In and Out of Sync: Temporality and Togetherness in the Church of England

This chapter focuses on temporality to explore how religion and heritage are entangled in the everyday practices of religious groups. I draw on a comparative sensory ethnography of music-making in two Church of England churches in London to illustrate how congregants in each church re-evaluate their relationship to religious heritage through music and church practices to respond to a changing religious landscape in a secularised setting. I show that the configuration of practices in each church enables each congregation to experience a sense of togetherness by holding on to or detaching from religious heritage which, in turn, obstructs or generates new futures. The comparison highlights that the future shapes the present and the past by eliciting actions and sensory-affective experiences that entangle religion and heritage.