Circles, Squares, Space and People:
an exploration of the pastoral implications of re-ordering
worship space.

Craig Muir
PREFACE
Just as the 'feel' of a committee meeting will be determined to a large extent by the way we set out the chairs beforehand - round a table, or in semicircle, or in rows facing a platform - so the nature of a liturgical assembly will be determined by the seating plan. An assembly sitting in tidy rows facing the same way will expect to be instructed and entertained, whereas an assembly sitting in a semicircle, or facing one another in choir formation, will expect to participate and to exercise ministry.

Flexible seating is therefore essential if a real process of liturgical formulation is going to be stimulated every time the assembly meets for worship. Not only do we break free from centuries of captivity in serried ranks of pews, but we need also to be frequently ringing the changes in our seating plan to denote different 'moods' of the assembly appropriate to different seasons of the Church's Year, and to ensure that we never settle down for too long in any one place, but instead as God's pilgrim people, are constantly re-pitching the tent. ... For all these reasons, the removal of fixed pews is a non-negotiable top priority.

But is it quite so simple?

This assignment will explore the need to be pastoraly sensitive in the ways in which we order our worship space. Worshippers will differ in their expectations and experiences and the same arrangement of seating will produce contrasting reactions. How can we be all things to all people? For some, the needs of the musician will take precedence over the spoken word, for others the wish for 'right order' will dominate their thinking and chair arranging, some wish to be involved and for the spatial pattern to make them feel included, others wish to be anonymous and need corners in which to be quietly unseen. 

Our plot observes a church which has been forced to demolish its church building and move into the church hall, they have had the opportunity to arrange worship space to suit their needs and we will hear them discussing the best way in which to do this. We will draw on the work of those who have looked at the history of church architecture and on some ideas for future development, as well as those who work in the field of human geography. 

Markland Road United Reformed Church  and the building in which it meets are products of the imagination but the issues it faces will draw on my experience as a church member as we removed pews, rearranged seating patterns and designed a new worship space and my experience as a minister in two churches where the worship space was reordered twenty-five years ago with moveable chairs which have become fixed in the interim and imagination and a third of fixed pews and open minds.

Any similarity between any character and the people I know is purely fictional - especially the Minister.

A JOURNEY BY BUS & MEMORY
As the bus moved away from Dewhirst Road and made the familiar journey towards town, Irene found her mind drifting back in time, to days when this was a tram route and Father would take her up stairs, his big hand holding hers tightly as he pointed out the fields he played in as a boy, fields which by then had become factories and houses. Some of them were almost fields again now, desolate brownfields waiting for a new life. As the bus turned Tanners Brew the school wall came into view, but no school, just modern plastic industrial units where once Irene had been pupil and teacher - she shook her head, smiled, "silly old fool" she told herself. The road beyond was still familiar, the Victorian terraces, the rows of shop fronts - although the greengrocers now sells Asian fashions, the Primitive Methodist Church is a Mosque and a new Takeaway springs open every week. To Irene it still felt familiar, unlike the town centre where everything has been replaced by concrete blocks, shopping mall (awful word) and a one way system she would never be used to.  Approaching her stop at Markland Road there was a space where Chapel should be, even a year since its demolition she was not used to the view, she could feel her throat tighten, the sadness in the stomach, the sense of grief, of loss that she could not explain, could not really understand. The bus came to a stop, Irene smiled a "thank you, goodbye" to the driver and stepped carefully onto the footpath. Waiting to cross the busy road the School Room was in sight - now the church she reminded herself, refurbished, rearranged - and church not chapel she mumbled. 

AN HISTORICAL SURVEY
Markland Road Congregational Church had been typical of its time. Built in 1869 a grand monument to the strength of Independency, it had replaced an older smaller building situated across the river somewhere between row G and J of Sainsbury's new car park. Irene could remember her grandmother telling of the excitement of moving from their simple meeting house to this grand new chapel - there had been those who protested, and some had remained; a fragment determined to keep worshipping in the old way, but the church had closed once and for all around 1906 and had then been used as a workshop and storeroom until the whole area was cleared in the late 1970's. Its replacement had incorporated the very best in gothic architecture with a seating plan designed to bring 800 people as close to the preacher as could be envisaged. It was a design based partly on many years of Reformed experience and partly upon the latest fad in church architecture.

