"When you come together" (1 Cor 14:26) suggests the house gathering as a parliament to understand and interpret the thoughts and intentions of the heart, to make sense of Yahweh's actions against the human heart's rigidity and slavery where self-love rises in worldly wisdom to the disregard of God and his plans in the earth.
This participatory and communal aspect of the ecclesial archetype, therefore, is not merely a physical coming together, but a profound spiritual and intellectual union. It is in this sacred space of mutual edification that the 'body' of Christ is most tangibly manifested. Each member, in exercising their unique gifts and graces, contributes to the edification of the whole, thereby embodying the Apostle Paul's metaphor of the church as a body with many interdependent parts.
The term "sacred space" in the context of the ecclesial archetype, therefore, is not confined to a specific physical location, but rather, it refers to any opportunity for the Kingdom of God to break through into the mundane. This often occurs unexpectedly whenever we make room for God to act and speak in total freedom, without respect to persons and conventions. It is a call to action reminiscent of the injunction in the prophets of old: "go up to the mountain, cut wood and build my temple that I may take pleasure in it and that it might go well with you". In the act of coming together, the church creates a "sacralized space" amidst the ordinary, inviting the transformative power of God's presence and the in-breaking of His kingdom.