Is your church fit for worship? | the Door

St Nicholas-with-the-Holy-Innocents has already gone through a sort of re-ordering as described in this article from England. And it's in a constant state of re-ordering throughout the church year, as the seating gets re-arranged into different configurations for different seasons. After Christmas, the seating was in a fan-shaped arrangement oriented on the altar table, which is movable. During Lent, the chairs are set up in two facing rows, as the season invites us to look inward and face each other on the journey. During Holy Week, the chairs will be set up in a cruciform pattern, with the altar table at the center.

Also, the font is currently screened from view behind 3 large purple and grey Lent banners – it's a very large immersion style font with a waterfall fountain, and was fashioned from the original red granite altar, which was cut down into several pieces to form the basin and the waterfall. Crosses are still visible at the corners. 

After Easter, the seating changes again – and also it changes during the week as the sanctuary gets re-arranged for the needs of various AA and other groups that meet on different nights. 

Last Wednesday, the sanctuary was completely changed for a Lenten program that featured a Labyrinth walk with the very large portable canvas labyrinth that St Nick's owns. It was a transforming experience in many ways – about 30 of us met for a simple meal before beginning the walk, which took about 25 minutes of deliberate pacing.

Change was difficult when this "re-ordering" was done, but the St Nicholas buidling is not a historic building so there weren't any "landmark" impediments. Still, it was painful making something new come out of the old way of doing things, so any church wishing to try a re-ordering project should look over the guidelines and suggestions in the linked article.

Via Cartoon Blog