Should we be eating in church?By Allan Whittow
Many people are asking where the Church is going, or what it has come to.
Harvest Festival at St John Baptist was a special service with many children (our local harvest?) joining in. It was followed immediately by a Harvest Lunch – in the church. It was a fork ’n’ plate affair provided by Church members, drinks and all. Some based themselves in the pews or chairs, while others found it easier to stand, so there was far greater circulation and conversation than at a traditional sit-down celebration.
The idea for this experiment had come from a Living Faith conference in Oxford this summer. It did literally bring the Lunch closer to the Festival; in recent years we transferred from the church to the Parish Hall, and before that used to hold a Harvest Supper on a different day altogether, in Ballinger.
Was this change acceptable? From a practical point of view the church is not an obvious dining room and has not (yet) any preparation or washing- up facilities. More important is whether people feel the idea itself is proper. Many people, but happily not children, have firm preconceptions on what is proper behaviour in church, though the Church itself is deliberately trying to become more flexible and involved with the community.
Others fear the quietness of a sacred place of refuge, full of spirituality, could be damaged. Yet The Old Church Trust has regularly demonstrated that a lively social occasion need not conflict with a tradition of prayer, contemplation and sanctity going back half a millennium further than our ‘new’ church.
There are various considerations and the Parochial Church Council will not have to work on next year’s format for a while yet. But it is good to think they will have the benefit of this year’s experience to help them decide.