The first reformers had worked hard to re-model churches designed for a visual Mass into places where the Word could be preached and heard. They had experimented with placing pulpits on the side walls or in the centre of the nave. In days before fixed seating there might be separate places to participate in the preaching and in the sacraments, the congregation moving around the church as appropriate. As the Reformers began to build their own Meeting Houses and  Chapels, they were joined by Methodists and other sects growing out of the Evangelical Revival, and developed a plain style designed to ensure that the preached Word could be heard. Their buildings were square, octagonal, rounded, they had galleries and pulpits were covered by soundboards which would dwarf the man below. The pulpit was placed in a position and at a height which allowed sound and sight to travel in a straight line from preacher to hearer and for the Word to be communicated directly from the pulpit to any position within  the congregation and back again.

Yet the mid-nineteenth century had seen the merging of two diverse traditions. From the American frontier had come the concert stage and from Cambridge, the Gothic revival.

The American Frontier had instituted the camp meeting in which wagons were tied together to create a large central stage from which preachers could exhort, choirs could sing and from which the people were led to salvation. On the East coast, the popularity of the camp meeting brought new churches with large platforms where the revivalist preachers could wander and plead, and choirs could hold sway. In  Britain the emergence of the great performance preachers and the development of the great auditoriums - Spurgeon's Tabernacle, Westminster Chapel, City Temple (with a pulpit to hold forty people!) - perhaps gave Protestants a substitute for the lost drama of the mass. 

In the mid-eighteen thirties an even more influential movement emerged from Cambridge, this took a romanticised notion of medieval church life, proclaimed it to be the height of Christian piety and worship and concluded that the medieval building should be reproduced. The result was an explosion of church building and renovation which produced the Anglican Parish church with nave and long chancel, screen, choir stalls and high altar that has become so familiar. The great surprise was that despite the fact that this layout was so unsuited to Reformed worship, its style was borrowed by so many of the new buildings of the period. 

The builders of Markland Road Congregational Church had consciously or unconsciously borrowed from each of these influences. From the outside it was gothic, built in the local red sandstone, its steeple towered above the surrounding mills and (very importantly) three feet above the Parish Church. It was approached up a sweeping flight of steps - which a later generation sensitive to the needs of the disabled would curse, the doors arched grandly into the heights and led into a grand entrance hall with side doors leading to the gallery and carved oak doors leading into the two side aisles of the main sanctuary. Every inch of the main sanctuary had been  filled with pews in a layout which was typical of their own Reformed tradition. Two aisles down each side created a large central area close to the central pulpit, narrower pews filled the area under the gallery from the aisles to the side walls and the three sided gallery brought more people as close to the preacher as possible. The front of the church owed much to the American Frontier - though its patrons would never have admitted as much. Its central pulpit spread across the front of the church, the choir pews raised above it leading to the organists lofty perch on the west side. Beyond the choir a magnificent stained glass window praised the Markland family, benefactors of this grand edifice and once occupiers of the prime front pews.

ARRIVAL
Time moves on, there was probably never a need for 800 seats but the recent congregation of 50 had felt increasingly swamped by this massive building. Maintenance had become an increasing problem and when the last building survey discovered dry rot and an estimate of £500,000 was mentioned they had reluctantly agreed it was time to make some hard decisions. So the church has gone, sold to a property developer for another concrete office block. The money realised has been used to convert the school rooms into a new multifunctional worship space which a whole variety of groups are suddenly interested in using - Irene's head knew the right decision had been made, but her heart still tugged for her magnificent gothic chapel. 

Tonight's meeting might be awkward, the main item on the agenda was how the worship space should be used, How should the chairs be regularly set out? Where should the minister preach from? Where should the communion table be placed? Where would the choir sit? Should they sit in a circle or in nice straight rows facing the choir and minister? Should they face the window or face the door?

