Rearranging the chairs

Today we made a daring move in our church - we rearranged the chairs!

Yes, I know, it sounds like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic - of no significance to the larger direction of our parish. But changes in the arrangement of the worship space can be deeply threatening and strongly resisted by those who feel at home in the church.

I think this is because we have a sense of space when we worship that reinforces our sense of security and comfort. When we're sitting in our "place" in worship, we feel that the world is somehow right. "All's well in God's heaven." When our "place" is disturbed, we feel out of joint, displaced, jarred, unfamiliar.

What we did today was to create a center aisle in our church by moving the chairs forward and by angling the side sections. This makes more of a feel of openness and brings more of a focus to the center.

The change was made by me, with the encouragement of our Bishop's Warden, Bob Meith, and the members of the Liturgy and Music Commission at the beginning of their monthly meeting.

I'm sure we'll hear lots of feedback about this move, and I hope that our members will be resilient and flexible about this change. After all, sometimes a little change is good for us!
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