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The article in the February issue of our Church Magazine “Is it time for the
Pews to go”? will certainly, I am sure, lead to a lot of thoughtful debate
and as a good start, I would like to pen the following.
I
have an elderly sister who is very arthritic and one of her joys was to
attend her local Church in a small village in Wiltshire. The village, as
most of our villages around the country, has suffered from closures of the
post office, the village store etc., but the two buildings still remaining
steadfast are the village ‘pub’ and the delightful old Norman period Church.
However, the Vicar who has to look after several other Parishes in the
Community has bowed to the younger members of the congregation and as a
result the pews have gone and they now have chairs.
My
sister can no longer attend the Church as she cannot sit on the chairs in
comfort and has no support from the chairs as she had from good old solid
wooden pews.
I
mention the above because this is what would happen in St. Mary's - would we
lose our elderly congregation? - as one myself I should hate to walk into
our beautiful old Church and see chairs.
St.
Mary's is unique because it is so old and this gives it the atmosphere you
have when entering.
There are so many questions that we must ask and I would go through the
article written by Patricia picking out just a few points.
Why
should the Church be given over to small groups for drama, dance etc. when
we have an excellent Church hall for this purpose?
What
chairs are comfortable? We bring cushions for the chairs when we go to the
Pantomime. How much would really comfortable chairs cost? Would they be
fixed to the floor? Can you imagine the noise when we stand or kneel for
prayer?
I
would like to know of any local Church who had gone over to chairs and found
their life enriched. It may be that modem Churches start this way -no pews,
but does that mean they have a larger congregation than St. Mary's? I might
say here that perhaps other aspects of our Church should alter, i.e. times
of Services - another subject for debate?
Children do not have to sit in the side aisles, perhaps parents should sit
in the middle to await their children from Sunday school. Why do we put the
wheelchairs at the back of the Church, it would be easier for Eucharist if
they could be near the front?
Easier to clean? We have been trying to get somebody in charge of Cleaning
for over a year! It is only the dedicated few, at the moment, who even try
to keep the Church clean: it would be a brave person who suggested somebody
in charge of chairs? I cannot think the Church would be any cleaner if we
got rid of the pews, perhaps if we cleaned and polished the pews regularly
they would be more attractive.
I
apologise for this article being so long, but I cannot agree with the
writing that says to get rid of the pews in our beautiful old 11th Century
Church would make the Church more fully used. In fact, personally speaking,
I would say it would be the opposite and I for one would cry inwardly for
the destruction of a beautiful, historic Grade II listed building.
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