The railings around the sanctuary have disappeared. Some of us have welcomed the change, some of us regret it, and some of us have not noticed! Why did we do it?
In the Jewish temple, the most sacred place, the Holy of Holies, was hidden by a curtain. Only the High Priest was allowed to go in. In several Christian traditions in eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, the altar is similarly hidden from sight, as a reminder of the parallel between the Eucharist, Christ's sacrifice of himself for us on the cross, and the sacrifices of the Temple. In western Europe, there was an emphasis on Christ's majesty. In the Middle Ages, it was almost forgotten that the Eucharist was a meal around the Lord's table: it became almost exclusively a re-enactment of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, enacted by the priest on behalf of the congregation.
In this way, the Eucharist became remote. The priest stood with his back to the congregation, offering prayers on their behalf to a distant God. He was assisted by a choir, who sat near to the altar. The part of the church where they sat, the chancel, was very often separated from the main part of the church, the nave, by a screen with a wooden gate in it. This screen was often capped by a carving of Christ on the cross, and was called a rood screen. It formed a firm barrier between the lay congregation and the clergy.
At the Reformation, many of these screens were destroyed. In their place, a railing was often placed around the altar itself "to keep dogs out"! There was a lot of opposition to these rails at the time. When in 1634 their use was insisted on, it was only seven years before Cromwell's parliament ordered them to be removed. But as a result, they were enthusiastically restored together with the monarchy in 1660 - and became a feature of Anglican churches! Only with the Liturgical Movement towards the middle of this century did people start thinking afresh about the symbols we use in worship and the way they influence our thoughts about God.
We have removed the railings to show that there is no barrier between God and us: God shares our life with its joys and sorrows, and our life is transformed by sharing it in the Eucharist. The priest celebrating this, the Lord's Supper, faces us to emphasise this truth. In many churches today, the altar has been moved down into the body of the building so that we are literally "around the Lord's table", but the size and architecture of St Ursula's does not easily allow this.
The railings at St Ursula's had an additional function. They were very useful as an aid for kneeling - or for getting up again! Kneeling to pray, and kneeling to receive communion, have a long history in Anglican worship. They formed another field of controversy at the Reformation, and the 1662 Prayer Book included a declaration that kneeling to receive communion did not imply that we were worshipping Christ's physical presence in the bread and wine!
The cramped seating at St Ursula's makes it difficult to kneel for prayer - and many people sit. The missing rail makes it harder for some to kneel - and they should stand. Standing was the traditional Jewish posture for prayer - Jesus himself would have stood. There is no one way an action in worship "must" be done: God does not set rules!
So let us love, serve, worship and adore, standing - or kneeling - in awe at God's goodness and greatness. For God is one with us and has come close to us. There really are no barriers.
HD