Life Lines : The view from the new pew

Notes: The author writes about her reaction to discovering that she can no longer sit in her usual pew as street vibrations have caused a large bubble to appear in the ceiling plaster over the pew. As a result the pew is now cordoned off with yellow plastic tape. "It's sobering the see a place as deeply personal as one's church pew bound by the word 'CAUTION'. It reads like a message from God. But what on earth is he warning me about ? Well, for starters, he is telling me to make a move. After 14 years of faithful occupation, I have been forced to do the unthinkable and find a new view from a new pew". "Day by day, week by week, from my spot at the kitchen table to my spot in the couch, to my spot in the grocery store parking lot, to my spot in church, I have become as immovable as a piece of furniture: as utterly and completely nailed to the floor as a church pew". "Maybe God might be calling our entire parish community to move around a little: those who are being shaken might use this occasion to shake themselves up a bit. Perhaps the cautionary note of a ceiling collapse is meant for all of us".

Subjects: Pews and pew rights - Anglican Church of Canada; Change - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada