As we reached the end of our week long exploration of Sacred Spaces, we look back at what we have seen, experienced and learned. This week we visited 10 different sacred spaces from a variety of religious traditions. Through out our time together, we learned a number of new and interesting things.
First, how a space is designed is important. At all of the spaces we visited, one thing was clear. The intentionality of the design of spaces was incredibly important. All of the spaces were specifically designed to invoke feelings when you entered, ranging from awe to warmth to deliberate discomfort. From the grandeur of the Basilica and Our Lady of Good Counsel to the simplicity of the Mosque and Meeting House, the thought and care that went into the spaces helped to prepare those who entered to engage with their faith on a personal level.
Second, what you see helps to inform how you feel. Every space we visited was different in how the religions showed their faith. In the Synagogue we saw representations of the 9 different Jewish holidays presented in stained glass. The variety of icons at Trinity Episcopal showed the connections to the past to the present. The resting place for the Guru Granth Sahib at the Gurdwara showed the reverence placed on this sacred text. From icons to images to plan walls, how the space was decorated helped to lend a sense of what each different tradition emphasized in worship and communicating with those who entered the space.
But perhaps the most important lesson we learned was that the space does not define the tradition. At each location we learned that the most important part of what made that place a community was not the space itself, but the people who occupied that space and made up the community of worshipers. The space is a vehicle for worship, but every place we visited emphasized that it was the people that were most important.
As we head out from IL, we feel prepared to engage more deeply with the religious traditions that make up the world in which we live. We learned that religious communities are made of two important elements, the space and the people. Asking questions helps us to understand the world we live in, and we feel better prepared to ask those questions. While today represents the end of our time together in this IL, it also represents a beginning of exploring the tapestry of faiths that make up our world.
