holy space

Some churches keep this Sunday as a Dedication Festival, remembering the dedication of the church building. That made me think about our new Sanctuary space at City Campus, especially as we use the Prayer Room for Communion for the first time. It feels significant – a sort of dedication or hallowing of this Sanctuary space.

One of the readings to use for Dedication Sunday is the story of Jesus ‘cleansing the temple’. Jesus is angry about the misuse of the temple courts as a place for making money out of those coming to offer sacrifices – no doubt taking an extra cut when they bought their doves or changed their Roman money for the approved Temple currency. So he overturns the tables of the money changers and the dove sellers.

Jesus is particularly angry because, as the prophet Isaiah said, the Temple was meant to be ‘a house of prayer for all nations.’ The whole Temple area was a really a collection of spaces, one inside the other. The Most Holy Place was in the Temple building at the centre, and around that the Court of the Priests, and then around that was the Court of Israel, and around that was the Court of Women. Finally, outside the twelve gates through which only Jews could enter, was the Court of the Gentiles.

My understanding is that the place where all this noisy dealing was going on was in the Court of the Gentiles – the outermost place, where those who were not Jews were able to gather and pray. And maybe this is why Jesus is angry – because the religious machinery of the Temple has effectively excluded these people – it is no longer able to be ‘a house of prayer for all nations.’

Up until a couple of months ago there wasn’t going to be a Prayer Room here in City Campus. The original plans had changed, and Muslim students and staff were to be told to go to the nearest mosque. But this would have left some students without enough time to pray, and it would have been especially difficult for female Muslim students.

Now we have this Prayer Room – a place of prayer for all nations, for all faiths, a place where anyone can come and meditate or just be quiet. A little like the Temple, it sits within our Sanctuary – an inclusive space for all students. And the Sanctuary sits at the heart of the campus.

I wonder how having this place of prayer – this different sort of space – within the Sanctuary, changes it? And how might this Sanctuary space being here change the campus? Maybe it says something about what is important to us: welcome, inclusivity, relationships, community. It is a place of safety and comfort for those facing challenges, and a space where people may find support. It is a place for exploring faith and the deeper questions of life, and a homely space. A physical expression, like all our Sanctuaries, of something that really matters to us as a university. And expression too of what we believe really matters to God.

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In our prayers we used some words said by Bishop Rachel seven years ago when she dedicated what was then called the Faith Space in Oxstalls:

In the name of God, 
we dedicate this Sanctuary for the use of all,
regardless of faith or belief.
Here may no idle word be spoken,                    
no unquiet thought disturb our minds.              
In our time together, in prayer and meditation,
may we move from darkness to light,
finding along the uncertain way tranquillity, well-being and love.

We then used a prayer by John O’Donohue to bless the space. First we brought to mind some of the students, and the members of staff, who may come to use this space, with all that they will bring to it. You might like to spend some quiet time doing the same, and then say the prayer of blessing for all who will use this space…

A Sanctuary Blessing

May this place shelter your life
when you come and rest here.

May all the weight of the world
fall from your shoulders.
May your heart be tranquil here,
blessed by the peace the world cannot give.

May this be a safe place
full of understanding and acceptance,
where you can be as you are,
without the need of any mask
of pretence or image.

May this be a place of discovery,
where the possibilities that sleep
in the clay of your soul can emerge
to deepen and refine your vision
for all that is yet to come to birth.

May this be a place of courage,
where healing and growth are loved,
where dignity and forgiveness prevail.

May this be a place of welcome
for the broken and the diminished.
May we have eyes to see
That no visitor arrives without a gift
And no guest leaves without a blessing.