The Anglican Tradition of Common Prayer—Part 5

By Robin G. Jordan

Does it matter how a church arranges the room in which it regularly assembles for the worship of God?

Some church sanctuaries are well-suited to Prayer Book worship; others are not. I am using the term “sanctuary” broadly to refer to the room in which a church regularly assembles for worship rather than in the narrow sense of a “chancel.” I am also using the term “church” to refer to the ecclesia, the assembly, or gathering, of Christ’s people and to the building in which they assemble or gather for worship. This building is more correctly referred to as “the house of the church.” Over a period of time the term for the Christian assembly would become associated with its meeting place.

How the term “sanctuary” is used is revealing of a church’s understanding of the worship space that it occupies on Sunday morning and other occasions, as well as itself. The use of the term “sanctuary” for the room in which a church worships recognizes that is the temple in which God dwells. God not only dwells in the individual believer, he also dwells in the gathered church—the assembly of believers. It also recognized that gathered church is God’s “particular people.” They are God’s saints--those God has called out of the world to serve Him. While we usually hear other Protestants refer to this room as the sanctuary, we also hear Anglicans.

On the other hand Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics are more likely to refer to the “chancel” as the “sanctuary.” The chancel they associate with the inner sanctum of the Tabernacle, the “sanctum sanctorum” of the Temple, “the Most Holy Place,” the place in which God in Old Testament times was believed to be particularly present and even to dwell. They believe that after the priest says the Canon over the bread and wine, the elements become Christ, his real and substantive body and blood, even though they may retain the appearance of bread and wine. For this reason they regard the chancel as the place of the Presence and its designation as the “sanctuary,” or “holy place,” an apt one. The chancel is most likely to be more ornamented than any other part of the building since in this view it is Christ’s throne room. The tabernacle in which the sacrament is reserved is his throne.

The Old Testament, while it refers to God dwelling in the Tabernacle and in the midst of his people and his name dwelling first at Shiloh and then at Jerusalem, also refers to earth and heaven not containing God, much less the Temple at Jerusalem.

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (1 Kings 8:27-30; 2 Chronicles 6:18-21 ESV)

God’s name is often used in the Old Testament to designate God but it does not appear to be used in that way in these passages. The New Testament interprets the same passages to mean that God does not dwell in houses made by hands:

“But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, " 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?' (Acts 7:47-50 ESV)

These passages, the New Testament references to the individual believer and the gathered Church as the temple of the Holy Spirit, to Christ dwelling in the faithful and those who dwell in him, and to his promise to be in their midst when two or three gather in his name suggests that the view of the church’s meeting place as the sanctuary is more Scriptural than the view of the chancel as the sanctuary. Properly speaking it is the gathered church that is the sanctuary rather than its meeting place. By extension, anywhere the church meets is its sanctuary. It is made holy by God’s presence in his assembled people.

The original split chancel with the choir divided into two sections, one on the north side and the other on the south side began as a small church in which a community of monks sang the daily offices and celebrated the Eucharist. The Table was placed in a shallow apse at the east end of the room. The community of monks was the congregation as well as the choir.

Some post-Restoration and modern sanctuaries are constructed on this model with the seating arranged “choir fashion.” The congregation faces each other across a broad central aisle in which are arranged the Table, a lectern, and seats for officiating and assisting ministers. Each row of seats may be raised slightly above the row in front of its for better hearing and seeing.

This model has precedent in the arrangement of the early Jewish churches. The congregation gathered on either side of a low platform—the bema—that ran most of the length of the room. At one end of the bema was the pulpit from which the Torah and New Testament writings were read; at the opposite end of the platform was the Table.

The original function of the nave was not worship. It began as a barn attached to the monks’ church where they kept hay, grain, and livestock and where those who came to hear them the daily offices were permitted to shelter from inclement weather.

