How We
Worship
Sharon L. Rodgers, Liturgist
Introduction
On page 856 of the Prayer Book, it states that it is "the duty of all
Christians to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate
worship; and to work, pray and give for the spread of the kingdom of
God." We Episcopalians have many customs for how we worship together
designed to make that experience as spiritually enriching for everyone involved
as it can possibly be.
Before we consider the particulars of when to stand, sit, or kneel, how we
behave at the communion rail or during the offertory for example, Let's begin by
simply talking about what it means to be reverent. No matter how we
feel - happy, sad, scared, angry, bored, tired, confused, or awestruck, we are
always supposed to be reverent in church. No matter what we are
doing, whether singing or praying or listening or processing, we are expected to
do it reverently.
The dictionary defines reverence as "a feeling or attitude of deep
respect, love, and awe, as for something sacred." Some of the
ways we show our reverence for God in church, or to say it differently, some of
the ways we behave reverently, are by entering church quietly, walking rather
than running to our seats, and waiting quietly, either praying or listening to
music, or just sitting still, until the service begins. During a service,
we demonstrate our reverence by participating - singing the hymns, praying the
prayers, listening to the lessons and sermon. If we need to say something
to someone near us, we do it very quietly so as not to distract the people
around us from their own efforts at being reverent. Learning to be quiet,
to be still, both on the outside and on the inside, will allow us to become
really good listeners. If we listen well long enough, eventually we won't
just be able to hear the people around us, we'll be able to hear God.
Music and
Processions
Most services in the Episcopal Church, and all Sunday morning services at St.
Mary's, begin with music. Usually this music is a hymn taken from the Blue
1982 Hymnal or the green hymnal supplement, "Wonder, Love, and
Praise," both found in the pew rack. Just as the Prayer Book is
properly called the Book of Common Prayer, the hymnal can be called the
"Book of Common Praise." Indeed the word hymn means a
song in praise or honor of God. When the organist begins the introduction
to the processional hymn, that is, the hymn that begins the service, the
congregation stands. When the people begin to sing, the procession led by
the crucifer - the person carrying the cross, proceeds up the aisle.
The crucifer carries the cross high so that even people sitting far from the
center aisle can see it because it is the custom for people to bow as the cross
goes by as a way of reverencing or honoring the cross. In the same manner
it is customary to bow or reverence the cross on the altar when we enter or
leave our pews. If available, acolytes carrying torches follow the
crucifer, followed if there is one by members of a choir. Following the
choir there can be another crucifer known as a clergy crucifer who precedes the
ministers of the service. The first of these will be the lay, or
unordained, eucharistic ministers, followed by the deacon and finally the
celebrant who will be either a priest or a bishop.
At the end of the service there is a recessional hymn during which the crucifer
leads the choir and ministers out of the church. The congregation behaves
the same way during the recessional as during the processional, standing when
the introduction begins, singing the hymn when it is time to do so, and bowing
as the cross goes by. At our 9:30 service we have adapted the order of
service to allow for Sunday School to take place while the Old Testament lesson
and Epistle are read and the sermon preached, so that the recessional hymn does
not mark the end of the service as it does at the other services, but is the
time when the acolytes, choir, and Sunday School participants leave the church,
while everyone else remains for the sermon.
Music is a tremendously important part of our worship tradition. Since
earliest times people have chosen to sing their praise to God. It is often
said that to sing is to pray twice. We are blessed at St. Mary's to have a high
quality pipe organ and a gifted organist to lead us in our singing. Over
time particular hymns can take on special meaning for us. Some hymns
may remind us of a particular church we have belonged to, while others may
remind us of particular services we have participated in. Music is truly a
gift from, and to, God.
