Creating Sacred Space

When we look at God’s instructions to his people in Exodus 25-27 to construct a tabernacle in which his presence will be manifested, one of the things we are reminded of is the importance of physical place. The physical place of the tabernacle created a tangible environment for God’s people to keep him consistently before themselves. One application of this idea for us is to think about learning to be present to the Lord throughout the “normal” spaces of our week.

In her book The Liturgy of the Ordinary Tish Harrison Warren explores the idea of learning to be present to the Lord throughout all the mundane places we occupy throughout our week. Whether it be waking up and going to bed, or our morning routine of getting ready, or our interactions with those in our household or neighborhood or apartment complex, or the meals we eat, or the texts we send, or sitting in traffic, it is important to remember that the Lord is present and active in each and every one of those spaces.

This doesn’t mean we necessarily have to be consciously thinking of the Lord every minute of every day, but it may provide us with one approach to prayer. What if one of the ways we pray every day would be to start off our day by praying over all the spaces we will occupy that day, asking the Lord to guide us and help us to honor him in each one of them, even when we may not be consciously thinking of him. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the tabernacle is that it was made to move, thus making God “portable.” May we remember that he is still “portable” and always near, if only we cultivate eyes to see him.