AN INTERLUDE WHICH LOOKS AT OUR SENSE OF PLACE
I belong here
This is my territory;
my bit of the world;
my safety zone;
the place where I am familiar.

Marked by regular route,
spatial pattern,
a book, a seat, a view.
Take comfort, relax,
be at home within this space.

You belong there.
That is your domain.
We know the lines,
to cross and uncross;
we have made this place our own.

Joined by mutual need,
connected pew;
a look, a smile, a sound,
relax, take comfort
be constant within this place.

Tread carefully upon identity;
Walk gently over memory
Move gracefully within landscape
for here; we have been formed.

INTERLUDE ENDS AND WE RETURN TO MARKLAND STREET URC
Everybody seemed pleased with the redevelopment of the hall. The previously dark, austere entrance has been transformed with etched glass doors, and on entering the building one is greeted with light that has never penetrated this far before. To the left is the new kitchen, to the right, stairs leading to the upstairs rooms and straight ahead double doors will lead you through into a gathering space from which the worship area is viewed and entered. To the left is a new office and vestry, to the right the gathering space leads away to  a small meeting room and upstairs the old classrooms has been converted into office accomodation which is already proving to be a good source of income. 
The most dramatic change has been the transformation of the scruffy old hall into a modern worship area, The glass screen which separates the gathering space gives an impression of space yet creates intimacy; the cross on the  west  wall provides a focus and there is space on the north wall where some are planning to  hang banners that can be changed with the seasons. For the moment the organ is situated in the north west corner, giving organist and minister visual contact from most points of the building but its permanent site will depend on some of the decisions made tonight.

Irene stood looking around her. She was sad to see the old chapel go, but there was something about this new space which lifted her heart. It had taken a lot of hard work to get this far. She thought back to the various battles as different ideas had been put forward and differing views expressed. She was glad that the high vaulted ceiling had been retained, there had been an argument that a suspended ceiling would keep the heat in and be more intimate but Stephen had won the day, "Look, never mind all this about putting a ceiling in, we're a church who enjoys a good sing, we've got a half decent choir and so lets build somewhere that is designed for singing. That means we need vertical space with a hard ceiling that the sound can reverberate around and that high arched roof in the hall is perfect. If  we put in a low ceiling the sound will just be squashed. And as for this idea of putting in acoustic tiles and carpets, No, No. No. The best surfaces are stone, brick, wood and tile and we are going to be surrounded with all those, so lets wait and see what it sounds like before we dampen the sound."
	"What's wrong with having a carpet?" Grace had argued, "Paul and I were in a lovely church last week, it had thick carpet from wall to wall. Carpet would give a lovely homely feel, and looks so nice." 
	"And you can't hear the clip clop of high heeled shoes!" Paul had thrown in.
	"And who's going to hoover it?" had been one protest, to murmers of agreement.

Then Stephen, always going for the dramatic had picked up a glass of water and said, "I'll show you what carpets do to sound" and poured the water into the old meeting room carpet, and as we sat transfixed, staring at this disappearing pool of water, he proclaimed "The rate at which it soaks up water is the way in which it soaks up sound. Every inch of carpet soaks up the sound and diminishes our ability to hear the sound we are making in praise of God. Carpet bedrooms not churches!"   

So a high ceiling it had become with glass panels stretching all the way up and a great feeling of space and even grandeur. Inside the glassed area there is wooden flooring - for the moment, but every now and then back comes a small carpet idea.

Jonathan had been called to minister at Markland Road four years ago. The church had been in the initial  stages of planning the move into the church hall and the opportunity to be involved in this project and put into practice his ideas about worship space had been amongst the attractions of moving here. Four years ago he had some very strong ideas about what was right and the direction that should be taken, but time spent listening to various views, trying out a variety of arrangements and the realisation that one persons perfect worship space was anathema to another had somewhat tempered his judgement. Jonathan had never liked the old gothic style. He had been brought up in a similar church and always found it oppressive and authoritarian. As he had felt called to preach and then moved into ordained ministry he had avoided high pulpits; they may have been a necessity in pre-microphoned days, but they had led to an aura of domination amongst those stern men placed six feet above contradiction. Jonathan's was a more intimate, chatty, personal style and so he preferred to work from a lectern as close to people as possible. Such a style had been difficult in the old chapel, not just because of the intimidating atmosphere, but the people had been scattered in every direction - whole clusters of individuals each protecting their own space. 

