Sacred Place

I mentioned yesterday that the Bishop came to our church to preach. She did so because we were rededicating our building after a serious renovation. 

I think in such a time it is important to realize that the building is not what is important. Even though it looks so much nicer, and it welcoming and wonderful - it is not the church.

She said something I'll remember for a while. She was preaching about the Jacob's ladder story. The place Jacob stopped had no name, and after he encountered God, Jacob named the place Bethel (House of God.). 

Our building isn't sacred because we say so - not even because the bishop says so. Our building is a sacred place because it is a place where people have and will encounter God. If that isn't happening, then it's just another building, like any other. 

"The no name place becomes crucial.  It's is a place of encounter - and that makes it holy."

May it be so.