Session 7: Sacred Space

God's Presence and Holiness

• God's presence is not confined to a church building or any building, but is still "placed" in relation to humanity.
• William Cowper's Hymn: "Jesus, where'er thy people meet, there they behold thy mercy seat...every place is holy ground."

Humanity and Place

• Humanity exists in place and time, and our relationship with place changes as life moves on.
• Paul Tillich: "It is by its spatiality that everything living, including humans, is recognisable."
• Keith Basso: "Place is a powerful fusion of self, space, and time."
• Geographers and anthropologists: Place is where stories of power and contestation are played out.
• Psychologists: Interplay between physical geography and the geography of the human mind and spirit.

Forming Community and Identity

• Human desire to form community, stake a claim, colonize, mark out, and own a place.
• Place has both communal and personal identity.
• Architects: A place is a piece of the whole environment that has been claimed by feelings.
• Aristotle: Place is a sort of container where experiences happen.
• Winston Churchill: "We shape our buildings, and our buildings shape us."

Scripture and Place

• Scripture begins with humanity placed in the Garden of Eden.
• God's relationship with his people is a triangular threefold relationship: God, people, and place.
• Abraham's journey to the promised land represents a shift towards a more concrete understanding of place.
• Moses: The Temple building bore the brunt of the building and dereliction.
• Prophets: One day God's sanctuary will be amongst his people forevermore.
• Jesus is the new Temple, and God can be found everywhere through the Holy Spirit.

Church Buildings and Worship Space

• David Canter: The worship space in a building holds the threefold relationship between our actions, conceptions, and physical attributes.
• St Germanos: The church building is heaven on earth, where God dwells and moves, representing the crucifixion, sepulchre, and resurrection of Christ.
• Richard Giles: Liturgical space can help recall us constantly to the unknowable in the midst of the tangible.

History of Church Architecture

• Saxon churches: Often wooden, with stone ones resembling barns, font at the back, and chancel at the east end.
• Norman churches: Massive structures in stone, symbolizing the power of the Normans and the church, with buildings orientated east/west.
• Later styles: Perpendicular, Gothic, Early English, 18th century, Georgian, Gothic revival, Arts and Crafts, Pre-war, Post-war, Modernist, Minimalist, and Multipurpose.

Liturgical Changes and Challenges

• The Reformers damaged much of the ornaments and statues in our buildings.
• Vatican II: Changes to the liturgical thinking, with the altar and the reading of the Gospel placed in the midst of the people.
• Clash between old and new liturgical thinking and the design of buildings.

Human Experience and Perception of Church Buildings

• People's diverse responses to church buildings, ranging from feelings of home, comfort, and peace to detachment, distraction, and discomfort.
• The importance of considering the psychological impact of church buildings on worshippers.

Sacred Space Outdoors

• The concept of Forest Church, which doesn't have to be in a forest, but rather a sacred space outdoors.
• Tertullian: "Nature is the schoolmistress, the soul the pupil; and whatever one has taught, or the other has learned, has come from God."
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every bush afire with God."
• Pope John Paul II: "Up here one breathes with the pure mountain air the mysterious invitation to faith and conversion."
• John Wesley: "The world around us is a mighty volume wherewith God hath declared himself."