A couple of weeks ago I talked about how our surroundings affects our prayers. I mentioned that in our home parish our architecture becomes so commonplace from seeing it every Sunday that we tend to forget its meaning and how it influences the service. The pews, the altar, the rood screen, the crosses, flags and stain glass windows will not change in appearance but I hope that what I said shows them in a new light.
This past Sunday we had an “Instructed Eucharist” that covered the first part of our service, the liturgy of the word. Mother Barbara, Mother Robyn and Andy did a great job in explaining the meaning behind what we do and say, with a little history about where is came from in the bulletin. I wonder though does what we say and listen to become commonplace too. The creeds, the prayers, confession and even the readings have been heard or said so many times that many of us old timers have them memorized. That’s not a bad thing, but are we just saying the words, instead of listening to what we are saying and are we sitting though the service or are we watching the service unfold around us. The Instructed Eucharist was meant to help our new comers and maybe some of us older members understand the Episcopal faith a little better but let’s look a little closer.
Imagine you are new to St. Andrew’s. You have never been to an Episcopal service but always wondered what it would be like. Maybe you have been to other churches, some large, some small, maybe you never been in a church at all. As you walk toward the front doors you are thinking, what if they don’t like me, am I dressed right, what the service will be like. Let’s put ourselves in that persons shoes for a Sunday morning.
You walk in the door and are greeted by one or two people who hand you a bulletin and say; Good Morning, Welcome to St. Andrew’s, well that wasn’t so bad, they seem nice. You are a little worried you may not understand the service so you decide to sit in a back pew where you can check everything out. You look around and see all the colors of the flags and windows, the wood carvings, and the candles. People are coming in and greeting each other and it gets a little noisy. Then you see the organist and he starts playing the prelude, a slow, quiet hymn that is very soothing and it is meant to be. The prelude is played just before the beginning of the service to quiet everyone and help them prepare themselves for the service ahead. The prelude ends and there is a slight pause, this is where Mother Barbara is saying a prayer with everyone in the procession. The bell is rung and the first hymn begins.
The first person you see is the verger. The verger is not part of the procession but escorting those in the procession to where they need to be. This is a ceremonial role today but in the fourteen to the sixteen century the verger was known as the protector of the procession and would use a virge to move animals and people out of the way. Next is the Crucifer carrying the processional cross and Acolytes (called Torchbearers) carrying candles. The cross is symbolic of the cross Jesus was crucified on and the candles are meant as the light of Christ. The choir is next, followed by the Eucharist ministers and Priest.
Once the hymn is finished the celebrant, the priest leading the service, and everyone else says the Opening Acclamation, which is a formal way of greeting one another. Then there will be a short piece of music praising God or asking for God’s mercy. The words to this are found in the BCP but also in the front of the hymnal under service music. Then the Priest will say a prayer called a collect, which is meant to collect us and our thoughts together as the concluding piece of our gathering.
Finally, we all get to sit down to hear the readings. There is one from the Old Testament; a Psalm; a reading from the New Testament and a reading from the Gospels. These readings are part of a set “Lectionary” which assigns readings for every Sunday on a three year cycle. So, no matter where you are at on any given Sunday, if you go into an Episcopal Church you will hear the same readings.
Because the Gospel, the stories of Jesus’ life and death, are central to our faith, that reading gets special treatment. Normally a hymn is sung to welcome the Gospel and the Gospel book is carried to the middle of the Nave and read by a deacon or priest. Everyone stands for this reading and faces the Gospel Book.
Following the Gospel a sermon is preached, usually by a priest but on occasion it might be a lay person. The sermon is meant to take what we have heard in the reading and engage those learnings with our current lives.
After the sermon, the next several pieces of the service provide a way for us to respond to what we have heard. Because we are actively responding we stand up at this point. We say the Nicene Creed, an ancient statement of faith used by most Christian churches which binds us together with Christians of all generations. We pray the Prayers of the People. These prayers are a series of petitions lead by a lay reader with Reponses from everyone at the end of each one. The petitions include prayers for the Church, the world, the nation, those who are sick and those who have died. The Priest will conclude the prayer with a collect, once again “collecting” our prayers.
After the prayers during most of the year we say the Confession of Sin. The Confession is an opportunity to confess together the way we have not loved God or others. We usually kneel for the confession as a sign of penitence. At the conclusion of the confession, the Priest will say the absolution, words reminding us that God forgives all our sins.
Then the Priest bids “the Peace.” This can be a particularly awkward moment for people who are newcomers or visitors. What we are doing is ritually enacting our need to be in right relationship with one another before we go to communion. We do that by saying “Peace be with you” to one another. People may shake hands or embrace each other. We tend to get a little carried away here at St. Andrew’s because we are so glad to see each other. That is just fine, as long as we do not forget the true meaning of the ritual.
Next week the Liturgy of the Table.