There was a time when the world was all one. There was no sacred, no profane, no real, no supernatural … only a world as the expression of God’s creation.  As the eons passed, as human thought and action created cities, specialized in crafts and what we call scientific inquiry, the distinction between secular and spiritual grew. In those ancient times when people began to gather in towns and cities, no matter where, there was a compulsion, a need to create sacred spaces.  On the Yucatan Peninsula, the hills of Greece, the enigmatic Gobekli Tepe in Turkey,  on the Isle de le cite in what was Paris, the Cathedral of Notre Dame and thousands of other places became vehicles for forming space that was set apart from the everyday … holy. The progenitor of each was woven out of many threads, some personal, most communal, whether to elevate the importance of leadership or worship or both.  The spaces were underwritten with contributions from the general populace in both labor and however donations and what we deem to be taxation were configured. Each space drew people to its purpose with a promise of commonality, a place where all were of the same kind, where life was supported in all its levels.  Each was a sacred space set apart from daily life where ordinary people might enter to be transformed by being in proximity to the power of the sacred. Next year, the people who follow the Buffalo Bills football team will enjoy the completion of a new Highmark football stadium.  At the cost of 850 million dollars, Erie County will donate 250 million dollars and New York State will contribute 600 million dollars … all representing donations from the people who paid taxes in both.  A modern secular space. How many attended the concerts of popular performers, paying outrageous amounts to go and finding a kind of exultation in the proximity of similar fans?  Modern secular spaces? Think about a political rally with banners flying, bands playing, those in attendance wearing talisman like clothing to identify themselves to each other?   A modern secular space. Are these substitutes for sacred spaces? Do these meet the nature of a sacred space, where the area so designated holds the connection to what we call sacred, above secular, transforming toward a better self?  What moral, ethical compulsion is satisfied? We need sacred spaces. Whether it is “forest bathing,” enjoying the infusion of nature in lives where nature is sacred, or attending the building where one’s faith community worships,  the need for that special place continues. Artificial intelligence cannot create a sacred space.  The sacredness of a space is created by those who built or entered it because it was thought to be sacred.  The “sacredness” emerges from the belief system of the people. We can attend athletic events, scream support for a talented entertainer, support our favorite political party, but without acknowledgement of that which is sacred, we lose what the ancients knew was central to our beings. This year, as the denigration of a broken world intrudes on our lives, can we not elevate the importance of those spaces we consider sacred, making room in our secular lives for them and, yes, create our own, around the Christmas tree, the Hannukah celebrations, the dinner table, the family gathering emphasizing the relationships we have with one another and our God?  Without the sacred, the secular, the dry, vacillating morality of power and deceit will fill the void. And on this Christmas day, find the sacred in the Christian tradition as the angels say, “Peace on Earth to men of good will,” or as Henry David Thoreau said, “ “The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much.”