SPRING CLEANING
Clarity or Clutter?
1992

We may say many things about our church buildings. But have we ever asked what our church buildings say about us to a visitor? What would happen if we put ourselves in the shoes of a visitor to our church and began to look around? What would we notice as a visitor that we overlook week after week as a member? What would we imagine about the people who gather here, how would we interpret what we see? Would it be evidence of love or lack of care?

Spring cleaning can be a time to reflect on the difference that often exists between that WE say and what our SITES and BUILDINGS say. For example:

We say:
"The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." and "Give us a reverence for the earth as your own creation."

Our Site says: "The Episcopal Church does not necessarily welcome you!" The peeling paint and the missing "e" on the "Visitors Welcome" sign put a question mark at the end of the sign. Uncut grass, trash collecting in corners, locked doors with no directions to an open entrance, these things say, "This place may have closed down a few months ago or may not even have an active congregation."

Imagine: A site that says to a visitor or stranger who happens by, "This is a place of life and care. It is a pleasant place and we hope you will recognize that preparations have been made to welcome you: the grounds are raked, the winter grime has been removed from our welcome sign, the parking lot is swept, the entry is clearly marked and well lighted, the flower beds are planted. There are people here who care---come in!"

We say:
"Let the doors of this place be open to all people," and "This is the Decade of Evangelism."

Our Narthex says: We don’t really expect people to come through here. This is where we keep the bulletins, broken umbrellas, unmatched gloves, "No Parking" signs for funerals, brooms, and snow shovels.

Imagine: A clean, open, cheerful narthex that makes a good first impression. It contains practical things like a coat rack, directional signs, and provision for security without shutting people out. It also has displays that positively present the congregation to visitors, like an exhibit of enlarged color photos from a recent parish event. It reinforces the hospitable message which the site has given, "We have been expecting you."

We say:
"Fellowship forms us into community."

Our Parish Hall says: Those tables stacked in the corner will be used next month. The boxes scattered along the wall are full of left over items from last summer’s bazaar. Someone must have forgotten to put the mop and bucket away. The dirty coffee cups and ashtrays are from last Sunday. You’ll just have to overlook these things and pretend this is an attractive room.

Imagine: An area spacious enough to accommodate the coffee crowd from the Sunday service and intimate enough to encourage a meaningful conversation among a few. The room and the serving tables have been arranged with the same care one would take when entertaining at home. There is good lighting and ventilation. There are signs of parish life, such as a bulletin board that displays only current information.

We say:
"We are a church that takes education seriously. We are the thinking person’s church."

Our classroom say: Children learn best in small, rigid, cluttered rooms that do not allow for any activity other than sitting in a chair at a table with five other people. The resources required are: manila paper, magic markers, crayons, and for smaller children a few broken toys. A small group of adults learns best when meeting in a vacuous parish hall.

Imagine: Flexible rooms that can adjust to the number of people using them and that can adapt to the various styles of teaching and group work which have been proven to be helpful in developing faith. Rooms equipped with up-to-date educational resources and with adequate storage.

We say:
In our church buildings we ‘behold the order and beauty of things heavenly'.

Our Worship space says: If it has a religious symbol on it, bring it in here, find a place for it, and leave it forever. We can always squeeze another memorial into an already crowded space. You just can’t have too many holy things. If it’s appropriate on one Sunday a year, leave it there all year round.

Imagine: A space that is carefully arranged to allow for openness, freedom of movement, and accessibility to all the baptized. A space where less important objects do not overshadow the basic symbols, but sit quietly and functionally in place, and yet occasionally are removed to make room for other things which are brought in temporarily because of a special season or feast.

One long term result of this kind of imagining could be that we get our thinking as straightened out as our sites and buildings. We might discover anew just what we’re trying to make happen in these spaces and clean up some of our mixed messages.

Clarity in the Worship Space

One of the marks of a fine interior is clarity of focus, meaning that the design of space and the arrangement of objects within it correspond to its use and to the importance of those objects. In order for our worship space to have this kind of clarity, we must decide how we want to use it and determine which of our many liturgical symbols are primary and which are secondary.

