Easter 5 St Peter's 18 May 2003
Revd Mark Bonney
We have all probably been told from time to time, and may have even told others, that we shouldn't judge by appearances - it's of course true that the smartly dressed person can be unkind and horrible, and the dirty scruff the kindest person around. But it would also be fair to say that however good you might think you are, if for example, you were having an interview for a new job I'd like to bet you'd take some care about the clothes you wore so that they set the tone for what was going to happen when you opened your mouth.
And we do that because although appearances aren't the ultimate decider they speak volumes. It's the same with shops - the ambiance of a coffee shop or restaurant, of a clothes shop or a supermarket will to some degree be set by the windows dressing, the décor, the lighting - it can be far harder for us to believe that a place serves wonderful food, if the outside looks rather tired and when we go in there's a musty smell around.
Non-verbals are very important - they are very important when we come to our church building. If you do some church crawling on holiday and you come across a church with scruffy notice boards, out of date notices, untidy bookcases and peeling paint your immediate thought is more likely to be "unfit for human habitation" than, "this must be the local centre for the evangelisation of this area". Non-verbals speak.
Now this is a preamble to say something about a decision that the Area Committee took at its last meeting that's going to involve us in a period of experiment. It will genuinely be that, because unless we experiment none of us really know what the possibilities, pitfalls, advantages, disadvantages and the rest are. Its genuinely an experiment because any decision to change will involve permissions beyond the parish.
The experiment is to do with the positioning of the main altar. I well remember almost exactly 7 years ago visiting here as a prospective incumbent - I was immediately struck by the altar arrangement - I remember thinking, 'gosh - it's more than 25years since I've worshipped in a building where every Sunday the main Eucharist is presided at with the priest with his back to the congregation." Over the past nearly seven years we've had a few occasions when an altar has been brought forward - the last time was on Mothering Sunday, and that was actually the first time for probably nearly two years. After that service I had several people ask me whether we could do it more often - and that is what the Area Committee has agreed to.
There are some serious reasons why what is called a westward-facing altar is the 'norm' throughout the church now, and they are to do with the fact that how we celebrate the Eucharist, how the furniture is arranged, and where we are in relation to one another - all these non-verbal things - say some important things about us and God, how we see ourselves and God, and the complex of relationships that that involves. So let me talk about two of these reasons in particular.
One of the important emphases in the past forty years or so which in many ways lies behind all the liturgical changes is a renewed understanding of our Baptism. As we were reminded last week, in our Baptism we were united to Christ - through our Baptism we become the Body of Christ here on earth - the Sunday Eucharist is something celebrated together ALL the people of God. I emphasised the word ALL - I am not the celebrant - I preside - but we ALL celebrate. Now, this wasn't the model that was being worked with when this building was initially designed. The model then was that the priest was THE celebrant and the congregation had the Eucharist celebrated for them, they looked on - occasionally looked up from a great distance - said very little and participated not at all, beyond occasionally receiving Holy Communion.
If it's true that our baptism calls us all to celebrate together as the Body of Christ we need to work for an arrangement of people and furniture that best expresses that - and working at a way that best sees us as gathered around the eucharistic table is an important way. Also, if we're celebrating together it makes sense for us, certainly during the eucharistic prayer, to all adopt the same posture - when I stand and you kneel the non-verbals suggest that I'm doing and you're spectating (and often not even doing that but knelt there with eyes shut!) One of our Eucharistic prayers says; "we thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you" - always a nonsense line when everyone except me is kneeling!
I offer you a quotation from a book written some 40 years ago or more now - it's a bit provocative but makes its point,
"To treat the eucharistic liturgy as a solemn spectacle performed on a distant stage by a handful of professional actors for the edification of an amorphous crowd of spectators is to misconceive its essential character. A church is essentially a place… in which all people participate… it is not a jewelled cave in which the solitary individual may find some kind of worship experience, and where his emotions may be kindled by the contemplation of a remote spectacle." (Peter Hammond Towards a Church Architecture 1962)
Another important point is to do with what we call the Incarnation - the gospel of Matthew has the picture of the angel telling Joseph that the baby's name will be Emmanuel - which means 'God with us'. Not God far away, not God distant and removed - but God with us, in the midst of us - 'the word became flesh and dwelt among us' as John's gospel puts it. There's a great intimacy here - when Jesus taught the disciples to pray he told them to call God "Abba" - we translate that as Father- but as you've probably heard said before it's a diminutive form of that word - more akin to Daddy. We need to reflect on how 'God with us' can best be expressed in our liturgy.
There are things here that we need to hold in some form of creative tension - God by definition is beyond our comprehension - the creator of all has got to be great and awesome, almighty - awe and wonder and a sense of the otherness of God are a part of our tradition and vital in worship - but there is a sense that, amazingly, all that comes really close to us as well. The danger is that either we have the situation which existed when this, and many other buildings like it, were built; that it all happens in beautiful splendour up in the sanctuary - which utterly emphasises the otherness of God and looses the here-ness, the immanence of God - OR we gather closely round and are so pally-wally with God that all sense of wonder and awe goes out of the window - there's an over-familiarity that makes me for one, cringe. Some of these issues are addressed by 'how' things are done - so a Eucharistic table that is among us helps on the immanence side of things - whilst a celebration that is worshipful and reverent will retain the sense of God's wonder and mystery. You can rest assured that I have no intention of being pally-wally with God.
I was really nerved into suggesting to the Area Committee that we should experiment when I was told that some of the choristers were commenting that at the Maundy Thursday service they couldn't see anything that was going on - and they see nothing of the eucharistic action Sunday by Sunday - and that isn't as it should be.
The plan is to experiment from Pentecost (8 June) through to the end of September with a respectable looking altar forward on the marble pavement. We will probably experiment with the seating of servers and clergy - communion will have to be taken standing - and there may be experiments in how we do that. Having done this for a while a process of feedback will be initiated so you can write thoughts down and hand them in. We need a good time to see what works and what doesn't. As I've intimated in this address - we're dealing with a building that wasn't designed for contemporary understandings of the faith and liturgy, so compromises will be inevitable. It's nearly half a century since the last serious look at the altar happened here, and there was then a major change from what had been previously - it's not too radical a thing to ask that we seriously consider the arrangement of our furniture after fifty years I hope!
I emphasise again that this is an experiment - some will be excited, others may be immediately thinking of ten reasons why we shouldn't do anything, or why it will be difficult.
Picking up from the images offered to us in our readings this morning I just ask that we don't view this from the perspective of what I like or what I want, but from the perspective of the vine, of which we are all branches and whose purpose is to bear fruit - the vine that needs to be pruned, cut back and all the rest so that it may bear fruit to the glory of God. And that remains my overarching vision that in all things we give glory to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
June
Berkhamsted Review article