With a totally free hand, Jonathan would have put the chairs in a circle around the communion table with the lectern on one edge, drawing people as close together as possible but ensuring that there could be eye-contact during the sermon or other teaching times. For Jonathan, circles seem to be the more natural shape to gather a community which will interact with one another. It was the shape of the campfire, or the household in conversation, or a school story time. It was a shape which spoke of equality and of  inclusiveness. It was a shape that connected with the natural world and had been the ancient shape of worship. When Jonathan pictured Jesus in teaching mode -  Jesus had been  surrounded by a circle of people.  Indeed, he had initially tried to introduce such a circular arrangement as the normal pattern, but had been quite shocked at the adverse reactions. 

The first had come from  one of the choir members at the very first Service, "If you make us sit like that again, we're not coming."
	"What do you mean," asked a very stunned Jonathan, 
	"We are too close, everywhere I look I can see someone."
	"But that's the idea, it's supposed to bring us together, a household around a table."
	"I don't care, I don't like it, I come to be on my own with my own thoughts, I don't want to look at folks and I don't want them looking at me."
	"But in the old church you sat in the choir stalls at the front and looked at people and they looked at you."
	"It was different, they were far enough away that I could look up the window or focus on the gallery at the back where I used to imagine God sitting, and anyway I just don't like it, we need to put it like the Chapel was." With that Frank and his silent supporter had walked off towards the kitchen.
	"I think we do have to move the choir back," said Stephen, organist and choirmaster, "but not for Frank's reasons."
	"Go on" murmured a disappointed Minister.
	"If the choir are to be comfortable singing at full throttle, and if people are to be happy listening they need to be further away from the congregation, you just need a bit more distance to make everybody a bit more comfortable. And it might just make Frank think no one is looking at him!"

So the choir had moved next to the organ and the circle had become a broken oval. Then they had tried sitting opposite the organ with their backs to the glass screen, it had sounded good to some but most of the choir were uncomfortable and so it had been a short experiment and they returned closer to the organ.

A couple of weeks later came a complaint from Joanne, "I didn't like it today, I need to focus on the cross and I couldn't see the cross and see you at the same time."
	"I'm sorry," Jonathan replied, "but what about the cross on the communion table, you must have been able to see that."
	"It's not the same, I need to be able to focus on the big cross and the preacher needs to be below the cross because everything is centred on the cross. Last week was even worse because you stood almost out of the door, there must have only been you who could see the cross, it's just not right."
	"But the idea last week was that we had to be ready to go out into the world, I was trying to put over the idea that we stand on the threshold between the world and heaven - standing near the door seemed to symbolise the idea that Jesus stands in the door through which we enter the Kingdom."
	"But he did that on the cross."
	"OK, but we can use other images, like the idea of meeting around a table."
	"Jesus didn't die on a table, he died on a cross and it needs to be our focus."
	Exasperated and theologically shot down in flames, Jonathan smiled, "What if the banner you are helping to make includes a cross? Or what if we put a cross above the main door? Everybody would need to enter under the cross and a cross would be visible from every angle."
	"Now you're thinking, but I still don't like the circles."

There had been others who had been delighted to find themselves freed from the grip of straight lines, who warmed to the intimate atmosphere, who loved to look up and see the faces of friends, to feel like one of the crowd. One was Ailsa, she had never been in the old chapel but had arrived on the first Sunday in the new building because her daughter Bethany had become involved in Brownies. One week it had been decided that it was time to experiment with straight lines. The chairs had been positioned facing the west wall, with the cross and the lectern dominant. Ailsa and Bethany had come in looking very lost and had just not got involved in the service. At the door Jonathan expressed his concern, "It's like being back at school", blurted Ailsa, "worst days of my life. I just couldn't see anyone, there was no one who could just look up at me and smile, all I could see was the backs of peoples heads and I don't know people by their behinds."
	"I'm sorry," smiled Jonathan, "It's all part of this trial period, and we need to keep it similar to this for a while to find out what seems to suit us most of the time."
	"Well, make it known, I don't like."
	"I will."

