In the Book of Genesis, Abraham Builds Four Altars

A Serious Building: Bishop Tim Ellis

Managing Major Projects June 25 2015

St Mary’s Bramall Lane Sheffield

In the book of Genesis, Abraham builds four altars. Building an altar fixes in time and space the place where a people have encountered God or an aspect of the Godhead. The physical building of an altar underpins the truth that divinity is not encountered in an ethereal way: a 'spiritual' experience, but that truth is encountered in the concrete physicality of this world. This is the truth also of the crucifixion of Christ: the reality of God made man happened in the blood and spit and the mud of our reality: God became man. This is why we set up holy places: to mark a place where the divine is encountered but also to make an investment in the reality of this world. Our church buildings demonstrate in stone and wood the reality of the Christian community's presence within the joys and sorrows and ups and downs of real life. Inasmuch as the church building points us beyond the world of the senses to greater truths and realities it also hallows this life and this reality too. So from time immemorial humanity has set up places of meeting, and it is this inchoate ancient reality that we have inherited in our church buildings of Great Britain and it creates the sentiments and feelings that surround them. Abraham's altars pointed beyond the reality of this world to four greater realities: broadly speaking, his altars highlight the joys of promise as he arrives in the land of Canaan; he then moves on to Bethel, building an altar after his pilgrimage and demonstrating his openness to what lies before him and his people; then he goes on alone to Mamre and builds the altar that represents his drawing apart from the world; and then, most famously of all, he builds the altar on which he is commanded to sacrifice his son, Isaac-the altar of sacrificial offering. The altars of Abraham were his answer to the question we ask today-‘What is God calling us to do in this place?’

So, we can move from viewing our church buildings as simply shelters over our heads, to also holding those four realities too-incarnated sacred spaces: they are places where we can encounter the promises of God; where we can move on 1 purposefully and hopefully in our lives and be open to life; where we can draw apart from the hustle and bustle of the world and where we can witness the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and make our own sacrificial response to it. We are beginning to achieve a theology of our church buildings.

The question before us today then is 'how can our church buildings in the modern day serve these ministries of the promises of God, helping us to go forward hopefully in our lives, of being places of withdrawal and seclusion and safety and places where we encounter sacrifice and openness?’ And what happens when they are no longer able to serve these purposes? ‘ So, let’s consider what makes a healthy church and how our buildings can serve this central purpose…how can they become places of Promise?

I offer you the first altar that Abraham constructed as he arrived in Shechem: Abraham had left his native Mesopotamia and, in faith, gone to the land of Canaan- the Promised Land. He encounters many problems and setbacks in trying to do God’s will, and his journey is a motif for our own pilgrimage through life. Arriving in Canaan, he comes to Shechem to the oak of Moreh, and the land is promised to him by God for him and his descendents to flourish in. It is a land of promise: so Abraham marks this promise by building an altar. (Genesis 12: 6-7)

A recent survey on church buildings suggested that 86% of people had been in a church building over a twelve month period for one reason or another (Opinion Research Business Report. Oct 2003). The more recent report Faithful Cities seems to confirm this. There is great promise here…

So what are we aiming to achieve?

Seven marks of a healthy church Energised by faith. Not a sense of managing decline or worn out by keeping things going, bit a people who are fed and excited by: worship, motivation, scripture and a sense that their faith is being enabled to grow. 2

Outward looking focus. Not just concerned with churchy things, but with the whole of life: ecumenical, deeply rooted in community, passionate about justice and peace issues, making connections between faith and daily life, responding to community needs with loving service. Seeks to find out what God wants. It isn‘t what we want that sets the agenda. Vocation, vision, mission, making sacrifices Faces the cost of change and growth. Rather than resisting the need for change, being unwilling to take risks and frightened of failure. Recognise need for change and where it must happen, take risks in achieving it, and create positive experiences of change. Builds community rather than functioning as a club of like minded people. Relationships are nurtured, leadership-lay and ordained-is encouraged, trained and deepened. Makes room for others. Inclusive rather that exclusive. Good ministry of welcome, children and young people are encouraged and helped to belong by being made a priority, plenty of material for enquirers, diversity is encouraged (rich and poor, young and old, black and white) Does a few things, but does them well. Frenetic activity is out of the window, things that are failing are let go. Do the basics well: worship, pastoral care, admin etc, occasional offices done well to make sense of life and communicate faith, being good news as a church, obviously enjoying what we do as Christians and being relaxed about it.

