In the Nave

Mark Twain, having sat through a performance of a Wagner opera, quipped, “Wagner’s music is not as bad as it sounds.”

Sitting in the nave today with its abbreviated seating options, I felt much the same way. The photos made the space look as if we’d been robbed, leaving us bereft of our pews in the west end of the church. But once I sat down for today’s service, things didn’t seem so awful after all.

As Jim Witte pointed out to me, the now emptied space allow a better sense of the church’s very fine architecture, exposing more of its columns, and giving a more immediate view of the south windows. So, I was wrong about the absence of the pews ruining the esthetic of the nave. This admission may come as a shock to those who think I am an intractable curmudgeon.

My only concern now is what we will do with this space over the summer. All sorts of odd notions have already sprung up including a space for knitters (during Mass?) and a playground and a dance floor. Some have volunteered their cheery ideas that the space would have been better made by taking out the front pews instead. The word ‘cockamamie’ comes to mind as these and other brainstorms loom on the horizon of plausibility.

We hear of an art show appearing in the recovered space, but what other plans are in the offing that wouldn’t be spreading the marmalade of opportunity too thinly over the bread of sense and taste? New uses and projects will require care and judgment avoiding haste and careless choices. Faith rests in the deciders, and in this situation ‘the greatest of these’ is faith.

The summer gives us time to assess whether or not to replace the pews although we are assured that they will return (absolutely needed for seating for some major events at SPC). But by then we will see how things go with the uncovered floor. Contrary to popular belief, I am optimistic.


​–Robert Heylmun​




See this letter from Dean Penny about the summer experiment removing some pews