	And there had been others making similar comments, not just from the younger members but Gwen (aged 86 on the outside, still 30 something inside) commented "It just seems so much friendlier, it's not just sitting in a circle that has made it so, somehow we have grown closer together - but I know that it has helped."

To Jonathan's surprise, there had been a greater acceptance to the idea of Communion being taken in the round. Communion took place on the second Sunday of every month, it was in the tradition of the minister saying everything; Elders' serving pre-cut bits of bread and little glasses of juice whilst the organist plays Passion Chorale. He had tried to introduce the idea of responses to mumbled suspicion; of passing bread around to be broken to grumbles of complaint and of taking communion in silence to howls of protest.  But the first time Communion was taken in the round, with the table central, there had been warm murmurs of approval, even those opposed to circles had appreciated the significance. "Well it's a meal, isn't it?" said Frank "and meals should be eaten around the table."

	So the discussion had rumbled on, and people had been encouraged to think through the reasons why one pattern was preferential to another, and to be aware of those patterns which they found encouraging and those which threatened. It had become a topic of conversation on Elders' visits and at Coffee mornings. Everyone had an opinion and some were more vocal than others. Many of the older members preferred to express their views through Irene. She was one of them and they trusted her judgement, recently she had begun to hear a mellowing in the various reactions. Irene herself had grown to like the variety of patterns, she realised that in the Chapel they had grown too stuck in their ways and wanted her worship pattern to evolve with the seasons. Irene had been a rebel in her day, she had fought hard to introduce Family Church and welcomed the demise of afternoon Sunday School. She had been the first Lady Deacon, then had to fight for the right to serve Communion and had even dared to wear trousers to Chapel. So when people came looking for her support to "get back to the old ways" she reminded them of the changes that had taken place in their own life times, sometimes remembering new ideas they had supported. It had been Frank who challenged the need for Choir Robes, it had been two of the more persistent grumblers who had insisted that children be served Communion, another had installed the  first microphone system against great opposition from the "old folks" who didn't see the need. Like Gwen, Irene was aware of the change in atmosphere, she loved to see the children being given the freedom to express themselves, to voice an opinion, to laugh and chatter. She knew that they were handing on something very special and as she set out the papers ready for that night's meeting she whispered a prayer, "Thank you God! I belong to a Living church which overflows with Love and touches each of us."

AGENDA
Devotions (whilst the latecomers whisper loudly and handbags shuffle).
Minutes (of course you remember a three month old discussion).
Matters Arising
	[a] (Whoops did I really say I would do that?)
	[b] (no progress pass it forward)
	[c] (no longer relevant - forget about it).
Pastoral News (same folk ill, same few visiting them)
Item 1	- Yes
Item 2 - No
Item 3 - Maybe
Item 4 - Form a committee - usual three people.
Item 4 - yawn
Item 5 - zzzzzz
A.O.B - 	Polly put the kettle on
		We'll all have tea. 

AFTER ALL THAT
As the meeting drew to a close, the papers were tidied away and the chatter disappeared off towards coffee, Jonathan lent back in his chair and let out a long breath.
	"It wasn't that bad", said Irene.
	"No I'm worried by how simple it all was."
	"I suppose we've all moved on in the last year and things that once seemed so important look different now." 
	"Trouble is most of the grumblers weren't here"
	"It was ever thus, and they need a grumble from time to time, it's what keeps them going"
	"Yea, I suppose so"
	"Come on we need a cup of coffee, then you can run me home".

A REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY OR SIX
A week later Jonathan was at his computer trying to reflect on the process they had been through, the pastoral issues that had arisen, the reasons for resistance.

