Worship Space
St. Michael's has been meeting in our current building for about 10 years now. We've been worshipping in a big room which was originally meant to be temporary until the church could build a proper nave, at which time the big room would turn into the fellowship hall, or something like that.
But now, the church has realized that our financial situation and priorities mean that we will probably be worshipping in that room for several more years, at least. So, we're beginning to think about how the space can be made more permanent, and how to best arrange it for the liturgy.
How a liturgical space is arranged is important, and can say a lot about how the worshipping community sees itself and the community's relationship to God. Brent Bates wrote a good essay about this a while ago on his blog. You should read it.
So, for the next few months, St. Michael's is going to be experimenting with various arrangements of our main space. To begin the process, there was a program last night in which we discussed our past experiences of worship within different spaces. The questions/issues we were asked to consider were:
- Describe an experience when you were profoundly/keenly/strongly aware of God's presence. What, if anything, about the environment may have contributed to your awareness?
- Describe a space that for you has evoked wonder, awe, and/or praise. What were the physical characteristics of that space that evoked your feelings?
- Describe the first time you remember worshipping at St. Michael's new building on Cantrell Road. What stands out to you about that experience?
- At what point(s) in the Eucharist do you feel that God is present to you, and you to God? If this has changed over the years, what were the other points which have been significant to you?
- Relative to other places you have worshipped, what about our current worship space enhances or distracts from your experience of God?
Any thoughts?
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You know what's a good book partially dealing with this subject-- Thomas Howard's Evangelical Is not Enough. He eventually became Catholic, but when he wrote the book he was a high-church Episcopalian, I believe, and the book focuses on the soul's spiritual needs answered by a more developed liturgy & worship space. It's quite good and an easy read.
8/03/2005 3:57 PM
Hey Brian. Thanks for the link to my post on space. I'm trying to muster up the energy to write a post on Politics & Church, but I've been so busy trying to prepare for my first comp that happens a week from tomorrow on Cranmer! You might know about these books, but if not, here are some must-read recommendations from the Liturgical Space seminar I took at Drew that focus a lot on interior layout along with architectural considerations.
Richard Giles' _Re-pitching the Ten: Reordering the Church Building for Worship and Mission_ has great pictures (I love pictures!) and much practical discussion.
Another indispensible work is James F. White and Susan F. White's _Church Architecture: Building and Renovating for Christian Worship_. This might be out-of-print, but not likely hard to find used.
Good luck!
8/03/2005 5:46 PM
_Repitching the TENT_ not "ten."
8/03/2005 5:48 PM
Oh, I know of another book that deals with this--_From Sacred Spaces to Meeting Places_. I haven't gotten it yet, but it deals with the drive to make the traditional sacred space into just a "meeting place" and why that's spiritually harmful. It is a Catholic book, however, but I would think it still helpful.
8/04/2005 11:05 AM
I have never even heard of the idea that the arrangment of the furniture in a church service would/should even be an issue! This is news to me. It seems like just another unecessary thing to have to worry about.
8/04/2005 11:44 AM
Thanks, Kate and Brent. I'll try to find some of those books.
Thanks, Joan. This certainly isn't the most important thing to worry about. In fact, in our discussion of the above questions, there was a lot of talk about people, and how the members of a church contribute the most in forming others' impressions of a place.
However, I do think that how things are arranged is meaningful. While the above questions focussed on space and God, another important dimension is how space can help or inhibit a sense of community.
For example, Garnett Church of Christ in Tulsa is famous for its round worship space. Instead of a retangle filled with rows, in which people can only see the backs of the heads of the people in front of them, the pulpit is in the center of a circle of seats. This way, people can see each others' faces - it can help remind you of the family/community with which you are worshipping.
As another example, I found this post (complete with a picture) by a Church of Christ minister. I wouldn't like some of his recommendations (like sofas instead of pews). And I think it's interesting that he still refers to the "auditorium" and the "stage" after complaining that the current way his curch does worship seems too much like a "show". But he's thinking about some of the same kind of issues.
8/04/2005 1:30 PM
Okay, well, yes, I have heard of things like that. Circles instead of rectangles. I guess I just didn't realize people had put so much thought into this. Very interesting indeed. Thanks Brian Harmon!
8/04/2005 1:42 PM
For the record, I'm not church of Christ... I used to be, but am not anymore. I attend and work with an independent Christian church now, but consider myself to be simply Christian.
also, I used "auditorium" & "stage" merely for practical purposes. These are terms that people are familiar with.
I would much rather call it a meeting place or gathering room or something like that... but for now, I'm just using familiar terminology just to bridge the gap.
Nice blog, by the way... some really good thoughts here. I will most certainly be a repeat offender here. :-)
8/04/2005 4:27 PM
Sorry, Brian! Thanks for the correction.
Don't worry about my "stage" comment. That's just my snooty Episcopalianism coming through. :)
Wow. It's kinda scary to think that more than just a few people are actually going to read my blog!
8/04/2005 4:34 PM
I remember being fairly impressed with Garnett's setup when I visited there as a lad (during the Tusla Soul-Winning Workshop).
I wonder why more churches haven't adopted it. What might be some of the negative aspects of the arrangement? One that comes to my mind is the difficulty for the preacher - which way should he look? Does he have to keep turning round and round as he preaches?
8/04/2005 4:43 PM
Uh, yeah, that's "Tulsa", not "Tusla."
Reminds me of what Fr. Jake had to say today: Proof the Text, Then Proof It Again.