Collects
Following the processional hymn and the Acclamation - a responsorial exchange
between the celebrant and the congregation that varies in form depending on the
season of the church year, the celebrant usually prays what is known as the
Collect for Purity. This is found at the bottom of page 323 in Rite One
and 355 in Rite Two. It has been said that collects are designed to
"collect" our thoughts and focus them on the worship experience we are
entering. That certainly seems to be the purpose of the Collect for
Purity. While we do not pray this prayer at our 9:30 service we still hear
a collect immediately after the acclamation, but in this case it is the Collect
of the Day. Another theory about collects is that the Collect of the Day
names the theme of the lessons from the Bible we hear during the Liturgy of the
Word. Sometimes when that theme seems particularly hard to identify by
reading the lessons themselves, the collect can be quite helpful in this
respect. The collects which appear on our bulletin inserts also appear in
the Book of Common Prayer twice, in both Traditional and Contemporary language.
The traditional form is the one read at the 8:00 Rite One service, while the
contemporary form is the one we hear at both the 9:30 and 11:00 services.
The Collects are organized sequentially in the Prayer
Book from the beginning of the church year, which is to say from the First
Sunday of Advent. In addition to collects for every Sunday there are
collects for Holy Days which generally don't fall on Sundays such as Christmas,
Holy Name Day, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, the days of Holy Week and Easter Week,
Ascension Day, many saint's days, and Thanksgiving. There are also
collects for special events. If you have never taken the time to look at
the part of the Prayer Book containing the collects, it is well worth doing so.
The traditional collects begin on page 159 while the contemporary ones begin on
page 211.
For approximately half the year the collects are identified in terms of a
particular Sunday in a church season, for example, the First Sunday of Advent,
the Third Sunday after Epiphany, and so on. For the other half of the
year, during the season of Pentecost, the "Proper" to be used is
determined by the calendar date of a given Sunday: the Sunday closest to May 25,
the Sunday closest to November 9 and so forth. As was mentioned earlier,
our new bulletin inserts have the collect of the day printed on them so it is
not necessary to look them up in the Prayer Book. However, the Book of
Common Prayer is an extraordinary resource. Exploring it can be both
informative and spiritually enriching. The collects are beautiful prayers
and can be a very meaningful addition to a person's daily devotions, as well as
a helpful way to focus one's mind and heart during quiet times in church.
The Lessons
Many of our liturgical practices have their origin in
Jewish traditions thousands of years old. One place where our Hebrew
roots are particularly evident is in the part of our liturgy when we listen to
readings from the Bible. Over 500 years before Christ a common feature of
synagogue worship was the reading of two lessons, one from the Torah or
Law, what we know today as the first five books of the Old Testament, and
another from the Prophets. Centuries later readings from what came to be
known as the Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Esther, and others, were added.
At our Sunday morning Eucharists at St. Mary's the Lessons, which follow the
Collect of the Day, normally consist of a reading from the Old Testament, all or
part of a Psalm, a reading from an Epistle, and a reading from one of the four
Gospels. All of these lessons as well as the Collect appear on our
bulletin inserts. Following the now somewhat outdated adage that we sit to
listen, kneel to pray, and stand to praise, we normally sit to listen to the Old
Testament Lesson and Epistle, stand to say or sing the Psalm since the Psalms
are essentially songs of praise, and we stand for the Gospel, since this reading
tells us directly about the life and teachings of Jesus. Following the
Gospel we sit for the Sermon. Sermons hopefully help us better understand
what we have heard in the lessons, as well as offer us ways to respond to what
we have heard in our day to day lives.
On some
occasions time constraints or special features in a service make it necessary to
omit one or more of the lessons. When this happens the Old Testament or
Epistle reading or both may be omitted, but a Gospel reading is always part of a
Celebration of the Eucharist. At our 9:30 service, of course, the Psalm
and Gospel follow immediately after the Collect of the Day, but the Old
Testament Lesson, Epistle, and Sermon occur after those involved in Sunday
School have left the church.
While our weekly readings appear on our bulletin inserts, it is possible to
determine the readings for any Sunday of the year by looking in The Lectionary,
which begins on page 888 of the Prayer Book. The Lectionary for Sundays is
arranged in a three-year cycle identified as Years A, B, and C. Year B
began on December 1st, 2002 ,which was the first Sunday of Advent of our current
church year.
