Reflecting the 'eighth day' of Creation

Submitted by Alan Barthel, executive director of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

In the last church in Toronto where I was director of music (St. Andrew's) we had the opportunity to redesign the chancel space — partly to improve acoustics and partly to make a stronger theological statement about the sacraments. The building was square and the chancel area occupied about one third of the space of the church, centered in one of the square corners. After a two-year study and increased sacramental practice the decision was made to replace the carpeting with stone. A very decorative design was chosen at the center of the chancel space, which was highlighted by a large embedded outline of an octagon, picking up on the octagonal shape of the font. The table was centered on the octagonal shape. The font was two steps lower, also sitting on an octagonal shaped space; this large, highly decorative wooden octagonal font had its center replaced with a large glass bowl, which could be seen by the entire congregation.

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