8/04/2005 4:49 PM
Joan,
I appreciate your impression of the seeming insignificance of this issue of space. At one time, I would have also thought it wasn't a big deal. I agree with Brian that it isn't the most important thing to worry about. I would certainly say that social justice issues rank above space issues. And I wouldn't want to go to a church that only worried about their flower arrangements and not the Hispanic migrant workers paid very little for their near-slave labor.
But I do think that sometimes things that don't seem important can actually be quite important. What made it clear to me was when I realized that the way we organize our space tells us something about our values. Is the baptistery up high front and center? Or is the altar? Or the pulpit? Or the organ? Churches of every stripe and color choose one of these options or others. Likely the thing that is front and center and up high is the most important to that church.
But we don't reflect about this often enough. What if we realize that our values are a little mixed up, especially if another generation of people organized the space. Or what if we realize that the way our church is organized is not really the way Christians have thought best displays its values over history. Is admission into church the most important (thus, a high baptistery) or is the community and relationships most important (thus a central altar) or is the preacher's sermon most important (thus a central pulpit)? Or like in most CofC's there is a central pulpit and baptistery up high and center. That really tells you something about what is central. But perhaps a congregation in the CofC wants to emphasize community relationships more. Might it be significant to place the communion table where the pulpit normally goes and the pulpit off to the side?
Or what if we wanted to emphasize ministry to the poor? For example, my church that has a central altar (not pulpit), each week invites the children to bring forward bags of canned goods and non perishables to place at the foot of the altar for the local food bank. These items are brought up when the communion elements and money offering are brought up to the table. It symbolizes the offering of the community in tangible ways. And it remains there at the center of the sanctuary throughout the service. And it is placed at the altar--the center of the church building--that symbolizes the heart of the community and Jesus' presence in that community. It wouldn't be quite so powerful if the children brought up the food and placed it at the side of the pulpit.
I like to think of these issues similar to the way we organize our homes. We don't just throw our bedrooms together like we're decorating a hospital room. We don't organize our living rooms like we would classrooms. They show our values. Are the sofas and chairs in circles for conversation? Or do they all face the TV? Or are they arranged around coffee tables? Or game tables? What feeling do we try to create with the colors and the lighting? We may think consciously about making our living room feel "homey" but we don't often think about the values it reflects. I think we don't often consciously realize, for example, how important the kitchen space is (except maybe when we're buying a home).
I think we OUGHT to think more about the theological implications of our space. But certainly not too much if it means the starving in our city are going to get more hungry.
8/04/2005 6:59 PM
ALL good thoughts! Thank you.
8/05/2005 11:20 AM
I've been just wandering around (on the net) the last couple of days, mostly reading from a lot of the other blogs you have links to on yours. And I've been thinking about this post about worship space. I don't know exactly what I think about how much effort, time, and money shoud be spent on arranging a building. I mean, I too, liked Garnett's "in the round" worship space, but I have worshipped just as "worshipfully" (for lack of being able to put it better) in my own home or on Grandma's porch this summer as I have in any church building I've ever been in. So I'm not saying that it's wrong to have buildings and to think about how to arrange and decorate the space, I just don't know how much importance we should put on that. Anyway, if you want some more food for thought, look at two posts on a blog that was linked to one of yours, (and I'm just going to type in the URL because I don't know how to make one of those clickable links) www.tentpegs.blogspot.com. The first post "Nothing But Bragging" was actually about the elders in the church where the man is the minister, but he has alot of interesting thoughts about buildings. The second one is "Inadequate Agents of Change." Again, food for thought about buildings and what our focus should really be. And, by the way, I think Dad may know this guy, Patrick Mead, I think he was a presenter at Summitt in Columbus, one year. His blog was linked to Scribere Orare Est, which was linked to yours. Small world, huh?
8/05/2005 3:50 PM
Thanks, Mom. Those are both good posts over at Tent Pegs.
It's definitely easy to get wrapped up in the building.
I'm glad that St. Michael's tries to focus on "Outreach" (that menu item has the most stuff in it on our website). I think the original intention of the founders was not to even have a building. But even so, we don't really do enough, and I confess that I'm not very involved in what outreach there is...
By the way, are you and Dad still coming by here on your way to Houston next week? In Houston there's a church which might be an example of focussing too much on buildings: Lakewood Church - they now worship in a former basketball stadium.
8/05/2005 4:16 PM
Oh, and yes, a churchy building is definitely not necessary for "worshipful" worship.
Lots of people at St. Michael's mentioned that their most worshipful experiences had occurred out in nature at Camp Mitchell on church retreats.
Also, I remember when we used to worship at that country dance-hall, Scooters. And once while I was in Turkey with Harding, we worshipped in the bar of our hotel...
And finally, I nominate Brent to take over writing my blog for me.
8/05/2005 4:36 PM
I didn't mean to write so much. I hope you don't feel encroached upon. Anyway, I enjoy reading what YOU have to say. And commenting back. Obviously. ;)
8/05/2005 8:33 PM
No, feel free to comment away!
8/07/2005 2:00 PM
Yes, we are still coming to your house on the way to Houston. (That's this Saturday, the 13th!) Anyway I don't know about going to that Lakewood Church, we usually just go with Mom. I don't think Laura is coming with us. See you soon!
8/08/2005 8:30 AM
Here's an interesting article about how liturgical space is arranged (and where people should be within it):
http://home.earthlink.net/~tshbsg/peoplelookeast.htm
8/25/2005 12:56 PM
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