What Makes Sacred Spaces so Sacred?

I have been in this room thousands of times over the past 25 years. I have raised my kids in worship here, watched new marriages begin here, said goodbye to many dear friends here, and I have actually spoken in here a few times too.

Now, 14 months ago, I would have argued with you that I could never take this space for granted or underestimate its impact. Yet, here I am looking back on the last year when my family and church community weren’t able to gather in this space to worship and pray. The online worship experience has been a part of our church for many years in our contemporary space, a Lowes hardware store we renovated some 22 years ago. The pandemic offered us the “opportunity” to present our traditional worship campus online weekly. And it was a great medium to hear the Gospel proclaimed, fill my heart with beautiful music, and find encouragement in the midst of a global health emergency.

After a few weeks of watching worship online in our living room, it became obvious something was missing and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Being totally transparent and honest, the weekly Wednesday night worship time, slowly faded into a less than regular commitment on the schedule. (Editorial note: I work with many churches and experience a multitude of sermons and services every week, but that’s a flimsy work excuse, right?). What was that missing ingredient? Why was this once sacred space fading into a distant memory?

Yesterday, April 4, 2021, Easter Sunday marked the first time in 392 days since I walked into this space. We were masked and socially distanced, but something was happening. I talked to friends that I haven’t seen or spoken to in 392 days. I felt the smiles penetrating my soul, even if they were hidden from view behind masks. Fist and elbow bumps were as precious as hugs with friends that have watched me walk, stumble, and sometimes crawl on my journey with Jesus.

I sat in my pew and scanned the room, first looking at the crowd to see who I could recognize behind their masks. And then my gaze turned to the room itself, looking at the paint color of the walls, the technical equipment secured to the beams in the black ceiling, the stage and repositioned altar to ensure safe distancing of the worship leaders. And then as I closed my eyes to pray, my nose was embraced with the fresh smells of the room and my ears were bombarded with the faintest of noises like the air circulators and people rustling in their pews. When the first notes rose from the piano to open worship, tears began to stream down my face

So, what was that missing ingredient that allowed laziness and complacency to thwart my worship time? It wasn’t one thing, but the hundreds and thousands of minute details that combine to create a communal worship experience. The sights, smells, sounds, and most importantly the relationships that are orchestrated by the Holy Spirit to allow humans to praise and worship at the feet of the Most High God, and in the presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ are what I missed and I didn’t even realize it until yesterday!

Don’t get me wrong, online presentations of worship have been an important part of my work for the past decade. The hard part of any online platform that we are still trying to grasp is engaging with people on a screen and connecting them with a community. If I have learned anything over the past year, and most specifically in the last 24 hours is that we really can’t recreate that intimacy online. But we can use our online platforms to start a relationship; we can do new and extra things to find ways to connect with people personally; and maybe we need to refocus our energies from planning programs and focus on how we feed His sheep.

Pastors that are reading this now, please do not hear this as an indictment on your ministry whether it has a flourishing online presence or you are just trying to figure out how to re-connect with your congregation. I simply challenge you to embrace that our society and culture has changed not only over the past year, but the past several decades. And I encourage you to challenge your team, your people, to find new ways to connect the Gospel that is still constant and eternal with our ever changing world. And if you need it, my team has been called to help...