God in your box...

I went to a church this weekend that was built in the Colonial Period of our country, and in it the pews are boxes. Yes, boxes with doors that latch. My understanding is that this was a way to make sure no one sat in your seat at church. I know in some churches there are even name plaques on the boxes. On the website of this church, there is a description under "How do I know where to sit", and it tells you that the ushers will find a place that does not belong to a particular family.

I think it is curious that simultaneously, the Church of England has announced that Sunday worship is not compulsory anymore.

Is it just me, or is there a connection between these two situations? Have the rules of the institutional church snuffed out the Heart of Jesus which was the origin of the Body of Christ? Have we the people of the church captured God in our boxes and reduced God to being made in our image rather than us in God's?

Just wondering...what do you think?