Friends & Family: Building Committee Presentation

St. Francis Church
Building Committee Presentation
November 22, 1998

Good morning. My name is Ed Happ; I am the chairman of the Building Committee. We are here this morning to share with you the design of our new church. We have a lot of ground to cover, and we are excited to finally get together and talk about some long-in-coming solutions. We are going to do seven things:

First, I am going to provide a brief historical context for today's meeting
Next, Frank Baker will talk about future events and our upcoming fund drive
He will be followed by Joanne Cone and Joe Mygatt, our architects, who will walk you through some wonderful design drawings
Richard will then share some thoughts about holy interiors and walls of mystery.
I'll be back to recap how this design meets our needs and honors our tradition. We'll then have a period for questions and answers with the building committee and our architects.
For those of you who can stay a bit longer, our architects will lead us on a site tour where the "corner-stones" of our new building have been staked out.

I would like to start today's meeting with two anecdotes. The first is by the comedian Hal McKay who tells the story of a very strict order of monks. They had a rule that speaking was permissible only one day a year, when only one monk could speak. One day it was this monk's turn, and he stood up at the dinner table and said quietly, "I don't like the mashed potatoes here at all, they're too lumpy." And then he sat down. A year later it was another monk's turn and he stood up and said, "I rather like the mashed potatoes, I find them very tasty." The third year came along and it was yet another monk's turn. He stood up and said, "I want to transfer to another monastery, I can't stand this constant bickering."

The second is by Timothy Ferris, a professor at UC Berkeley. He recently wrote of the problem of explaining the history of the universe in terms through which we could gain a meaningful overview. He talks about how, in a PBS special yet to be aired, he drove a sports car down four and a half kilometers of desert roadway at 100 mile per hour. Along the road he had placed markers to indicate the key milestones of the earth's development. Since each kilometer represented a billion years, most of what we the think as the history of life on this planet was compressed into the last part of his drive. He writes "The entire human story, from the origin of speech, and the control of fire, took up only the last half meter of highway." -- less than a stride of a casual morning walk.

This morning we would like to take you on a similar journey. It is one that is both long and short. The long of it is the tremendous amount of work, as well as the dedicated time and efforts of a number of committees at St. Francis, that have preceded this presentation. The short of it is the brief hour in which we have to share the exciting conclusions.

There are three things I encourage you to keep in mind this morning:

Like the road in the desert, this project has a long history; much has happened over the past five years since we began planning our facilities, and there are important reasons why we have ended up where we are today. I counted at least seven committees or groups of parishioners who have deliberated about building a new church at St. Francis since early 1994. This has been a long journey.
Like the monks, we have listened to alternatives over the years and taken some interesting turns; we probably have considered most of the possibilities at least twice, and made half as many mistakes along the way. Looking back, I noticed that we considered two sites; at least nine design concepts; free standing, connected and expanded churches; modern and historical themes; nine architects; stone, wood, brick, metal and cement; steeples, bell towers, prayer gardens; pews, chairs, altar rails and platforms; peaked ceilings, round ceilings, wood beams and light beams-- to name a few.
In the spirit of being fully human, we changed our minds and altered our opinions at a number of important junctures; being open too new possibilities --much like a parachute-- was critical. I am reminded that we have ended up today on a different site, with a different design, different style, different architects, different seating and altar than many of us first envisioned. And we all --building committee and vestry-- voted unanimously and enthusiastically in support of this design. That is remarkable!

It is in this spirit --of being mindful of the thoughtful work others have done, listening to ideas that may be different than our own, and being open to a change of heart-- that we would like to begin today. I believe you will be as pleasantly surprised as we were, and delighted at how well the solution that Joe and Joanne have proposed meets our needs.

Ed Happ
Chairman

Our Needs and This Design

Building Objective
I would like to remind all of us about the problem we are set out to solve with the design you have just seen. We focused on three needs:

The need for a dedicated worship place that is family, child and choir "friendly," as well as, liturgically centered,
The need for a larger sanctuary for special holidays and gatherings (e.g., weddings, funerals), for modest growth, and for welcoming new people, and
The desire to reach out to the community with more special and diverse programs (e.g., concerts, lectures, words & music events, etc.)

