Beauty in the Modern Church-part 2

To continue on this topic from a few days ago...this afternoon I took Sarah to lunch at a charming restaurant in Old Town Orange called PJ's Abbey.  Formerly a Victorian Baptist Church built in 1891, it is now an American style restaurant.  It was absolutely gorgeous :)  and I should be able to get some pictures up later today.  For now, here's the description that I wrote while there.

A restaurant in a church.  Strange, you say?  Almost as strange as a church housed within a warehouse, perhaps.  Though clearly a restaurant, with tables and chairs for a cozy meal, waiters bustling round, and cheery holiday music playing, the building still retains a very churchy atmosphere.

Spectacular stained windows tower of the room, reflecting the little bit of sun that shines through on this cloudy day.  A rather small and simple church, much care has been put into its design nonetheless.  High arched windows and a lofty ceiling draw one’s attention upwards to heaven.  Even the wooden beams supporting the antique architecture are carved with a simple, yet elegant picture, showing the amount of work put into each detail of the church.  Both older and more modern artwork adorn the walls in charmingly distressed wooden frames.  The needlepointed chairs, wooden benches resembling old pews, artwork, and indeed every detail, enhance the atmosphere of the old country church.  

Every detail serves a purpose, but every detail is made beautiful as well.  Here there is no division of the practical and the beautiful.  Here there can be seen no schism between functionality and artistry.  Take the old pulpit, for example.  Once it stood at the head of the church, as a stand for the preacher.  Now, it stands as a podium at the entrance to the restaurant.  Yet it is not only a purposeful tool, but a beautiful piece of artwork.  Here and throughout the restaurant/church is this mentality reflected; that a thing can be both useful and ornamental.