Circles
If liturgy is to be the "the work of the people" then it must flow from and be owned by the whole congregation. Yet to what extent can our liturgy be the work of every person present and how can our worship be distinctive and portray the uniqueness of God if we are inevitably forced to compromise and compromise and compromise?

I am convinced that a flexible circular seating pattern is the most suited for the worship of this generation, it allows interaction, it should create fellowship, particularly amongst small congregations, it gives us the confidence to belong rather than allowing us to feel we are all alone. Chairs instead of pews and a willingness to move them around will allow future generations to reorder their seating arrangements to meet their own need without being stuck with some outdated system. And it is not just the church which is beginning to believe this to be the case - in fact as usual the church is dragging along, years behind modern teaching and business practice. Yesterday I typed "circular seating" into the Google search engine, it produced reference after reference of advice to teachers, seminar leaders, public speakers, meeting organisers and even churches to create a circular or semi-circular arrangement. This is just one example:-

Chairs should be arranged in a semicircle, facing the front, or in other random arrangement, but never in a classroom style. The architecture of seating is a critical one. Group interaction is necessary for a successful meeting to be held. The block style (classroom style) eliminates face to face discussions, separates the leaders from the decision making members, and strongly promotes cliques. Circular group seating provides easy verbal and non-verbal interaction. It also gives high informality. New members, or outsiders, are encouraged to become a part of the interaction occurring before them. The more disinterested and apathetic members generally tend to sit at the back, and therefore can remain aloof and unobtrusive. In a circular seating arrangement they are forced to become part of the action. Also, circular seating allows the leader freedom of movement.

I am aware that I am the product of such teaching methods, but of course so many church members are not. Whether at school, in the office, at the theatre or in church, they are a generation who grew up sitting in straight lines; being taught, entertained, instructed in blocks and so how can such a square worldview be expected to embrace the circular?  To simply impose a new arrangement would have bred resentment,  so if we are to manage change then we need to walk at the pace of the slowest whilst giving some rein to those who run ahead. 
Squares
For me, the real issue became a pastoral one. For some people the circle is life-giving, a source of healing and spiritual development. For others, the intimacy is so very threatening that they will stay away. And the more I have talked with those who are uncomfortable, the more convinced I am that it is the intimacy which scares them, the very atmosphere that many of us feel brings us closer to God others will reject. In a pastoral sense I have struggled to make sense of such fears, such reluctance - how can we encourage people to move forward in their spiritual life, to be at one with the life-changing God - when they are so reluctant to see any of life change?

I started to get an insight into these issues when I stumbled across Robin Green's book Only Connect. He talks about resistance as "a way of avoiding God, who might be able to heal, and myself who would prefer not to take responsibility for my hurt self." The issue he is looking at is the refusal of a church to participate in The Peace. It is too intimate, too threatening for many of the people in that community because such moments "can strip us temporarily of our masks, exposing our vulnerability or sense of worthlessness or just the wilderness inside, which we do not understand." He also suggests that resistance "can be a way of avoiding getting too close to either human or divine reality." Life is ambiguous, filled with joyfulness and pain. Somehow our liturgy must represent that ambiguity. Some people can use worship "as a means of living in a maternal cocoon." Yet the Christian journey takes us away from the safety of the institution into a place where people can be freed and healed. "Our resistance can touch the ambiguous desire both to be in touch with the depths of God and to protect ourselves from that."

Willimon tells a story of a congregation whose minister had asked a number of people to prepare and offer some short prayers, the prayers had been so moving that the whole congregation was visibly touched. As the prayers ended, an awkward silence was filled by the minister beginning to talk in fast nervous, loud chatter about the notices for the coming week. Willimon suggests that the Minister, like any other person had become uncomfortable in the presence of the holy and rather than draw people towards the holy had "functioned here as our rescuer, the one who saved us from losing control, from getting carried away. Or did he save himself from these dangers?"

