May 7, 2009-What is A Sacred Place?-Adrienne Jones

In “Landscapes of the Sacred,” Lane emphasized the historical, and spiritual significance of sacred place. He challenges us, the readers, to see sacred place as not only a physical venue, but also a place of great importance to people, because of the rituals and activities that happened there. This definitely made me think….could any place be a sacred place? As a person of the Christian faith, it is difficult for me to understand that anything other than a place of religious importance. But when I think of my childhood memories, I can believe otherwise. I remember, when I was a little girl, living in Germany and living at home with my mother, father, and older sister. Each winter, it snowed A LOT—or at least it seemed like a lot to me because I was only about 3 feet tall. I remember putting on my huge snow suit and playing around in the woods with my older sister. When we got really cold, we went back inside to a bowl of chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate with extra marsh-mellows and mom and dad anxiously waited to hear stories of our great adventures in the snow. These types of family experiences really brought us together. Although this is not the physical Heaven where we all wish to be when we pass away, it was definitely Heaven, here on Earth. So is a sacred place just a religious venue? No, it is that is given significance by any particular person because of their experiences there.