“Unremarkable, esteemed because of neither its sublime
setting nor its functional importance of the community.”
In Landscapes of the Sacred, we learn about the concept of
Loca Sacra. Here, sacred place is described as ordinary but ritually made
extraordinary. For the space to become sacred, there must be some type of
ritual formed and experienced at the site. Lane states that sacred place is, “Unremarkable,
esteemed because of neither its sublime setting nor its functional importance
of the community.” I understand this often in my own life. Although it is not a
landscape, I consider the blue denim chair in my room a sacred place. This
chair, home to two pillows and an off-white throw, serves as my morning
sanctuary. There is a table that can be pulled up filled with devotional books
and post-it notes of dreams and scriptures. Here, in this chair, is where I
spend my personal time with God. It is where I locate myself every morning and
throughout the day when I want to de-center myself and be in communication with
God. To me, this chair has become sacred. I know that when I am in this chair,
performing the rituals of prayer and scripture reading, the corner in which it
sits becomes a sanctuary. I can also think back to different stages in my life
when I was sitting in the chair. Times of sorrow, praying that I would be
relieved of it, times of joy, praying that I would be able to stay in it, and
times of strength, knowing that it does not come from myself. I have
experienced much life in this little corner sanctuary. It does not fit the mold
of a landscape at all, but it does fit the mold of the loca sacra, with its ordinary-ness turned extraordinary through
spiritual ritual. Do you think the chair in my bedroom counts as a sacred
place? Or, is it too informal and personal to be labeled as such?
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