I'm reminded of the time when Bill would read out the prayer requests for the week. One morning he had to announce the death of a friend. He's an emotional man at the best of times and he spoke about his friend with great eloquence and feeling. It was a special moment which took us into our prayers with what I felt was a great sense of God's presence. Afterwards I was confronted with a host of complaints. Bill had scared the children; it was inappropriate; it was "just too much". I spoke to Bill about the comments and he has refused to read the prayer requests ever again. In retrospect, I wonder if those who complained, were themselves unable to cope with that sacred moment when God seemed to speak through the pain of Bill's emotion. Interestingly those who complained on that occasion all welcome the intimacy of the church in the round whilst Bill is more reticent in his acceptance. So the resistance we experience is not restricted to one group of people within the church, at some time we will all need to face the Holy Spirit's wish to prise us out if the comfort zone.

Triangles
The most striking realisation within this whole process has been the need to balance out the needs of the many individuals who make up our community. However much we may refer to the church as the Body of Christ, each part dependent and reliant upon the others, we can not escape the fact that we are a collection of individuals with different experiences and expectations. As such we will each focus upon different aspects of the worship setting and our individual reactions will be tempered by our position within the body. We are called to be a People of God, not as individuals but as a community, and so there will be times when one part of the body must hurt so that others can be rested. I have just returned from Greenbelt - for a whole weekend I have sat in seminars, concerts and a theatre and never had a chair. In order to participate my creaking, unfit body has had to sit cross legged on the floor until the discomfort forces a move into a reclining position, first on one elbow, then on the other. Another time I have positioned myself where I can stand until my back asks me to kneel down and I have walked until my feet cry out for rest. Each part of the body has taken its share of discomfort, each part of the body has had time to be relieved of its discomfort. In establishing community we need to recognise the strength and weakness of each individual and react appropriately and our liturgy must recognise such contrasts. 

Polygons
Susan White argues that the Christian congregation is a sacramental sign of the visible presence of God in the world and as such it must be ordered in such way that it looks like the reality of which it is the sign. Fred Kaan in his hymn The Church is like a table paints a picture of a people where there is

no first or last, no honours
here people are in one-ness
and love together bound.

... no protocol for seating
a symbol of inviting
of sharing, drinking, eating;
and end to 'them' and 'us'

... As guests of God created,
all are to each related;
the whole world is awaited
to make the circle round.

It might be argued that such a church is the sacramental sign that is necessary for this generation, but there needs to be more than a simple rounded seating pattern. White goes on to look at the Church as "a community of shared gifts", where each member of the community has a role to play within the liturgy and as "a community with permeable boundaries" where there is  "a clear and persistent call to remove any barrier which divides Christians from one another, which divides Christians from those believers who have gone before, which divides the community as a whole from those who strive to become what God intends them to be." Such concepts are idealistic and yet must be within our visioning of the future. If we are to engage with an ever-changing world then we must be prepared to allow our worship life to evolve and confront the painfulness of change. In doing so we may be more open to the idea of accepting new gifts, new challenges, different voices, changing faces and broken barriers.

Spheres
For those who have spent all or a significant part of their lives within Markland Road, the biggest barrier has been the loss of a sacred space and their wish to recreate that space as faithfully as they can. Those of us who focus on the church as a community, the People of God rather than any building can not escape the reality that the People of God meet in a place and that 
places where we live and pray and where significant things have happened are important to us. We are willing to fight for them; sometimes we are even willing to die for them. The very fact that people can talk meaningfully about 'sacred space' attests to the singular role of places in the divine-relationship.

It does not seem to matter how often we talk about the church as a gathering of people, or as a fellowship, community or body, for some the church will always be associated with a particular building and with the sacred memories that are invoked by that place. In seeking to move the whole community into a new way of imagining space I hope that we are respecting those memories whilst allowing a  new generation to create sacred space in a way that will have significant meaning for the 21st Century and encourage those who follow us to use the same space in a different way. 
 
