Sitting in a quiet church building has a particular feeling and emotion which is hard to describe. It’s easier to describe what we feel when the screech of a child breaks through the shelter of peace and silence.
However the question arises what is that church building for? Who is it for? Which people get priority in such a space? Each church culture is different, but overall the space is a priority space for adults. Children are sent ‘away’ to sunday school and sunday time or they’re asked to be silent and not disturb the adults who are seemingly doing ‘important’ things.
In order to better understand how all this works I’ve started recording these various spaces. I recorded the creche a few sundays ago and was confronted with a range of ethical dilemmas which we’ve been discussing through our course.
I hadn’t asked anyone’s permission. Silly mistake but I shan’t repeat that one. The other question was the kinds of conversation that was going on in the creche between the carers. And there was some deep and personal stuff shared. So was it in anyway possible to give a feel of what the space was like without giving away too much detail and relational exchanges which were only for a particular context?
So I took the two hour recording and broke it into 16 equal parts and mixed the whole thing together. I think I’ve managed to get the sound of a creche without breaking confidences or dehumanising people. See what you think