New chairs for St. Philip's!

Recently there have been many changes here at Saint Philip's Church and some of those changes have necessitated a second look at the space the community worships in. We've added a significant number of new folks to the parish and explored some different ways to celebrate the liturgy.

As a result of some extensive conversations, we've recognized that space and flexibility are two factors that we need to maximize in order to make our church building efficient and effective for the needs of the community. One of the easiest ways to make more room and to add flexibility is to move from pews to chairs.

After almost a year of looking at a number of examples, considering the variables such as comfort, scale, style, and cost, we were surprised to find that we could design our own chairs and have them fabricated for less than the price of commercially manufactured ones. This allowed us to enlist the services of a local woodworker to create the chairs we needed based on a prototype from France.

Chris Cosner, who was married at Saint Philip's, built our chairs using wood from an old oak tree that once stood in the Solebury Friends Meetinghouse cemetery, not far from us. He was able to match the color of our altar, lectern, and kneelers (all designed by Morgan Colt), so that all the furniture would have a unified appearance.Chris will also submit a proposal to strip and stain four of our existing pews which will be placed on the side walls of the church for overflow seating.

At the same time we?re also researching solutions to the storage and use of the various books that we use during the liturgy. We are in conversation with a local parish to acquire their kneeling hassocks to replace the wooden kneelers that were once attached to the pews. It is our hope that the members of the community will create needlepoint covers for the seats of the chairs and/or the kneelers, based on designs by Georgiana Harbeson Goodwin for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Her crewelwork image of the crucifixion often adorns the wall above our altar and we hope to echo the colors of this piece in our recreations of her designs.

Making cushions for the chairs

As we attempt to maximize the usefulness of the space for our life today, along with a view toward our future, we are doing our best to respect the contributions of those who have gone before us in this place. Much more than just a museum to a distant past, Saint Philip's is a work in progress and our space reflects the richness of all the moments of our life as a community.