, quite apart from people of course. Saint Benedict said that the pots and pans should be treated with as much reverence as the vessels of the altar – that somehow goes against the grain of our utilitarian, throwaway society…
I like that – caught, not taught and I think in reflecting to others the beauty of sacred space its easier to ‘catch’ it that way then to teach it – perhaps the church can be that catalyst again.
In our consumerist lifestyle the throw-awayness of people and things is a crying shame.
Oh for a return to reverence which ultimately starts with me and my ‘expression’ of church.