Square Circles
I had always thought that all we had to do was rid ourselves of pews and our worship would become more flexible. In reality it is a pew filled mind set we need to rid from ourselves. The moment we try to redefine someone's personal space we will be confronted by a number of deeply felt pastoral issues and in doing so we may have restricted that person's ability to worship or conversely we will have suddenly lifted their horizon so far that anything becomes possible. At Markland Road the seating plan is no longer the big issue that it was a year ago, people have grown used to the various patterns, they have learnt that they do not need to fear them and no doubt those who have been the most uncomfortable have learnt how to protect themselves from discomfort. Now the resistance is to the number of times we will move the chairs around. In each pattern people soon mark out their own personal space, I know where I will find the various groups and who will be sitting with whom. The unseen lines are quickly drawn and reinforced with a handbag, unattended coat or barrier creating arm. The confusion, discomfort, resistance comes each time that we move the chairs, for the new safety zone has been shifted and we must become familiar with a new territory and new faces across the way. We need to be careful that we do not fall into the trap of allowing one pattern to become the standard format so that a future generation needs to revisit this process. We have agreed to be flexible, yet we must be pastoraly sensitive, perhaps we could change the pattern with the season's, if our Anglican friends can change colour, we can shift furniture.

PROMENADE
A few weeks later Jonathan and Irene were in the church building to meet Charles, the architect. He had brought a potential client to see the transformation of Markland Road and once they had finished showing a group of people around Irene, Charles and Jonathan sat down to share coffee and catch up with one another. 
	"So have you sorted out the seating pattern?" enquired Charles.
	"Yes," replied Irene, "We seem to have done, there are always a few moaners every time we change things around, but people seem to have become more flexible."
	"More prepared to compromise." Jonathan proudly interjects.
	"So, how about creating a bit of movement?"
	"Well we do, every month or so we are going to move the chairs around" smiled Jonathan.
	"You know what I mean, we designed this so that there could be movement between the different spaces."
	"It's not really our way" protested Jonathan, "We leave processions to you Anglicans."
	"I think you'll find more and more traditions using movement. After all we use the imagery of journeying and if I remember accurately in your Covenant you call yourselves a pilgrim people and pilgrim people need to move from place to place."
	"But it is a spiritual pilgrimage in which we encourage everyone to develop as people."
	"And you can reinforce the image through liturgical movement. You can all gather together out here and have an introductory rite, an opening prayer or a hymn and then move into the worship area. Of course if the font was placed at the door instead of next to the lectern it would symbolise the new beginning that is being made each time we come before God. You could even preach the Word from this near end and then all gather around the Communion table at the far side."
	"We can't even persuade people to come forward for Communion. If we tried to get them to move somewhere else we would really be asking for trouble, they'll never wear it."
	"Actually it sounds quite interesting," said Irene, "It seems strange that we have moved from the regimentation of pews to the flexibility of chairs, but the only physical movement we manage is to stand, sit and crouch. I suppose most other traditions have always come forward for Communion but you seem to be talking about something else." 
	"Yes, it's about making the place of the Word separate from the place of breaking bread. So you might have the lectern towards this end of the room with the chairs around it in which ever way seemed appropriate. Then having passed the font which is the place of initiation you come to the place of the Word, when you are ready to break bread you move further into the building and around the table. If everybody (other than the old and infirm) stands then you don't need to worry about having enough chairs and you are actually then ready when the eucharist is completed to walk out into the world."
	"Yes, it all sounds very interesting," Jonathan conceded, "but it is a long way from our traditions. Another difficulty is that  we feel it is important that we should preach from the table, at the place of breaking bread and so we gather around the table to hear the word and to see it acted out."
	"Interestingly enough there are some making the same argument within the Church of England and suggesting that we should experiment with a single table for both proclaiming the word and breaking bread. Such a table could be designed to be carried in procession (just like the Altar in Exodus 27) from one liturgical space to another, acting first as ambo and then as altar in the developing Eucharist action. It would certainly leave the pilgrim status in no doubt."
	"Oh" said Jonathan suspiciously.
	"Oh!" said Irene excitedly.

Bibliography
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Donaldson R. Forsyth, Group Dynamics, Brook/Cole, Pacific Grove, California, 1990

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James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1990

James F. White, A Brief History of Christian Worship, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1993

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Internet Sources
http://www.google.com
http://www.sonoma.edu/CampusLife/clubs/clubhandbook/meetings.html,  7 August 2001