Creeds
Credo means I believe in Latin. A creed, therefore, is a statement of
faith. There are two creeds used in the services in the Episcopal Prayer
Book, namely the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. For centuries these
two creeds have had a triple purpose. First, they have been used as a
basis for instructing both newcomers and maturing members of the Church about
our corporate faith. Secondly, the creeds offer us a way to relate to God
by proclaiming our trust in and commitment to God each time we begin:
"I believe in God....." Finally the creeds have been used as a
form of praise. For this reason, we always stand when we recite either of
the creeds.
The Apostles' Creed is the creed we use at Morning and Evening Prayer, and it is
also the creed the congregation, and the candidate for baptism if old enough,
recites during the Baptismal Service. The Nicene Creed is the creed we use
at all celebrations of the Holy Eucharist. Normally the creed follows the
sermon, except at the 9:30 service at St. Mary's when it follows the Gospel.
Having just listened to one or more of the lessons of the day, and except at the
9:30 service, the sermon about those lessons, we stand to proclaim to God, to
each other, and to ourselves what we believe as Christians. This is an
exceedingly important part of our worship experience. Because the creeds
may be very familiar to us, it is easy to rather mindlessly mouth their words
without giving them much thought. A better approach would be to imagine
ourselves proclaiming our faith to someone who had never even heard of
Christianity. Imagine telling that person, "I believe in
God...." and then continuing with all that the Nicene Creed has to say
about each person of the Trinity, as well as about our one, holy catholic and
apostolic Church, and finally about the extraordinary, and to some people, unbelievable
opportunity our faith offers us for forgiveness, resurrection, and life in a
world to come.
Because we believe that it was through his death on the cross that Jesus secured
for us the opportunity for everlasting life, many people make the sign of the
cross at the words "resurrection of the dead." In the Anglican
tradition this is done by using the right hand to touch the forehead, a point a
bit below the center of the chest, left shoulder, right shoulder, and center of
the chest. This is not something that is required, but is done as a matter
of personal devotion if it is meaningful to an individual. Whether or not
we make this outward gesture at the end of the creeds, reciting either one of
them is our opportunity to remind ourselves exactly what it is that draws us to
church in the first place. It is our chance to proclaim to God and to
ourselves what we believe.
Prayers
of the People
Intercessory prayers are prayers or petitions on behalf of another or others.
The word intercession comes from the Latin and means "a passing
between." The Prayers of the People are intercessions for "the
whole state of Christ's Church and the world." The Prayers of the
People follow immediately after the creed in both Rite One and Rite Two
celebrations of the Holy Eucharist. These prayers may take any of the
forms found in the Prayer Book, on pages 328-330 in Rite One or on pages 383-393
in Rite Two, or they may be original or free-form prayers composed by the person
praying the prayer. Whatever their form, however, these prayers
traditionally include intercessions for the universal church - its members and
its mission, the nation and all in authority, the welfare of the world, the
concerns of the local community, for those who suffer or are in trouble, and for
the departed. It is proper to stand or kneel for these prayers, and we do
both at St. Mary's depending on which service we attend. Normally, members
of the congregation stand for these prayers at the 8:00 and 11:00 services, but
kneel at the 9:30 service.
When we pray we express through our actions what it means to have a relationship
with God. This relationship is not a passive one. To pray for
the need of another person, or for the solution of a problem in our nation or
community, involves allowing ourselves to be God's hands at work in our world.
We are making ourselves available to be co-creators with God of the world in
which we live. Perhaps this is why it has been said that, "Prayer
does not change God, it changes us."
As well intentioned as we may be, in our prayers and in our actions, we are
never able to perfectly carry out what we feel called to do. For that
reason, the Confession immediately follows the Prayers of the People.
