“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 ESV

I was in a church service recently where the message was about praying big prayers. The point was that we should pray specific, seemingly impossible prayers and watch what God might do. Afterward, they challenged us to write out a prayer on the walls of the sanctuary. One of them essentially said this: “God, help me meet Bill Gates so that we can cure AIDS.”

Now, maybe it’s just the cynicism of my nature, but for some reason I just couldn’t help but laugh at that prayer. Is that what the pastor meant when he said to pray big, seemingly impossible prayers? It definitely fits the description. But is that big faith, or just unpractical?

I can pray that God would have president Obama call me today and schedule a press conference where I get to share the gospel on all TV stations throughout the world, but let’s be honest… nobody actually thinks that’s gonna happen.

So where is the line between big faith, and being practical? Should there even a line when it comes to faith?

⁵Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5 ESV

I’m in a class about church culture right now, and we talked about this question a couple weeks ago. Is there such thing as ‘sacred space’? Are there places or things on earth that are ‘sacred’? Conflict in Israel tells us there are some religious groups who think so, but what do you think? Is there any literal holiness in the Holy Land?

On a more practical level, is there anything ‘sacred’ about where churches meet? Or think about it this way: Does God care about the environment where we gather? Is God at all interested in gathering space? And now more personally: Do we care about it? Everybody knows we spend time thinking about it.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts as I process this. Are there any passages that address this issue?