Frontiers abroad … and at home
Insights Magazine
Wed, 24th Apr 2024
As people of faith in these dispersed times, it can be important to set aside a space in your home or room where you can come before God in prayer, explore the questions that may arise in your life, and spend time exploring scripture in meditation or silence. Your sacred space should be a place where you can strengthen your relationship with God and find strength for yourself in these uncertain times.
Even if you can only stop for a few minutes a day, having a space for quiet reflection in your home serves as a reminder that it is important to continue to nurture our faith in the absence of any organised worship. The Christian tradition of the West has generally focussed our spiritual life very much on communal worship and learning, such as attending Sunday services and engaging in Bible study. While these are indeed important events in our faith development and practice, they are not the only way we can worship and learn.
People have created sacred places in many different forms and places throughout history. Sacred spaces can be large, like landscapes, or have natural or created structures such as Stonehenge, Uluru, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A sacred landscape can be sacred to people or communities because of something that took place there. Modern sacred places that would fit this description include Ground Zero, Anzac Cove, and the grotto at Lourdes.
Other religious and communal examples of sacred spaces include labyrinths, meditation gardens, cemeteries, and churches, mosques, temples or synagogues. In the absence of these, making sacred space or a personal altar will help you set aside some time dedicated to your spiritual growth and well-being.
The first step is to find a peaceful and uncluttered area in your home or a corner in your room. Sacred spaces should be places that allow you to relax, and where you won’t be interrupted by someone entering or exiting a room. Think about why you want a sacred space.
What needs are you hoping to meet? What sort of things are you wanting to do? Are you seeking to deepen your spiritual life or enhance your relationship with God? Do you need a place where you can lament for things temporarily lost? Or do you just need a place to have some quiet reflective time during a stressful day? Will your space be a place of dreaming or reading? Will it be a refuge from all the responsibilities and current distractions around you? Is it a place that will help you put aside the fear and uncertainties of the world? Or is it a place that will provide you with fresh energy and insight into the world? Please take some time to pray and discern what it is you want your sacred space to be for you. Think about what things you would like in your space.
What do you find meaningful and what things will help you connect with God? Some suggestions include a small vase with flowers, a cross or icon, a bible, photographs or pictures, a coloured cloth to reflect the liturgical season and a candle.
All of us have meaningful objects in our homes. You may well enjoy a hunt through boxes and drawers to find that special object. In your chosen space, place a small low table or something similar to hold the special things you have chosen. Place a cushion or comfortable seat in front of your table. Make this place one that invites prayer, ritual and reflection, and allow it to change over time as your needs evolve.
Try to spend time in your space every day — whether it is for 30 seconds in the morning or a half hour meditation at night. Use your space to pray for the day ahead, to express gratitude or to lament, or to discern what God might be saying to you.
You might like to keep a journal nearby to write down or sketch any thoughts, images or inspired ideas that come to you.
There is no right or wrong way to create and use your sacred space; it is there to help you connect personally with God, with yourself, and with the world around you in meaningful ways.
Think of your sacred space as a beautiful gift that you can give yourself every day, helping you to deepen your faith and relationship with God, to put things into a proper perspective. The more you use your space, the more you will find it providing you with unexpected blessings. John and I have created a sacred space in our home in this time of isolation.
The cross is a Celtic one from the Western Hebrides, and the illuminated picture is one my late aunt created, and it shows the symbols of the four gospels. We also have a purple candle and cloth to signify we are in Lent. The Bible is opened each week at the gospel reading from the Lectionary.
Think about taking a photo of your sacred space to share with others. It is one lovely way that we can keep in touch and share with one another as a community.
Rev. Elizabeth Raine
- Categories: Belief Matters, Features
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4 thoughts on “Creating a sacred space in your home”
I am providing supply ministry to a rural congregation in Vic-Tas Synod. About half the congregation don’t have internet access, so I can’t just provide them with a link to this article, but I think this would be very helpful to them. Is it permissable for me to make hard copies, with appropriate acknowledgement of both author and source to add to this week’s letterbox drop, please?
Of course, feel free to print the article and make it available to those with no access. This is meant to be a resource for you, after all.
-Jonathan
Thanks, Jonathan. I thought it would be OK, but the church has a poor history of using material without appropriate attribution.
When reading this article my mind immediately went to our sisters and brothers in retirement facilities. Many of these have very limited space in their tiny rooms to set aside a small area that could be their sacred space. They are never free of interruptions by facility staff providing meditation, making beds, cleaning, delivering meals, etc. In these times when their freedoms removed from them, as well as having only limited contact with others, friends or family, lost of chaplain visits and communal church service, their small room becomes like a prison cell and loneliness is a key issue.
I believe the suggestion of a sacred space is a great one, however, the setting aside of a special place in an aged care facility is almost an impossibility, the making of a special time struggles as it is often interrupt by staff members who can invade the special time.
I haven’t thought through what the alternative might look like but I believe a sacred place for individuals in aged care rooms could be a valuable concept, allowing them to have a sense of the holy and sacred, where they can meet God.