Originally published Sunday, 26 April 2015.
Sacred: - dedicated or set apart for the service or worship; entitled to reverence, respect, awe
A small town church with wooden pews and arched windows. A stained glass window gracing the entry. The Liturgy placed on every pew. The smell of wood polish. Familiar. Comforting. Sacred. I hadn't been into this church for years. Stopping at a playground for the boys mere metres away I took the opportunity to seize a few precious moments and visit. The doors were open and I entered. Memories of sitting in the church as a child with my family flooded back, memories too of my Nana's funeral that was held there. Memories of my Father taking the occasional service there during Holidays.
But there was something else, more than the memories that the church invoked. There was the presence of God. This church has been saturated in worship for over 125 years. But more than that as the house of God, my heart was expectant for the presence of God. Expectant for Him to be found in the place that people had set aside for His worship.
In the same way my quiet time creates expectation for the presence of God. A space, a time set aside for an encounter with Him. A space free from distractions when I focus on Him and on Him alone. At the moment my sacred space is a comfy chair in my bedroom. One that begs me to curl up in and pick up the Bible that rests beside it. As I pass through the room during the day the chair sits there as an open invitation to stop, pause and encounter Jesus.
But my sacred space is more than the fixed position of my chair, because that changes, it is more about the position of my heart - open and expectant to encounter God's presence in my every day. The time, the space on my chair is when and where I intentional and purposefully fellowship with the Lord, as much as the people who attend that little church intentionally and purposeful walk through its doors for a Sunday service.
Where is your sacred space?
"Honour and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary." (1 Chronicles 16:27)
SHARE