While the sacrament of Reconciliation of a Penitent is available to anyone who
desires to make a private confession to a member of the clergy, most
Episcopalians most of the time choose to make a general confession. This
does not mean that we are excused from closely examining our lives before coming
to church in order to identify those times when we have sinned, separated
ourselves from God, from each other, and from ourselves through our thoughts,
words, and deeds. Rather, knowing in our hearts when and how we have
fallen short, we acknowledge those moments in general terms as we say the
confession with the rest of the congregation, and beg God to help us turn our
lives around. Then, in that repentant state, we are able to receive the
extraordinary gift of absolution.
The Peace
and Offertory
Probably the most common blessing bestowed by both
priests and bishops is the one that begins, "The peace of God, which passes
all understanding...." That peace, so far removed from our day
to day experience that we may not even be able to imagine it, is what we wish
for each other immediately following the absolution. This portion of the
service begins with the celebrant proclaiming to the congregation, "The
peace of the Lord be always with you," to which the congregation replies,
"And also with you." We then turn to the people around us and
continue this exchange with words and a handshake or even a hug. We
exchange the peace at this point in the service to symbolize the hope that the
power of God's forgiveness which we have just received will enable us to offer
reconciliation to our neighbors and receive forgiveness from them. The
Peace is a point in the Eucharist when our defenses are down and we are open to
each other. Thus, the Peace is a liturgical symbol of renewed
relationships within the Christian community. Preceded by the absolution,
the Peace itself precedes the offertory. This is also quite appropriate
because, as we read in Matthew's Gospel, if we are about to offer a gift at the
altar and remember that someone has something against us, we are to leave our
gift and go and be reconciled with that person before returning to offer our
gift. It is not enough, the Peace reminds us, to try to be one with God if
we are at odds with each other.
At the time of the offertory, ushers pass through the congregation receiving
whatever monetary offering we wish to make to God in thanksgiving for all that
God has given us. At St. Mary's we stand and sing a hymn during the
offertory. While the ushers are taking up the collection the deacon,
or celebrant in the absence of the deacon, prepares the altar for the Great
Thanksgiving. Bread and wine which have been brought forward by the ushers
are arranged for the celebrant to consecrate. Then the ushers return to
the front of the church with the monetary offering from the congregation which
is placed on the altar with the bread and wine. At the 9:30 service the
basket of food we collect for those in need is also brought forward to be
blessed along with the alms basins containing money. These offerings
represent the compensation we receive for the work we do in the world. By
giving part of the money we earn back to God we acknowledge that, as the
baptized and forgiven people of God, all that we are and all that we have come
from God in the first place.
The Great
Thanksgiving
The heart of any celebration of Holy Eucharist is the Great Thanksgiving.
The word eucharist comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving. This prayer
begins with a call to lift up our hearts and give thanks to God. It
continues by affirming that giving thanks to God is right, and a good and joyful
thing to do. The prayer then continues by describing in one way or another
the historical evidence of God's love for us, in other words, the history of
salvation. We are reminded that God created us, and in some forms of the
Eucharistic Prayer, that God created all that exists anywhere. Then,
we are told, when human frailty caused us to fall away, Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, took human form, lived and died as one of us, so that we might be forgiven
and have eternal life.
The prayer then moves to what are called the Words of Institution.
As the celebrant reads the words describing how Jesus blessed and offered bread
and wine to his disciples at the Last Supper, he or she consecrates the bread
and wine by laying hands on the bread and the chalice and cruets containing the
wine. The priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to bless and sanctify the
bread and wine, and then to bless and sanctify us as well so that we can
faithfully receive the sacrament and then, having spiritually received the
Body and Blood of Christ, better serve God in the world. The prayer
concludes by honoring and praising the three persons of the Triune God whom we
hold sacred.
It is proper to stand or kneel for the Great Thanksgiving. At our 8:00 and
11:00 services we kneel for most of the prayer, while at the 9:30 service we
stand and the smaller children are invited to come forward and stand by
the altar in order to better see and experience this profoundly powerful part of
our Christian worship.
