feast. What is laid out nowadays is a mere symbolic remnant of what was originally blessed. Thanks for the interesting question, Bosco. I think eating and drinking 'down the back' of the church can be OK depending on the nature of the space, but I will share with you a couple of observations. First, in my own church in a small North Canterbury town, meditations on the sacred are often accompanied by the sound of the tea urn down the back gently whistling as it (repeatedly) comes to the boil throughout the service. Not great. Secondly, at holy communion recently, during the intercessions no less, one of the sidespeople carried the tea urn up near the front of the church to plug it into an alternative power socket, which turned out the be the one providing power to the data projector. Prayers duly finished, the organist began to play the offertory hymn but ... no words on the screen. Vicar of Dibley stuff. Thanks, Gillian, for your concrete examples. Sometimes funny things happen at worship and we need to laugh; sometimes funny things happen at worship and they are inappropriate and we need to work through what led to this and how we can learn from it. God give us the wisdom to tell the difference... Blessings. I disagree with allowing people to eat and drink in sacred spaces that have been dedicated to God. At my church we do not let people eat or drink inside the sacred space