Timely, I must say. Over on the new blog epiScope, there’s a small PayPal button labeled “Tip Jar - Change is good”. I’ve been pondering change for the last couple of months. Do we really believe this?
Last year, our church undertook 2 major projects (major for us is nickels and dimes for a big church), both of which changed the look and feel of the church. I used to refer to one of the projects, before it was done, as our Third Rail… touch that area around the altar and you will surely die. Now that it’s done, it looks terrific and adds up to a wonderful improvement. Likewise the second change has become a beautiful addition.
Now on the scale of “don’t change anything, ever” to “change anything and everything”, I’m guessing most Episcopalians are somplace in the left-center… and I’m probably way over on the right. Change is good. Change keeps people thinking about what matters. We are blessed to have a low maintenance physical plant. It isn’t beautiful in a cathedral, stone, copper, slate, dark polished oak infused with centuries of incense way, but it also doesn’t eat away our entire budget to maintain it. Now that we’ve done a couple of these changes, it seems to me that if we don’t do any changes, then we’ve made an idol out of a building.
Anyway, as epiScope says, “Change is good”.
Is your church building 162 years old? Try making changes in a building that old. We had major disagreement over installing a ramp for the handicapped, which, to me, was a question of conscience v. preserving an old building intact. After all, it’s not a museum. We do have our ramp.
I talked to the junior warden about installing some kind of shades in the front windows on the south side. In the winter, if the sun is shining several pews in the front are uninhabitable. He said that he wouldn’t touch that, that he wouldn’t even bring it up, because it would cause an uproar.
We completed a major restoration a few years ago, which included the removal of a choir box in the front-left of the church, which was old, but ugly, and not original to the structure. I and others fought hard to get that out, and we succeeded, and the church is visually much improved with it gone.
Every small change is a battle.
Ah Mimi,
Of course every small change can be a battle. I’ve been a warden and a vestry person, and changing stuff can be a battle. What I’m saying is that we *ought* to welcome change. We talk all the time about allowing Christ to change us, right? And in the grand scheme of things, the building isn’t too important… isn’t it sad that the building (and of course the people) can hold us prisoners to change? That’s why I advocate change for the sake of change, to allow us perspective about the relative importance of the darn building!