Sacred Space: How a Map Might Lead One to Jesus.
Almost a decade ago my grandparents passed. They were both ninety two years old and had lived on the same plot of land in the same house since before I was born. They inherited the homestead from my great grandparents, who lived there before them. When I was young, my parents and I lived on the property for a number of years. That land on the banks of Blackbeard Creek – a river actually - was not only my playground but my heritage. The property is in McIntosh County, Ga, a county named after my ancestors who settled there in 1734.
Even after I moved away, I returned to the old homestead every year to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my grandparents. I would walk the dirt roads with my cousins, throw the football on the plot that used to be the garden, and stroll down to the dock to take in the view of the river and Blackbeard Sound.
When my grandparents died, my father and aunt decided to sell the property. I was taken aback by how deeply their decision affected me. So many life events were centered on this place. So many relationships played out under those giant oak trees draped with Spanish moss. When the property sold, the sense of loss was more profound than I anticipated. It was a good reminder of the power of place.
When I made a decision to follow Jesus the congregations in which I worshipped communicated a suspicion of place and space. Buildings were appreciated for their utilitarian value but little else. One might visit places of religious significance as a tourist, but the idea of going on a pilgrimage to a “sacred” place seemed odd at best and an effort to earn God’s favor at worst. As N.T. Wright says, there is sometimes a sense that place and buildings “could actually get in the way.”[1]
It seems some traditions have forgotten the implications of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt with humanity in real space and time. Jesus walked roads, sailed on lakes, was baptized in a river, prayed on mountainsides, worshipped in synagogues, and ate in homes. These roads, rivers, lakes, mountains, towns and cities remind us of God’s love and grace extended to us in tangible ways in tangible space.
The history of God’s dealing with Israel reveals the many times God showed up in a place: The Red Sea, Mt. Sinai, the Jordan River, Jericho, Bethel and Jerusalem. The leaders of Israel and the authors of Scripture encouraged the people to know these places and remember why they were important. Often they set up standing stones as a memorial so that the memory of the place would not be lost. Spaces, places and buildings didn’t “get in the way” of faith. Instead they served as markers to deepen faith.
The short film Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known recounts the delightful story of Alan Torrance. Alan lived in Pitlochry Parish, Scotland all his life. He knew the small town and the surrounding land in a way that comes from being rooted in a place for an extended time. He also knew the inhabitants in a way that comes with a long experience in one place with the same people.
Alan was not a believer, but was invited to study the book of John with a group from the local church. As he read the stories of Jesus he tried to grasp the scale of the regions described by John. During one study he asked for a map. When he realized that the scale of the area around the Sea of Galilee was the same as the scale of the area he grew up in, he came to a profound realization. From experience he knew that when you grow up in a small town you are known. It isn’t easy to pull the wool over someone’s eyes in a small town. He surmised that in such a setting, it would have been nearly impossible for Jesus to convince people he was something he wasn’t . For Alan, the tipping point leading to faith was not the text of Scripture, but a map.
The profound significance of place is why I’m so looking forward to the upcoming “Land and Text” Learning Retreat le
d by Dr. Mark Ziese. We’ll spend a lot of time with maps, and pictures of the mountains, lakes, roads, rivers, buildings, towns and cities that played host to our Lord when he walked this earth. In the process we may come to deeper faith just as Alan found Jesus through his study of place.
The “Land and Text” Learning Retreat is August 8-12, 2022 at Country Lake Retreat in Underwood. Indiana. Dr. Ziese is a Bible scholar, archaeologist and world traveler who taught at Cincinnati Christian Seminary and later Johnson University.
Register For Learning Retreat Here
[1] The Way of the Lord, Pg. 2