Upper Room

[DarylMadden]

As I was reading Acts 1:13 last week, something came to me. I’ve heard criticism from evangelicals about catholics are too tied to a building. In Acts 1:13, the apostles and others gathering in an “upper room”. This is different place than Jesus taught us to pray in an “inner room”. To me an upper room is a place not of this world but above it. This is a place mentioned numerous times in the bible, a place when people gathered to do numerous things.

• Acts 9:37, a place where a body was laid (Peter healed)
• Acts 1:14, a place were they were continually devoted to prayer
• Luke 22:12, a place were Jesus celebrated the first eucharist
  and there is probably more.
  I believe that the bible teaches us that the Catholic church is correct in setting aside a special holy place for worship and it is not just a building.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

I think that’s an excellent insight. I’d never thought of that before. It occurs to me that setting aside a “holy place” is not simply limited to examples of the upper room, either. There are numerous places in the Bible where Christ withdraws from the world to pray. He goes into the desert and He goes alone into the Garden of Gethsemane. It makes pefect sense that the people of God would follow His example and set aside holy places for worship.