Greg Goebel Anglican Pastor I Don’t Want a Celebration of Life, I Want a Burial Service
Luke T Harrington Christ and Pop Culture The History of Pews Is Just as Terrible and Embarrassing as You’d Imagine
Hannah A Blaze of Light Here’s To All The #NewRevs
I’m disappointed to see such a poor article as ‘The History of Pews’ featuring on this normally sane site. Not only is its tone unnecessarily abrasive, it is also historically uninformed. See Cox and Harvey, English Church Furniture (1907) and Howard and Crossley, English Church Woodwork (1917) for some early scholarly work on the subject.
Oh no! Not another article about “Vicar School”. This hackneyed phrase is over-used and detracts from the dignified and humble calling to the priesthood.
FrDavidH – i agree, “Vicar school” is jejune and to my ears dismissive. When I was an asst DDO I observed its use predominantly by those who seemed embarrassed by their calling and were determined to wear clericals in public as little as possible. But maybe I’m just a curmudgeon.
I have two quite separate reflections on Greg Goebel’s piece. 1. I agree with him absolutely. I have come to feel that we come together for a funeral for four distinct reasons. All four need adequate attention, and I frequently introduce a funeral by stating these four purposes: We come together a) to remember b) to grieve c) to farewell the deceased, and commend her/him to God’s keeping d) to dispose of the body now that s/he doesn’t need it. “a” is terribly important, but if that becomes the only thing that happens, you can’t really describe the service as… Read more »
Greg Goebel, thank you for expressing my own thoughts better than I could do. I have increasingly been disturbed by the multiplication of funerals which are called celebrations of someone’s life. In secularist funerals this is appropriate, because no future hope can be offered either for the deceased or to their relations. This should not be the case with Christian funerals. I also would be content for the Prayer Book service to be used at my funeral. There is no glossing over the solemnity of death, or the fact that we are sinners needing forgiveness from our loving, merciful God;… Read more »
Evan McWilliams: I don’t doubt that there are inaccuracies in the article about pews. But what is your problem with the main argument? Pews turn people into passive spectators rather than active participants in the liturgy, and by keeping the ‘people’ static prisoners while allowing the professionals to perform and move around the ‘stage’, reinforce clericalism.