Having discovered that some people pay much more in insurance premiums for their wonderful palaces than we do in Parish Share I have to say that out single-room hovel takes on a much more attractive air. Not only that but having (endlessly) been told by some that the very act of even moving a picture frame required negotiations with Archdemons, Diocesan Advisory Committee members, English Heritage, The Blogwyn Gold Historic Trust (apologies if there really is one) and Edwardian Gaslamp Preservation Guild and other 'interested' parties that in the end they left it where it was. Yes, having pretty and historically, architectural and otherwise noteworthy buildings does indeed seem to merit the label given above.
Many who read this (the few) will undoubtedly have a tale to tell of the church who couldn't have a toilet because it would upset someone or other, the LCD projector and screen that couldn't be installed because someone who never comes to the building (well perhaps Christmas for the candlelit service) and their blessed conservation group objected. I have spoken of the protests when we wanted to do something in a William Morris church, protests that stopped a living church from effectively working in a dead building!
The problem we have is that whilst we willing accept that we have the 'cure of souls' in the places in which we serve, we also need to remember that we are the curators of memories too and that this role is something important. The other side of this coin has to be the realisation by some that the thing that makes many of our buildings noteworthy and the source of interest is the fingerprints of previous generations in the way that added to, modified or generally did something to the bricks and mortar of the place. All this, "Oooh, you can't change anything we need to preserve the building as it is," stuff is to actually cause the physical building to die (because change is part of the life of everything) and this in turn causes the spiritual building that is Church (the believers) to die along with it.
So watch this space (and tell your stories too - anyone is free to write an entry or leave a comment you know)
5 comments:
Thank God you don't have a churchyard to administer. Really.
Then I thank Him for the lack of lead (we didn't have any to steal).
Then I thank Him that the only listed thing we have is the uneven-legged coffee table.
The more I find out about all the angst and stress buildings of a pretty, interesting or historic sort bring the more I find myself blessed to have our little Barrett building :)
Vic touches on the issue of "modern heritage". By this I mean the "stuff" that even modern buildings accumulate over the years that cannot be thrown out/repair/replace because it was given by "Great Aunt Maud"/we've always had a [insert object]/its [physical object] the heart of "my church". This in a building that is barely 40 years old, not 400 years old.
When something that is never used, takes up valuable space, costs money to maintain, is just plain useless, or has become an item of worship in its own right is at the best wrong, and at worst heretical. To put an object as the "heart of my church" is surely to break the commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods apart from me" and makes me weep inside and angry outside.
We have five churches, the youngest of which is just under 200 years. The eldest is Saxon in origin.
They are lovely Sacred spaces, and worship in them in the freezing cold, without access to basic facilities is a struggle and torture.
Several churches pay huge insurance bills, more than their share of our benefice quota and suffer continual shortage of funds just to keep the fabric going.
If it wasn't for benefactors, legacies and friends groups, we might have long since made them redundant, to the detriment of our villages, which have lost shops, pubs, schools and other amenities. In several places, the church is the only place remaining for people to gather.
I've commented before about handing over the museums to the heritage folk and moving to village halls and our single school. I suspect that it's a good job that some of our worthies don't do the internet or I might be in trouble.
We have five churches, the youngest of which is just under 200 years. The eldest is Saxon in origin.
They are lovely Sacred spaces, and worship in them in the freezing cold, without access to basic facilities is a struggle and torture.
Several churches pay huge insurance bills, more than their share of our benefice quota and suffer continual shortage of funds just to keep the fabric going.
If it wasn't for benefactors, legacies and friends groups, we might have long since made them redundant, to the detriment of our villages, which have lost shops, pubs, schools and other amenities. In several places, the church is the only place remaining for people to gather.
I've commented before about handing over the museums to the heritage folk and moving to village halls and our single school. I suspect that it's a good job that some of our worthies don't do the internet or I might be in trouble.
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