Following the Prayer of Consecration we say together the only prayer that we
know comes directly from Jesus: the Lord's Prayer. This is perhaps the
most important Christian prayer. Coming immediately after the consecration
and just before we receive the bread which we understand to be the Body of
Christ, this prayer takes on an added significance at this point in the
communion service.
Then, in silence, consecrated bread is broken. The celebrant reminds us,
"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;" to which we reply,
"Therefore let us keep the feast." Finally, the celebrant
invites us to share in the Eucharistic feast with the words, "The gifts of
God for the People of God," sometimes adding the reminder, "Take
them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by
faith, with thanksgiving.
Receiving Communion
Receiving communion is an extraordinary privilege. In the Episcopal Church
all baptized persons are welcome to receive. How we receive communion
varies from church to church and from person to person. At St. Mary's the
members of the congregation generally kneel at the altar rail, unless unable to
do so, while the participants in the service who are in the sanctuary receive
standing up. We all have the choice of receiving both the bread and wine
separately, or the bread dipped in the wine, or simply the wafer of bread
itself. Any person who for whatever reason is not receiving communion can
still come to the altar rail for a blessing. Those individuals should
cross their arms in front of them so that they are touching their right shoulder
with their left hand and their left shoulder with their right hand. This
signals the ministers administering the bread and wine that the person in
question does not wish to receive. In that case if the person
administering the bread is a priest or bishop he or she will bless the person
who is not receiving communion. If the individual administering the bread
is a deacon or lay eucharistic minister, he or she will say a short prayer for
the person not receiving.
Individuals who do wish to receive communion, who are known as communicants,
should hold their hands with palms upward to receive the bread, their right hand
resting on top of their left, and high enough that the person administering the
bread can place the bread on the communicant's hand without having to bend over.
Another way to receive bread is to have it placed directly on the tongue, which
some members of St. Mary's choose to do.
Communicants who do not wish to receive wine in any manner can then cross their
arms in front of them as described earlier, as a signal to the person
administering the chalice that they do not want wine. Communicants who
would like to receive by intinction (having the bread dipped in the wine) should
simply leave the bread on their palm, from which the chalice bearer will take
it, dip it in the wine, and then place it on the communicant's tongue.
Communicants who wish to receive from the chalice should do so by taking hold of
the base of the chalice as the chalice bearer begins to tip it toward them, so
that they can guide the chalice to their lips and tip it enough so that they
receive a small sip of wine. (It is sometimes impossible for the chalice
bearer to see if the wine has reached a communicant's lips, so this guiding hand
from the communicant is very helpful.)
After receiving the wine, the communicant should stand and return via a side
aisle to his or her pew. It is then appropriate to sit or kneel as others
receive, offering personal prayers of thanksgiving for the opportunity to be
strengthened... healed... blessed... empowered by the holy food we have just
received.
Post-Communion Prayer, Blessing and Dismissal
Once everyone who wishes to do so has received communion, the congregation
kneels and prays a final prayer of thanksgiving for the opportunity we have just
had to receive the spiritual food of the Body and Blood of Christ. We ask
God to send us forth, strengthened by what we have received, to do God's work in
the world. This is an important point. This booklet began with a
quote from the Catechism: "The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ;
to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray and
give for the spread of the kingdom of God." So it is that as our
celebrations of Holy Eucharist come to an end, we are reminded that what we have
experienced together in church is meant to empower us for all that we do
everywhere else we go during the coming week.
After we have given thanks the celebrant blesses us, further preparing us to
leave church as the holy people God intends us to be. Finally, after the
recessional hymn during which the ministers, and choir if present, leave the
church, the deacon dismisses us, sending us forth into the world.
The dismissal marks the Eucharist as a missionary service, commissioning and
empowering all of us to be missioners and ministers of the Gospel of Christ.
Mission and Eucharist are opposite sides of one coin.