• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Into the Mystic
  • Sacred Space

Sacred Space

by Dorhauer, John | published on Oct 4, 2021

Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript

So I have this gift. Gift? Is that the right word?

I don’t know.

I have this ability. I can walk into a sanctuary and sense immediately whether or not the spirit has been welcomed or resisted in it.

Not all houses of worship are equal.

I have long said that worship is nothing more than an invitation to encounter the sacred. As a designer of worship, I want only to open up avenues and pathways for people first to meet a God who comes without inhibition and then to respond to whom they meet without inhibition.

That’s what worship should be.

But we all and we often design limitations both ways: to the movement and presence of a God who can move without inhibition and to a people whose responses are scripted and limited to what decorum mandates.

So, in some settings shouting an Amen! in affirmation of a well preached word is frowned upon even when it is the authentic response to the revelation of the God whose word is being faithfully preached. In other places it is expected, so much so that a preacher often has to ask for it: “Can I get an Amen!”

In some settings there might dancing in jubilation is frowned upon while in others it is expected – and so you do it whether you feel it or not.

Prayers can be scripted and familiar hymns can grow stale and every act of standing and sitting commanded for you in a bulletin.

Its someone’s job to tell the children to sit still and stay quiet – even when the music wants them to tap their toes or whistle.

Silence, one of the ways in which God can be known and heard, is often hard to come by.

Sanctuaries themselves either enhance or inhibit the ability of the gathered to feel the presence and movement of God; and can limit the full array of responses one can offer when God is found and felt.

This isn’t my way of saying that one style of worship or one style of architecture is right and another is wrong – all of that is subjective and contextual. It is me saying that good worship leaders know what feeds the soul and spirit and what inhibits it for their gathered community. It is me saying that in every generation the architects of worship need to be aware of the changes in their community, aware of what feeds their spiritual hungers, and willing to make the necessary shifts to accommodate those changes needs.

Time makes ancient good uncouth wrote the poet. What was will not always be. God can show up anywhere, anytime, any way. But we can deprive ourselves of access to the sacred if we allow the spontaneous to accede to the familiar, the nostalgic to displace the next, or previous success to define and limit future needs.  

That’s what I know intuitively when I walk into a setting, even when its empty: whether or not the sacred has been cultivated for today’s needs or commemorated for past expectations.

I pray we all find our way to sacred – however we get there. Its all good – so long as it restores rather than remembers. May the ever-present God find a way into our conscience presence by whatever means necessary, as we remain always open to encounters that promise to surprise and enliven our souls and spirits on this, our journey Into the Mystic.

Categories: Column Into the Mystic

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

Into the Mystic

Kindland

Listen to the...

Read More
Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

Climate Hope

Earlier this week, a couple of related items in my social media feed serendipitously arrived...

Read More
Justice & Peace Action Network Monthly Newsletter

JPANet February 2023 Newsletter

Each month we ask UCC advocates to help us unpack the complex justice issues that we’re...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative