Pew

 

If you went to a church building in the first 1400 years of Christianity there was no place to sit.  Parishioners were active during the service: kneeling, getting up, moving around.   Then came the Protestant Reformation and the service became less of a rehearsed dance between clergy and laity and more like a teaching seminar.  Easier to get people to listen to an hour long sermon if they could sit down and be still.  People liked the idea of being able to sit and soon all churches featured long benches - pews - for the congregation. Lately churches have been switching out the wooden pews in favor of stackable chairs.  Pews allow people more personal  space and 'wiggle' room so not as many people can be packed into the same space as you can using chairs.  This pew came from the First Baptist Church in Prentice,Wisconsin and is ten feet long.  Friend Nancy told me her father liked to say that this back pew "sleeps six comfortably."   Originally it was stained blond and had a padded seat.  Friend Kris and I stayed up one night w/ pliers pulling out the brads which tacked the padding in place.  Then Brent and Phil refinished it to this golden oak color.