So, now, let's look first at 'openness‘

Abraham built his second altar at Bethel: a name which means in Hebrew ‘the house of God’. He pauses, reflects and opens his heart to what lies before him. The Church of England operates on the parish system, and there is a spiritual reality to this as well as a purely operational one. Our conviction that we should be 'parish' churches with 'parish' priests underlines our Church's belief that it has a ministry and duty to the whole people of a community, not just to the gathered few. Whether male or female, black or white, rich or poor, the ideal is that our church community 3 in all its aspects is open to all. Sadly, this is not always the case and one factor we have to face in our consideration of church buildings is the exclusive sense of ownership that a small introverted group can exercise: actively preventing others from coming in (typical of this is the common revulsion to having baptisms in the main morning service because they are 'disturbing‘-or referring to ‘members’-the language of ‘membership’ suggests some people are ‘in’ and others, who are not ‘members’ are ‘out’-and this will permeate our ethos). But having church buildings which are truly open in all their aspects to all aspects of community life is our real destiny.

In part, this exclusiveness is because we have fallen into the trap of thinking that being a Christian and living a Christian life is about propping up the operation locally- endless money-raising to keep the roof on and pay for the Vicar. In his book Shapes of the Church to Come, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali suggests that our church communities... will have to give up their churchy focus on priest plus stipend plus building and re-orientate themselves to something like faith plus community plus action

The Temple in Jerusalem was a deeply symbolic and hierarchical place. Here the Ark of the Covenant containing Manna from the desert was kept at the very heart of the Holy of Holies, itself a place which only the Great High Priest could enter, and then only on one occasion each year and after much ritual cleansing and barriers and airlocks. At the moment of the death of Christ on the cross, Matthew and Mark in their Gospels record that the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the Temple precincts was torn in two: the barrier between God and humanity is torn apart and we are opened up to intimacy with the Almighty. Our temples therefore must also be places of openness: where the things of God are opened to us his people and which are also open to all people whatever their state or need.

Otherwise it seems to me the words of Richard Holloway, words may haunt us...

If the original purpose of Christianity was to carry the spirit of Jesus through history, then it soon fell into the trap of using most of its energies to maintain itself and the life to which it had grown accustomed

So, one outcome of our openness will be buildings which are fitted appropriately for wider community use: places where the weddings and feasts can take place: where our people can mourn, play and laugh: places where social justice and community cohesion are priorities. This alone will have a profound effect on our sense of ‘being church’ rather than ‘going to church’…

Slides…

Extension and interior rooms to St Nicholas, Newport, Lincoln by Andrew Wiles

Storage and cupboarding in a church in Kent

John Spong writes this…The mission of Judaism (Edgar Bronfman) suggests, is not to preserve Judaism but to build human community…the good of all religion is not to prepare us to enter the next life, it is a call to live now, love now, to be now and, in that way, to taste what it means to be a part of life that is eternal, a love that is barrier free and the being of a fully self-conscious humanity’. John Shelby Spong in ‘Eternal Life-a new vision

Our buildings are places where this can become a reality.

To do this we need to be concerned with the practicalities…, we need to have a programme of 1.community audit, so we truly know the makeup of our communities and the real needs, rather than guessing our imposing our perceived needs. There needs also to be a comprehensive and well-funded system of 2.feasibility, so we can test our buildings and how they may be developed and re-ordered against the established needs. In any event, church communities can conduct their own audit and feasibility-starting with a simple 3. ‘SWOT’ process with the church people 5 themselves and also a 4. ‘Where are we now and what are we like now-and where do we want to be and what do we want to be like process’. The strategy is in the difference between those two positions. 5. Research: look at other churches which have been creatively and imaginatively re-ordered

All this, demonstrates openness to all opinions and views and involves all parties-and involvement in the decision making leads to commitment.

And so we will also be open to partnerships with like-minded people-‘find out where God is at work and join in’. (Abp Rowan Williams)

There are temptations to see the Church and its mission as somehow special; unique, removed from the realities of the secular society around us-but the concerns of the world are central to our life as a community of faith. So, we will be concerned about social justice as we develop and re-order. Our desire will not be to attract more people to our ‘club’, but to move together with our partners to a fairer society which respects civil and human rights; to act locally together for the local good; we will be pooling insights, skills and resources-and expansively encourage others to participate and ‘get involved’. Most importantly, we will not consider that there is a point at which we have ‘done it’-the work is always ongoing, always changing and flexing to new circumstances-we will realise that standing still is to decline (the sigmoid curve)

Does the ability to lease part of our buildings allow us to enter into more meaningful partnerships?

