Sacred Space Book

I don’t know if anyone has heard about a book called Sacred Space - A Hands-On Guide to Creating Multisensensory Worship Experiences for Youth Ministry by Dan Kimball & Lilly Lewin. It's pretty new (Nov. 2008) but is already being widely promoted for youth ministry - from some big denominations to Youth Specialties (here). Even the Mennonites are promoting this book (here). Not surprisingly, it's also available at our local Christian book store. I'm sure that when those who are already wary (and weary) of emerging church teachings see a book like this, they might immediately say, oh ya, that's just another book by Dan Kimball, the emerging church guy. He’s into Lectio Divina and labyrinths and contemplative spirituality and all that. We’re tired of hearing about it. Yawn.

Okay fine. But did you notice that Sacred Space is co-authored by someone named Lilly Lewin? Who’s that, you say. I asked the same thing, so I did some searching.

On Zondervan’s website, not only can you take a look at this book but you can also read about co-author Lilly Lewin:

Lilly Lewin is the curator of Thin Place (1): a creative resource for folks who want to move their worship beyond preaching and singing and encounter God in fresh ways. She loves bringing liturgy new life, creating worship experiences, and pushing the envelope of youth ministry. Lilly has helped to design and execute many of the sacred spaces at the National Youth Worker Conventions and Emergent Village Gatherings. She’s married to Rob and has two sons, Mac and Hudson, and Fred the Wonder Spaniel.
-www.zondervan.com

I’m sure the family and the dog are very nice, and I don’t mean to target anyone personally, but we are instructed in the Bible to be discerning. I’m sure she’s a very nice person, but on Lilly Lewin’s blog (aidanslegacy.typepad.com/lillylewin) we learn that she honors the anniversary of Thomas Merton’s death, participates in contemplative practices such as Lectio Divina, and makes annual pilgrimages to the Abbey of Gethsemane, to name just a few things.

Now this might not ring a huge Buddhist bell for many of you, but this abbey she promotes isn’t just any old abbey, this is Thomas Merton’s abbey, which is well known for its numerous interfaith "dialogues" between Catholics and Buddhists. In fact, one of the talks at a meeting there last year was called: MONASTICISM FOR THE GOOD OF THE EARTH: BUDDHISTS AND CATHOLICS SPEAKING WITH ONE VOICE. This whole thing all started back in the 70’s when three monks (inspired by Thomas Merton) were part of an interspiritualist meeting at this very same abbey. Their names were Thomas Keating, William Meninger and Basil Pennington. (Source: HERE)

The whole point here is that there is always more to these books and things than meets the eye. Most Christian parents are not even aware of what is being promoted to soup up their youth group’s basement/worship space. But just take some time to check it out and see if these things they recommend are biblical. They say it is, but really now…Thomas Merton said he was deeply impregnated with Sufism (that's the mystical tradition of Islam). Hullo.

So here are some questions that people should be looking into. Who is teaching the youth? What are they learning at youth retreats? What are they doing at youth? And what about those youth conferences? Are they learning the Bible? Or are they being turned into the new kind of Christian - the interfaith, interspiritual, contemplative, new monastic kind of Christian?

Wake up church. So what if the authors have cool blogs and their books look attractive? So what if they like prayer stations and water stations and experiental worship things (browse Sacred Space Table of Contents)? Who is teaching these things? What are they into? Interspirituality? Is this what God honors? Come on! Get those popular books out of your youth leaders’ offices, your church libraries, your Christian book stores, and out of your homes. Talk about sacred space...how about putting the Bible back in the place where it belongs (first) and teaching the youth to love God’s Word!

In this case, 2 Kings 22 and 23 might be a really great place to start, to see what good King Josiah did about the interspiritual sacred spaces of his time.

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Endnotes:

(1) What is a thin place?

What is a thin place? To discern the difference between an ordinary place and a thin place, one must use a spiritual perspective. In simple terms a ‘thin place’ is a place where the veil between this world and the Other world is thin, the Other world is more near. This meaning assumes the perceiver senses the existence of a world beyond what we know through our five senses. Since the times of ancient civilization the fascination with the "Other world" has occupied human minds. To some it is heaven, the kingdom, paradise. To others it may be hell, an abyss, the unknown. Whatever you perceive the Other world to be, a thin place is a place where connection to that world seems effortless, and ephemeral signs of its existence are almost palpable.

Mahatma Ghandi in his Spiritual Message to the World in 1931, speaks of this.

“There is an indefinable, mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen power that makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses”

-http://www.thinplaces.net/openingarticle.htm