Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Winter Photo [16]


I took this photo of the interior of our local Methodist Church. The architecture is very similar to that of our own Church, which was built several years earlier. OBSERVATION: The Methodists would seem to recognise great architecture when they see it! Apart from this being smaller than our Church, the Methodist choir has greater prominence, and the altar less. The Methodists also used a sturdier structure for the roof (we won't venture into the possible symbolism of that)! There was a guest preacher on this day.

2 comments:

Jenny Hillebrand said...

I really ought to rise to this, because I can see that somehow you are 'having a go' at us Methodists. But what can I say?
I would mention that the Methodist Church is 'low churchish' and so does not have as many symbols as some other denominations, but clearly many of our churches are pretty ornate. And in some other church the altar may well dominate! I wonder if the roof structure could have been due to prophetic foresight that the building would one day hold drums and amplifiers and noisy worship things? I admire you ministers who manage to reconcile such old buildings with contemporary worship!

Thomas O. Scarborough said...

I was taking "a poke" at the Methodists -- a friendly one, I hope!

Incidentally under the last local Methodist minister, we made our own premises available to the Methodist Church "at cost", over an extended period, as an act of solidarity. (They were in a predicament with their premises).

It's just interesting to note some of the symbolic differences in Churches. A famous one is central pulpit vs. side pulpit. I don't know the Methodist Church closely enough, though, to know what significance the distinctive features might hold.