The medieval English cathedral evolved from the monks’ church and its attached barn. Local parish churches were built with a similar floor plan. They consisted two rooms—the chancel and the nave. A rood screen separated the two rooms and hid the altar from profane eyes.The priest said Mass in the chancel while the devout in the congregation knelt on the straw-covered floor of the nave, saying the Rosary and other devotions. The less devout strolled about the nave, gossiped with their friends or took a nap. The high point of the Mass was the elevation of the consecrated host for the adoration of the congregation.

At the time of the English Reformation the two-room church was the most common form of church. During the reign of Edward IV and Elizabeth I the interiors of parish churches were whitewashed, covering the paintings of scenes from the Bible and the lives of the saints that decorated their walls. Statues, reliquaries, crucifixes, crosses, and altars were removed and rood screens were demolished. Stone altars were replaced with wooden communion tables. Both frame and trestle tables were used. The table was kept in the chancel and covered with “a cleane carpet” of “silk or other decent stuff” until it was needed for the Communion Service when it was brought to the steps of the chancel or into the body of the church and “a fair linen cloth” was laid upon it. This “carpet,” which is also known as Jacobean or Laudian frontal, hung down to the floor on all four sides. The “fair linen cloth” was a full white tablecloth that also hung down on all four sides. A pulpit was placed on the side of the nave in the best position for hearing and seeing. A reading desk was also placed where the congregation might hear and see the minister.

After the Restoration one-room auditory churches were built, often with the Pulpit placed over the Table against the East wall and the seating arranged on the other three sides of the room. The people could easily see and hear the minister in the Pulpit and at the Table. The choir, organ, and/or other instrumentalists were commonly placed in the West end, typically in a gallery. These arrangements were well suited to Prayer Book services and fostered active congregational participation in the liturgy. They remained the norm within Anglicanism until well into the nineteenth century.

In the mid-nineteenth century Ritualism, and Romanticism produced a revival of the two-room church modeled on the medieval English cathedral. Form was given priority over function. In Sanctify Life, Time, and Space Marion J. Hatchett describes the effects of this revival:

”The Table was removed from the people. The choir was brought up from the back of the church and placed on a stage erected between the congregation and the Table. The pulpit, the lectern, and the reading desk were typically placed on the sides in positions which made seeing and hearing the liturgy of the Word more difficult. Side aisles….began to be used for seating. Victorian builders with their love of vistas were concerned to keep the central aisle clear, and they replace “honest Table” with impressive sideboards (which began to be equipped with crosses, flowers, and candles) to create an artificial numinous effect and to impress all who entered the main door. But the placement of the Table, the pulpit, the lectern, and the choir, the rearrangement of the seating in military rows, and the intrusion of rood screens began to obstruct the view of the Table from the communicants and to make access to its difficult.”

This type of church with its long and narrow layout does not work well as a setting for Prayer Book services. The choir is placed in a less than ideal position for leading and supporting congregational singing. The choristers sit sideways to the congregation, facing each other across the central aisle. Their voices are directed at each other across this aisle and not at the congregation. The congregation has difficulty in hearing and seeing the liturgy of the Table, as well as the liturgy of the Word. This type of church works against a sense of community and it frequently suffers from acoustical problems as well as visual problems.

In his article “Prayer–book Parish churches” Gordon Ashman examines how the interiors of post-Reformation English parish churches were changed to make them more suitable for the services of the Book of Common Prayer. He draws attention to the total contrast between the interior of the few remaining “prayer book” churches and that of the “restored” churches left by the Victorian Cambridge Camden movement.

The best sanctuary arrangement for services of The Book of Common Prayer for twenty-first century congregations is a low thrust platform with the congregation seated on three sides, facing each other across the platform. The platform is no more than three inches off the floor, allowing the officiating and assistant ministers to easily to step up onto the platform or down onto the floor. Each row of seats may be raised slightly above the row in front of it for better hearing and seeing. The pulpit or lectern stands on the platform with the Table. The choir and the organ and/or instrumentalists are placed close to each other to one side of the platform in a position where the choir can lead the congregational singing. This arrangement brings the congregation into close proximity to the liturgical centers of pulpit or lectern and Table, which encourage greater congregational participation. It also creates and fosters a sense of community.