Meaningful community can be a blessing in each of our lives. It can help us to weather the storms in our life and in our world. It can steady us when so much seems overwhelming and uncertain. Sanctuary can be the place where we acknowledge different milestones in life and come together to celebrate and to comfort one another. We need the “blessing called sanctuary.”

Sanctuary is also an experience. Karina Antonopoulos says, “Where you belong is where you choose to constantly choose to show up.” I would add that how you choose to show up is also what makes a sanctuary a holy place. Being present to one another and creating places of belonging for our whole selves and for others makes a sanctuary, indeed, a sanctuary.