Sacred Space

Sacred Space

A white square of cloth sprinkled with brightly colored markers lay on the floor in the middle of the circle.  We were dark and light skinned, from the south and the north, young and old, Pentecostal, U.C.C, and Disciples; all part of the Body of Christ.  After sharing our fears and needs, we were ready to enter into a community covenant where we committed to respectful, loving, and life-giving relationships with one another in the midst of the language, cultural, personality, and religious differences.  We knew we were a complex body, many parts seeking to become whole.  As each sister and brother came forward singing and praying to sign the covenant cloth, I felt as if we had stepped into sacred space.

A white square of cloth sprinkled with brightly colored markers lay on the floor in the middle of the circle.  We were dark and light skinned, from the south and the north, young and old, Pentecostal, U.C.C, and Disciples; all part of the Body of Christ.  After sharing our fears and needs, we were ready to enter into a community covenant where we committed to respectful, loving, and life-giving relationships with one another in the midst of the language, cultural, personality, and religious differences.  We knew we were a complex body, many parts seeking to become whole.  As each sister and brother came forward singing and praying to sign the covenant cloth, I felt as if we had stepped into sacred space.

Sacred space is an elusive place to get to.  It seems to me that interdependence, trust, willingness, desire, hope, love, mystery, risk, and challenge are all words that are a part of this shimmering “end of the rainbow” place.  It is a moment that one doesn’t fully comprehend until the savoring of it afterwards.  It is the space where justice, mercy, truth, and love are balanced. That balance in this world can only last an instant, but in that moment, we glimpse at what heaven must be like.   Peeking into heaven transforms us.   Peeking into heaven with others convinces us that we have not stepped through a mirage or an illusion that disappears when the
feelings fade away.  God has called me to a quest seeking the sacred space where we are transformed. I long for the holy ground were our relationships with God, others, ourselves and all creation are healed.

Shalom,
Elena Huegel

Elena Huegel is a missionary with the Pentecostal Church of Chile (IPC).  She serves as an environmental and Christian education specialist.