And, a great part of ‘openness’ will mean that we are open to the advice and support of others: we need to be in conversation with the parish architect, the DAC and the Amenity bodies from the outset and before plans are drawn up or solidified because we can go to great expense only to have it turned down. Seek their advice first so that plans can be drawn up which are in accordance with that advice-thereafter, regularly consult-walk along with them. 6

Slides…

Computer suite at St Aidan’s, City Road, Sheffield Nave of Kneesall Church, Nottinghamshire All Saints, Hereford-restaurant and nave

Particularly if you are the custodians of a Listed building, but in any event it is useful to produce a good Statement of Significance and Statement of Needs after all these bodies have been consulted and before plans are drawn-again.

All Saints, Hereford

Let's move now to consider how our buildings might become places of Pilgrimage- places where we walk through life together…

St Peter’s, Newton on Trent, Lincolnshire. Clearing and re-ordering of nave to create a weekday assembly hall for neighbouring church school.

We have been following Abraham as he made his way into the Promised Land, a progression he marks by building altars-fixing in the reality of the material world the spiritual journey he is making. In Genesis chapter 13: 18, he comes to Hebron-a word which in the original language means ‘fellowship’. But it is the saying which Abram received from Yahweh, his Lord, which I want to draw attention to: Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. What an expansive view! Here is not introverted, fearful engagement with life, but one which encompasses the vast horizon. Abraham is relating the life of his people with the life of the world-faith. And it is this panoramic, all-encompassing view of life that we, as Christian people and congregations, are called to. Yet, one of the aspects 7 for institutional decline is that we become inward-looking, caring only for our own life and the survival of those things which we associate with the Church: the building; paying for the priest; increasing our numbers simply for the sake of increasing our numbers. Those things which are secondary to a faithful life and are meant to be servants of it, take on a primary significance and become the reason for our existence. In this, and in so many ways, the original vitality of the Christian Faith has been lost.

There has always been a desire in the human psyche to physically locate that which is intangible and numinous, but which just evades our grasp and our ability to pin it down.

Speaking of this, the former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, says of the work of John Betjeman, the poet…

Of course, he knew well that it is the very transience of the objects of our love that moves and compels us, because we are reaching through them to a permanence that escapes us at the very moment of possession. In ‘Godless Morality

As we look at the church building as the gathering place of the Faithful, we are reminded that our gathering together in worship is not to make us introverted and self -obsessed. Rather, it is to broaden our vision and experience of life as we grow in community.

It is interesting to remember and look back on the two major reports of the 1980s: Faith in the City and Faith in the Countryside. The Faithful Cities underlined the urgency of maintaining a healthy physical presence in urban areas. Both urged wider and more comprehensive use of our church buildings. In rural areas they are often the largest and most commodious building in a village. And this is not all: with many church buildings, many 'employees', roots in each community, schools, financial assets etc, we learn that the Church in any place, far from being a minor player, is in 8 fact one of the major players. We are, therefore, in a good position to offer a vision of how things could be in the future to the community around us. Two things are important here: first, to enter into partnerships in our work and to identify who we can partner with and, secondly, to consider ways in which we can allow a wider remit for the building: Trusts being one creative way forward.

But let's look also at how they can become places which lack attractiveness and are not inviting-which actively discourage people from walking with us: encourage people to stand across the road from their church and ask themselves the question 'what is it saying?'. Are notices tired and worn, pinned with rusting tacks to paint peeling boards? Is information out of date and too detailed? A senior church communications officer once remarked that any business would regard the advertising space of our church buildings alone as a massive resource. Does all the written material involve asking for money and petty internal church concerns, or are there Amnesty International posters and other material which demonstrate that the church community is melded into the everyday life of the ordinary people of the parish.

People will not give money to problems, only solutions…Alice Mann in ‘The In- Between

Entering the building, are old furnishings, clutter and carpets apparent? Is the general feel one of care and respect or neglect and decay? People will judge the church community, and more importantly what the church community believes, but the appearance of the building. In short, is it the serious house on serious earth of Philip Larkin's poem? All of this is a matter for Archdeacons Visitations, a vigilant DAC and also the help and encouragement offered by Churchwarden's Conferences and training days.