Top Twelve Priorities
Last May we took a new look at all our surveys and research, and ranked the needs we were trying to meet. The top twelve are on these flip charts. What I would like to do is briefly review how well the design that Joe and Joanne have just shown us meets these needs.

#	Need	Design Meets Need?
1.	Quiet peaceful setting; inviting to prayer	Yes
2.	Space for the celebrant to face the people	Yes
3.	An excellent acoustic space	Yes
4.	A dedicated worship place	Yes
5.	Expansion space under the new church	Yes
6.	All seats need to see the altar	Yes
7.	Altar raised step above the basic space	Yes
8.	Simplicity of décor	Yes
9.	Flexible seating for additional people (above 175)	Yes +
10.	Seating for 175 in main sanctuary	Yes +
11.	A "hallowed" space, of mystery and awe	Yes
12.	Make parish house & new church compatible	Yes

What I find interesting is how the old church is also honored in this design.

First, we are embracing the two worship site parish that we are. The old church will continue as the historic gem that it is. Ands part of our program is to restore the exterior and interior of the church to its pristine condition.
One architect called the old church a "music box" of simple, rectangular proportions. The new church echoes that rectangular form, with high ceiling and simple décor.
For the old church, the large clear windows present nature as our stained glass. In the new, the abundant nature light provides similar presentation.
The old church invites a sense of mystery and awe, moving us to whispers and prayer. I believe that when we walk into the new church and see the ceiling rise up dramatically from the narthex to light-splashed alter and hints of light beyond, the new church will do the same.

In closing, I want to thank the members and ex officio members of the building committee for their dedication and hard work: Wyn Achenbaum, Frank Baker, Jack Byrnes, Shirley Chillington, Joanne Cone, Norma Hart, Margie Irish, Gerrit Lydecker, Richard Mayberry, Molly McGreevy, Anne Moore, Joanna Nichols, Carol Rice, and Betty Wilson. I believe I speak for all members in saying that it has been a privilege to serve you on this building committee. And finally I want to thank all of you". For your continued interest, support and patience. Let us begin!

St. Francis' Church
Building Committee
Priority Needs: rev. 5/6/98

The following tables summarize the building committee survey completed by the committee members in the spring of 1998.

#	Top Ten Priorities	Avg. Rating (10=High)
1.	Quiet peaceful setting; inviting to prayer	9.73
2.	Space for the celebrant to face the people	9.67
3.	An excellent acoustic space	9.67
4.	A dedicated worship place	9.47
5.	Expansion space under the new church	9.25
6.	All seats need to see the altar	9.07
7.	Altar raised step above the basic space	9.00
8.	Simplicity of décor	8.93
9.	Flexible seating for additional people (above 175)	8.79
10.	Seating for 175 in main sanctuary	8.46

#	Remaining "High" Priorities ( Average >= 7.0)	Avg. Rating (10=High)
1.	A "hallowed" space, of mystery and awe	8.23
2.	Make parish house & new church compatible	8.20
3.	New sacristy closer to the new sanctuary	8.20
4.	Quality of craftsmanship	8.07
5.	Clear rather than stained glass	8.00
6.	Flexible space for choirs	8.00
7.	A worship place in a natural setting	7.50
8.	Combination of artificial & natural light at altar	7.36
9.	Some fixed pews	7.27
10.	Visible from Long Ridge Rd.	7.13
11.	Attractive landscaped setting	7.13
12.	A library room for study and meetings	7.07
13.	Restored or refurbished used organ	7.00

#	"Bottom" items (Average < 5)	Avg. Rating (10=High)
1.	A memorial garden	4.80
2.	All spaces need to see each other	4.62
3.	Seating for more than 175	4.50
4.	Space for more communicants	4.47
5.	Second office for Sunday needs	3.77
6.	More space for Canaan Ridge School	3.60
7.	Carpeting throughout	3.58
8.	Seating for less than 175	3.27
9.	Electronic organ	2.67