Park benches have legs. As in—they tend to get up and move from time to time. There are a few locations I frequent where benches I previously used for park bench prayer are no longer in their original spot. They’re usually only 10 to 20 feet away, so I am able to keep track of which benches I have and have not used. But all these park benches wandering around made me question, “Is it the location that’s sacred or the bench itself? Do I need to reuse that bench now that it’s in a different place? How far does the bench have to move before I would feel compelled to pray there again?” Two experiences helped me finally solidify the answer to these questions.

One particular bench at Centennial Lakes Park in Edina, Minnesota, was moved a considerable distance from the spot where I had originally used it for park bench prayer. When I ultimately reused that park bench, while appreciating the different view, I discerned I needn’t have come back to that bench. It had already been sanctified five months prior. Several months after this experience, I noticed new park benches installed around a senior living center, replacing existing benches. Since these were not the same benches I had used previously for park bench prayer, I felt a strong need to pray there again. Mystery solved. The sacred space is the park bench itself.