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Welcome to St. James’
Episcopal Church
You have come to a church that values tradition but lives in the modern world. You have joined a community of people who gather together to pray and worship God, to learn, to play and to make a difference in the world. We hope you will join this congregation and make it your church home.
This is a brief explanation of some of what you will see in the service. Please ask if there is anything you don’t understand. Then, after you get more comfortable with the church, please join us in any of the activities or ministries that speak to you.
May God bless you,
Karen Evans
Come on in!
Make sure to pick up a church bulletin from one of the ushers. You can follow along with the service and be guided to the proper pages in the Hymnal (blue book) and The Book of Common Prayer (red book).
The time before the service is both a gathering time and an opportunity for silence, leaving our busy lives and focusing on our worship of God. You are most welcome to meet and greet people in the Parish Hall. You may want to keep silence once you enter the church. When you enter the church, you may see people kneeling immediately after entering the pew, thanking God for the privilege of worshiping in his church, praying for the church, the service that is to follow, and adding other timely prayers.
The Book of Common Prayer
The Prayer Book services are services of common prayer. The Prayer Book was written so that all might join in the acts of corporate worship, and all people are encouraged to participate by saying the responses and the creed, singing the hymns heartily, and say the “amens” at the end of the prayers.
It is the custom in many Episcopal churches for you to:
• Bow your head to the altar on entering and leaving the church
• Bow your head as the processional cross passes the pew in which you are standing
• Bow your head at the name of Jesus Christ in the creed
• Make the sign of the cross at the opening sentences, the reading of the gospel, the absolution, after the confession of sin and the final blessing These are acts of respect, as natural as removing one’s hat as the flag passes by. These customs, however, are optional.
Stand up or sit down? or kneel?
Guests sometimes call Episcopal worship “pew aerobics.” Actually the basic principle (there are variations) is very simple:
· you kneel or stand for prayer
· you stand to sing praise and recite the creed
· you sit for instruction.
At the end of every prayer there occurs the word “amen,” which should be said by every member of the congregation. It means “so be it,” and in the saying of it, you make the prayer your own. Rather than the minister praying while you watch and listen, you pray with the one who leads the congregation, and then add your own “so be it.” It is another means of expressing the fact that you are engaged not in private but corporate worship.
You will find many Episcopalians pronounce “amen” as AHH-men, rather than A-men.
Why do clergy wear robes?
Clergy, choirs and acolytes usually wear vestments. It is a church custom for two reasons:
· The white of the vestment is a symbol of the fact that people must purify themselves when they come into the presence of God, and it reveals also, as over against a black gown, that it is a joyful thing to come into the Lord’s house. Every church season also has its own color, with its own meaning, and in the priest’s colored vestments, plus the altar hangings, you can follow the church year not only with your ears but also with your eyes.
· The vestments help to insure that things will be done decently and in order. Your attention is not caught by a new dress or a poor dress worn by a woman choir member, nor by an acolyte’s slacks in need of pressing, so that you are not distracted in worship but focused on God.
Bible Readings
The Episcopal Church is a Bible church. In services of the Holy Eucharist, two or three selections of Holy Scripture are read besides the Psalms, and in the Marriage Service, to take one other example, as many as three portions of scripture are read. All this reading of scripture is in a language understood by the people. There are also portions of scripture in the language of many prayers. All Episcopal clergy, when ordained, take as their chief authority the teachings of the Bible. In the back of The Book of Common Prayer, there is a lectionary (p. 934) to guide people in day by day reading from the Bible.
Unlike some Protestant churches which make the pulpit the focus of attention, the Episcopal Church places the altar in the central position because it is the symbol of the presence of the living God. You come to church to hear scripture, a sermon and the singing of the choir, in order that they may help you come close to the living God. God is the end; these things and all you do in church, noble as they are, are means to make you present to God. You kneel or stand in prayer because you believe these to be appropriate positions in which to approach God. Both are traditional, humble positions of the creature before the Creator, the sinner before God, the child before the heavenly Father.
Peace Be With You
At the Peace “the Ministers and people may greet one another in the name of the Lord.” Usually this is done with a handshake or a hug, exchanged with those in the immediate vicinity.
· The Peace is a preparation for Holy Communion, and so is placed after the Confession of Sin and before the Great Thanksgiving.
· It is a sign and acknowledgment of oneness in the Holy Spirit. At the same time you make peace with any from whom you are estranged before you approach the altar to make your offering.
Taking Communion
Complete instructions for taking communion are in the back of the Prayer Book. You may receive the bread and wine if you are baptized or come forward for a blessing if you are not baptized. At the altar rail, you may stand or kneel. You take the wafer in your hand and either eat it or hold on to it until the wine comes to you. You may drink from the cup or dip your wafer into it. Please fill the altar rail from the center to the outer edge. After receiving communion, leave by the side corridors to return to your seat.
Hospitality with a smile
If you do not know where and how to find the proper page in the Prayer Book at a church service, please ask an informed member sitting near you. You are invited, also to join the Inquirer’s class, where these and other aspects of life in the Episcopal church are explained.
If you are visiting St. James’, please fill out one of our guest cards and drop it into the offering plate.
If you would like to become a member of St. James’, please fill out a member information sheet (in your guest bag and/or outside the church office) and leave it at the church office. While you are here, go to the Parish Hall for fellowship and to have a cup of coffee, or juice and there always seems to be good food too!
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† Welcome to St. James'