August 2 - Sacred Space – A Community of Faith

I write this on the morning before the day of the 54^th annual Summer Chicken BBQ. Between now and late Saturday afternoon, 600 tarts will be wrapped. 600 potatoes will be baked. 600 containers of coleslaw and sour cream will be filled and 600 half chickens will be barbecued in the church parking lot. It will require many willing hands and souls to pull this off.

We are doing what communities of faith have done for millennia – coming together to live and work in community, because we believe in something more. Perhaps not many people know this, but we bless the meals at our barbecues before they go out, we bless them that they might serve as a symbol of God’s love, from our hands into the community and beyond. It’s just a barbecue, but we make it sacred.

So, this Sunday, in the fourth of our series on Sacred Space, we’ll ponder the nature of sacred space in a community of faith. What makes a community of faith different from any other group or gathering? Is it physical – the Communion table, the candles, the cross – or is it intentional, that we claim the gathering, the space, as sacred?

We’ll look at part of Paul’s letter to the Romans, particularly his greetings to the members of that fledgling community of faith. Is there something we can learn from the nature of those first congregations?

In the meantime, read Romans 16:1-16, and ponder the following:

1.       What emotions do you see in Paul’s series of greetings here?  

2.       How would you define a community of faith?

Image: Working together at the 53^rd annual summer chicken BBQ, 2025