The Church for Common Prayer, Statement on Worship Space for the Episcopal Church, is a helpful study document and a resource for us in this task. Prepublication copies are available from the Building Fund. The following quotes address the issue of clarity:

Buildings Are Shaped by Community...
Nothing about the space should ignore, compromise, or demean the centrality of the people of God. Everything about the space should connect the people with one another, with the focal points of their liturgies, and with the mystery of their faith. Anything which draws the attention of the congregation away from itself or the focal points must be questioned. The liturgical focal points in any Episcopal worship space are: the gathered community, the font, the pulpit, and the altar table....The configuration of everything in the space allows for the easy movement of the people of God to, from, and around the focal point....

Altar Table:...The interrelationship of the three focal points of font, pulpit, and altar is expressed by position, scale and size. Strict symmetry may not always be the most satisfying solution....

Artwork, Flags, and Banners: Things that are secondary ought never to eclipse or demean things that are primary. Less important objects, artwork, etc., are best used in the liturgical space in an intentional way, letting the occasion or season dictate their presence or absence. Very few things warrant permanent placement in worship space.

Cross: While the cross is a basic Christian symbol, it is not one of the primary liturgical focal points. For this reason, it should not overshadow the altar or the pulpit in scale or design. The church calendar suggests variation in the presence and type of cross used in liturgy. A fine processional cross set in a floor stand is often a good solution, and has the additional advantage of not duplicating the symbol.

Many of our churches are cluttered to the point of being unusable--there must be a point midway between Victorian excess and Shaker austerity. Think of things you can do to add clarity and dignity to your worship space without spending much money.

Seasonal Symbols

Even though the Christmas holidays may have faded from our consciousness, their effect on our buildings is easy to recall. We bring out many special things during Advent and Christmas: the Advent wreath, the Christmas creche, the three kings, the greens. We take great care in the arrangement of these objects, by not overshadowing the primary liturgical symbols and not creating obstacles to dignified movement during our worship. We also feel a sense of pride in how beautiful and festive the church looks over the holidays. Our efforts enhance the joy of our celebrations. And we do one last important thing; we take down all these things and put them into storage. Who could imagine leaving the Advent wreath or the creche sitting out all year? Yet that is what we do with many other secondary or seasonal objects. Our worship space would be far less cluttered if we simply removed unnecessary and unused objects.

Ask this question: "What objects go with what events?" The bishop’s chair on the Sunday of confirmation, the American flag on the Fourth July, the parish banner on the parish feast day, the litany desk on the Sunday when the litany is prayed.

Ask another question: "What is sitting around and NEVER used?" That extra prie dieu on which no one ever kneels, a piano that is never played, candles that are never lit, those two extra processional crosses. The list can grow quite long. And if we take it for granted, the resulting clutter will only increase.

Take a look at worship space with "spring cleaning" eyes. Distinguish between objects which are necessary for today’s celebration, and objects that can be removed and stored until they are actually needed.

What we gain by doing this (without spending any money) is:
• clarity of focus on the primary symbols.
• room for more dignified movement.
• a plan of special traditions for feasts and seasons.
• a more quiet and serene atmosphere for worship.
• more ease of flexibility for various uses of the church.

Things You Can Do to Clean up the Clutter:

1. Don’t just clean UP, but clean OUT. Have a regular system of removing the clutter. Ample storage space is one of the most helpful things you can provide.
2. Be intentional about how things are used. Some of the clutter is not trash, but valuable things left out. If the music stands are not going to be used for several weeks, store them away. If books are piled on the floor, build a shelf. If there is a recurring need for folding or stacking chairs, buy a moveable rack.
3. Don’t mix and match chairs. If you have six kinds of folding chairs, choose a single kind for a single event. Take seriously how to store them neatly.
4. Make sure that ushers pick up bulletins after each service and straighten out the prayer books and hymnals.
5. Schedule the major cleaning of the church facilities on Monday rather than on Saturday. Since people tend to leave things as they found them, the church will be clean all week. Do a touch up on Saturday.
6. Candles that are warped and dusty have probably not been used regularly. Remove the candles and their stands.
7. Encourage the habit of cleaning up after ourselves. Gone are the days when "they" will pick up after us. Respect rather than neglect can have a snowball effect.