But then our buildings can be places of education, regeneration and epicentres of society. Are their evidences of a church community thoroughly engaged with 9 contemporary life-posters for Amnesty International, Christian Aid and more...? Good quality books, leaflets and Prayer Books? And, above all, good noticing and a lively and bright ministry of welcome.-which is not just about a human welcome, but the sense of invite and anticipation that carefully ordered access and architecture can create.

Slides…

St Mary, Bramall Lane St Aidan, City Rd, Sheffield St Martin’s in the Field, London-entrance to new restaurant and conference facilities

All in all, the physical care of our church buildings in a routine and organised way will militate against crises and building problems which can be the factor leading to closure and redundancy, but also be a factor in promoting an atmosphere of promise to those who look on and enter our buildings daily: Watch an old building with an anxious care, guard it as best you may and at any cost of any influence of dilapidation. Count its stones and bind it together when it loosens or declines. Do this tenderly, reverently and continually and many a generation may yet be born, and pass away beneath its shadow. John Ruskin The regular cleaning of gutters and downspouts, effective ventilation and targeted 'trickle' repairs can all contribute to keeping a structure fresh and rot free. Prompt and proficient repairs can prolong life and cut out the spiral of rapid decay associated with vandalism. All of this will enable our buildings to be assets rather than millstones.

And finally, we come to Mount Moriah as Abraham is commanded by God to sacrifice his beloved son. We are told that God’s purpose was to test Abraham and his obedience. It is a dreadful command, and Abraham was not to know that his son, 10 whom he had waited so long for, was not to be sacrificed. By legend, the mount on which this famous story took place was the place where Solomon later built his Temple, and which we now associate with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock mosque. And we are reminded that in our Christian understanding, Jesus did not know the outcome of his own death-his obedience was complete. So, the final altar of Abraham is the altar of sacrifice-but actually, the altar of the willingness to sacrifice to see God’s will done. What are we-the church folk, prepared to do, give up and offer to see growth and development happen?

To quote Soren Kierkegaard…The Church has succeeded in turning wine into water… Can we revivify it?

Otherwise it seems to me the words of Richard Holloway, words may haunt us...

So what is our role in all this-the gathered worshipping community?

Slides…

St Nicholas, Poplar, London Mason United Methodist Church, Ohio Lady Chapel-St Martin’s in the Fields

Here, we might acknowledge that there is something obstructive in our governance which, despite our good will and well-meant intentions, inhibits the ability of the whole community to be involved in the care, maintenance and use of our church buildings. Put simply, the common perception is that the building is the preserve of the gathered congregation whilst the congregation believe there is no public love for the building. A downward spiral ensues. Properly ascertaining the needs of the 11 parish and the church communities possible part in answering them through audit and feasibility will allow adaptation for community use and also be far more likely to attract grants and public subscription. We must also remember that, primarily in our rural communities although it’s also very true of urban areas in a time of austerity, we stand at a point in history where the traditional structural 'glue' of our communities has been eroded: schools have been privatised, pubs have shut, Post Offices have closed and bus routes have been reduced, funding for social projects withdrawn. In many places, only the church remains. Now the building can be a way of speaking of the inclusiveness and all-encompassing love of God: slides... St Peter, Newton on Trent St Aidan, City Rd, Sheffield

A serious house on serious earth it is, In whose blent air all our compulsions meet, Are recognised and clothed as destinies. Philip Larkin

Slide…

Avonbridge United Reform Church, Falkirk

When my son was fourteen, we moved into a small village in Lincolnshire. One night, knowing him to be alone in his bedroom we could hear him having an animated conversation with someone-who knows who. I crept up to his door and tentatively knocked, to find him in front of his television with headphones on deftly manipulating the control panel in his hands. ‘What are you doing? I asked. ‘Playing a game with someone’ he said. ‘Where are they?’ I enquired. ‘New York’ was the reply. 12

It was very difficult to get that boy up on a Sunday morning for an 8am Book of Common Prayer service in a cold and bleak church! If we are serious about change as Christian communities, one of the things we need to ask ourselves is ‘what are we prepared to sacrifice for growth and relevance in the modern world?’.

