Faith Works 5-15-2026
Jeff Gill
When sacred space is somewhere nearby
___
Sacred space is usually thought of as a church, a place for gathering with intentions beyond the purely personal.
Sacred spaces can be very different in appearance, some with stained glass and ornamentation, others very simple in architecture, with a minimum of ornamentation. You may have pointed window frames calling back to the Gothic era, or just plain double-hung windows and plain glass looking out into nature.
We have our local elements of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, the Octagon and Great Circle units of the Newark Earthworks, places for gathering some two thousand years ago. No ceilings for the most part, but enclosures with designated entrances, and room for many to come inside.
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church has high ceilings and expansive seating with a history back into the 1840s; More Life Church east of Newark is in a much adapted school building, revised to house a worship space and educational rooms. Small frame buildings dotted across the Licking County landscape, Methodist and Baptist and Presbyterian and more, give shelter to a Sunday service, no matter how small; large non-denominational structures have been built in the last few decades, without windows to support audio-visual resources once rare in worship life, now much more common.
Sacred spaces can be very different; we all know this on some level or another. And for some, church buildings carry some anxiety, even some anger, from past experiences with established communities, and even a congregation different from the one you had issues with can push some buttons for you. That’s why a few point to natural spots, groves of trees, and yes, golf courses, and say “that’s my sacred space.” And I think it true that any place where you can find God’s presence made more immediate in your life can be a sacred space. Black Hand Gorge comes up often in this guide, and places like the Japanese Garden at The Dawes Arboretum, too.
Sacred spaces sometimes come to an end. My home church, the sanctuary where I was baptized, had to be demolished; my ordination was under a tent next door to it before that final step came. There’s a parking lot there now. (Cue Joni Mitchell.)
Other sacred spaces get repurposed; I could do a chapel tour at Denison of all the places and spaces the original Baptist institution used before Swasey Chapel was built a century ago. The oldest church building in the county houses the United Way today; in between it was a muffler shop, a Hudson dealership, a bank office. All along, the 1834 tower shows the original purpose, sticking up in the midst of all the change.
Then there’s Ross’ Granville Market. It is no more. Lucky's Market will open there May 22nd, and I wish the new owners well. You might say there’s really no change here, still a grocery store, and not a sacred space. But I would disagree. Not only is there planned a major internal renovation, but it marks the end of an era. It feels like a church closing, even as a new congregation has bought the building and most of the furnishings.
Ross’ Market has been a place I’ve been familiar with through a couple of renovations even under the same management. The Ross family, which will justly be the grand marshals of the Fourth of July parade in Granville, has been a familiar and welcoming presence as long as many of us can recall; I could ask Greg about an item and see it on the shelves the next week, and that happened many times.
But it’s the “liminal space” aspect of Ross Market that I will be watching in that same building, to see how it returns. And it will. A place between home, and elsewhere, a spot where you might intend to meet people, but more often you met people you weren’t expecting. And conversations I had in the produce department have ended up being repeated in memorial services.
Sacred space, indeed.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he likes to go shopping for produce. Tell him where your sacred spaces are at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on X.
Jeff Gill
When sacred space is somewhere nearby
___
Sacred space is usually thought of as a church, a place for gathering with intentions beyond the purely personal.
Sacred spaces can be very different in appearance, some with stained glass and ornamentation, others very simple in architecture, with a minimum of ornamentation. You may have pointed window frames calling back to the Gothic era, or just plain double-hung windows and plain glass looking out into nature.
We have our local elements of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, the Octagon and Great Circle units of the Newark Earthworks, places for gathering some two thousand years ago. No ceilings for the most part, but enclosures with designated entrances, and room for many to come inside.
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church has high ceilings and expansive seating with a history back into the 1840s; More Life Church east of Newark is in a much adapted school building, revised to house a worship space and educational rooms. Small frame buildings dotted across the Licking County landscape, Methodist and Baptist and Presbyterian and more, give shelter to a Sunday service, no matter how small; large non-denominational structures have been built in the last few decades, without windows to support audio-visual resources once rare in worship life, now much more common.
Sacred spaces can be very different; we all know this on some level or another. And for some, church buildings carry some anxiety, even some anger, from past experiences with established communities, and even a congregation different from the one you had issues with can push some buttons for you. That’s why a few point to natural spots, groves of trees, and yes, golf courses, and say “that’s my sacred space.” And I think it true that any place where you can find God’s presence made more immediate in your life can be a sacred space. Black Hand Gorge comes up often in this guide, and places like the Japanese Garden at The Dawes Arboretum, too.
Sacred spaces sometimes come to an end. My home church, the sanctuary where I was baptized, had to be demolished; my ordination was under a tent next door to it before that final step came. There’s a parking lot there now. (Cue Joni Mitchell.)
Other sacred spaces get repurposed; I could do a chapel tour at Denison of all the places and spaces the original Baptist institution used before Swasey Chapel was built a century ago. The oldest church building in the county houses the United Way today; in between it was a muffler shop, a Hudson dealership, a bank office. All along, the 1834 tower shows the original purpose, sticking up in the midst of all the change.
Then there’s Ross’ Granville Market. It is no more. Lucky's Market will open there May 22nd, and I wish the new owners well. You might say there’s really no change here, still a grocery store, and not a sacred space. But I would disagree. Not only is there planned a major internal renovation, but it marks the end of an era. It feels like a church closing, even as a new congregation has bought the building and most of the furnishings.
Ross’ Market has been a place I’ve been familiar with through a couple of renovations even under the same management. The Ross family, which will justly be the grand marshals of the Fourth of July parade in Granville, has been a familiar and welcoming presence as long as many of us can recall; I could ask Greg about an item and see it on the shelves the next week, and that happened many times.
But it’s the “liminal space” aspect of Ross Market that I will be watching in that same building, to see how it returns. And it will. A place between home, and elsewhere, a spot where you might intend to meet people, but more often you met people you weren’t expecting. And conversations I had in the produce department have ended up being repeated in memorial services.
Sacred space, indeed.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he likes to go shopping for produce. Tell him where your sacred spaces are at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on X.
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