Seven Sacred Spaces
A book recommendation
Recently I’ve really enjoyed reading George Lings’ Seven Sacred Spaces – an approach to discipleship and community life as a church that draws on monastic tradition and theology of space. Lings suggests that seven spaces commonly found in monastic communities can act as a tool to help us think about our individual and communal spiritual lives. They are:
Cell (being alone with God)
Chapel (corporate public worship)
Chapter (making decisions)
Cloister (planned and surprising meetings)
Garden (the place of work)
Refectory (food and hospitality)
Scriptorium (study and passing on knowledge)
Lings writes about how these elements of the Christian life might be worked out by the individual and in community. In my role as discipleship enabler, I have mainly been reflecting on how individuals can apply these ideas to their everyday lives. In the Diocese of Sheffield we often talk about the importance of whole-life discipleship – of allowing one’s relationship with and worship of God to ‘spill over’ from Sundays into the rest of the week. We are called to be lights for Christ whenever and wherever we are – in all seven of the sacred spaces.
Lings’ book provides a helpful framework for thinking about this sort of thing. For me, it has been a useful tool for evaluating the ways in which my everyday life reflects my faith. I realised that I had carefully considered the way my work relates to God and the calling he has given me (garden), but that I hadn’t learned anything new for a while and would value taking part in a study course (scriptorium). I now also feel that I want to offer more hospitality as an expression of my faith (refectory), and so I’ve been thinking how I might go about that too.
For others, it may be that you are serving faithfully in church (chapel) but are left with little opportunity for time spent alone with God (cell). Maybe you are an important Christian presence to those you meet in your everyday life (cloister) and want to think more about how you can be a Christian influence in places where you have authority to make decisions (chapter), such as at work, church or within your community.
Using the Seven Sacred Spaces as a framework for discipleship can help us to see which parts of the Christian life are bearing fruit for us, and which might need a bit more work. In our Diocese, we are encouraging people to take on a Personal Rule of Life – a simple set of habits and practices that help us to structure our journey of following Jesus. If you’re looking to re-evaluate your current rhythm and spiritual practices, or want to go deeper in your discipleship, I highly recommend Seven Sacred Spaces to you.