The Second Vatican Council spoke of the Church as ‘the pilgrim people of God’, reminding us of a very ancient, traditional description….(it follows that) those who dislike change and oppose it in the name of tradition are not within the tradition of the Church which, by its very nature, must be a Church on the move, a searching Church without any abiding city here.

Gerard Hughes in ‘In Search of a Way’

Those who lead a development project therefore need to have some change management skills, and to understand that often changing the culture of a church community is the trickiest aspect of the operation…

First there needs to be a clear understanding that the church and its built resource are public property and not the private domain of a few-they are sacred spaces, set aside for use by all…

Primitive people found a clear distinction between so-called 'sacred' and 'profane' place. Sacred space is the place of regeneration, creativity and transformation. Sacred space provides an anchor for one's existence in the midst of the hazards of the environment. This experience of sacred space is all but lost in our contemporary culture. Huffman and Stauffer

Slide…

Prayer maze-St Mary, Bramall Lane 13

and again... It needs to be realised that the architecture of the building is capable of exercising a profound influence on the worshipping community's understanding of itself and its mission.

Peter Hammond in 'Towards a Church Architecture‘

How the building is ordered will influence how those who regularly use it see and understand themselves as a faith community and understand what there mission is…

Slides…

RC church of Mary the Immaculate, Grantham St Catherine, Wakefield Salisbury Cathedral

When he was considering the theology behind the proposed re-ordering of Portsmouth Cathedral, Bishop-then Dean-David Stancliffe suggested that, primarily, the church building is a place where the Holy Week and Easter Liturgies can be enacted. We know what he means, for it is in our liturgies, especially the Eucharist, that the Christian family most expresses what it is and what it is about.

Slides…

Portsmouth Cathedral, where we move from the Georgian nave-the Old Testament and gathering place of the people, through the baptistery based on the font at Ravenna to the Victorian chancel-the New Testament and then to the sanctuary and reserved sacrament in the medieval ‘bit’-heaven.

Consider for a moment our own homes: they will tell people who visit what the inhabitants are like. Are they neat and tidy? What colours are used and are they 14 extravert or introvert? The size of the house and its furnishings will tell whether we are rich or poor, and the pictures will reveal what we value and hold dear in life. All in all, the sensual experience of a home will reveal far more than words can. The same is no less true of a Christian church where, for good or ill, its physical condition and ordering will reveal what its regular users hold dear and to what depth. So a church must speak powerfully of its central purpose: worship. So, the central furnishings of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist need to be in clearly defined, uncluttered spaces and have sufficient weight and presence to underline the significance of those two actions. I react against the use of fruit bowls on flower stands for fonts and when the altar doubles as a sideboard for ornaments or, worse, coffee cups. Allowing these central foci to 'speak' wordlessly informs the visitor what the building is about:

Slides… Southwick Methodist Church, Worthing St Andrew’s Methodist Church, Sheringham, Norfolk

The purpose of a church is to move to worship, to bring a man to his knees, to refresh his soul in a weary land. Sir Ninian Comper

Also, our buildings and the way they are ordered internally speak of the relationships within a Christian community and how they are conducted: whilst traditional layouts can speak to us of the splendour and immutability of God, they can also speak of a priestly superior caste with a subservient and disengaged people 'meekly kneeling upon their knees'. The layout and ordering of the church interior might speak of the complementarity and collegiality of the different functions within the Church's life. And also, the numinous quality of a building needs our attention: the special ethereal quality of patina and age does not just happen, it is the carefully crafted conjunction of colour, lighting, wood tones, art work and much else. And simply space is also important: Ron Sims, the great northern church architect, said that 'you can improve a building simply by taking things out'. 15

A Mirfield Father once said that, when the community chapel was empty, it was as if it was 'resting' between acts of worship.

Slide…Newton Road, United Reform Church, Fulham

And finally, the church building as a place of retreat.... In the normal course of things, our church buildings have been places of solitude and retreat: places to draw apart from the hustle and bustle of the world to consider and reflect: to pray. In this, we must also be conscious that the churchyard is part and parcel of this place of retreat, and is probably used as such by a wider range of people in a community than the church itself. It is an important aspect of sacred space in a community, and is one of the greatest offerings that the Church can make to an increasingly frenetic and stressed world.

Following slides…

St Peter, Plymouth