The chancel prominently featured two decorative menorah and a large marble ark for the Torah with a new baptistery in front. It was a sacred space. This week several of us will go to children's camp at Butman, a Methodist encampment near Merkel. We will worship in a low ceilinged room in a cinder block building, but its precious to me because both of my sons and my step daughter made their profession of faith there three years ago when I was camp preacher. It, too, is a sacred space.
Sacred space is less about structure than experience, of course.
People encounter God in a particular place, and they naturally want to build a monument, preserve the experience, pass it on to the next generation. But we have to be careful about our holy places. A church building should be more like a hospital than a museum. It is God's house, but not we must be careful neither to lock God into it nor lock God's beloved people out. King David was reminded of this when he wanted to build Israel's God a Temple in Jerusalem.