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Introduction
About 50 years
ago, a group of lay people originated this booklet to inform others
about the history and mission of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican
Communion. The booklet met with such success that the authors generously
permitted it to be upgraded in 1965 and made more comprehensive
for the use of the whole Church. A second revised edition appeared
in 1975, and a third revision in 1980 brought the contents of the
booklet into conformity with the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.
The demand
for a concise explanation of Anglicanism continues to be great.
All those interested in the church, or in telling others about its
faith and practice, will find this brochure an effective aid.
Fourth Revised
Addition. 1995.
Copyright 1995
by The Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society of the Episcopal
Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York NY 10017.
Contents
The
Episcopal Church
The Anglican Communion
The Gospel
Baptism
Confirmation
The Sacraments
The Creeds
The Bible
The Prayer Book
The Church's Worship
Instruction
The Ordained Ministry
Church Government
Symbols and Vestments
The Congregation
Episcopalians and Their Church
The
Episcopal Church
The Episcopal
Church is a part of Christ's Church, and, as such, it has had a
continuous and unbroken existence since the founding of the Church
by Christ.
The Episcopal
Church is a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, one of the
greatest branches of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
It arrived on American shores as the Church of England, brought
along by the early colonists and settlers. Following the War of
Independence it adopted the name of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in the United States of America -- also known as the Episcopal Church
-- and it made such modifications in its liturgy and practices as
seemed necessary to life in the new nation and in newer times.
We know, from
the presence of its bishops at the Council of Arles, that the Church
in England has had an individual and continuous life since A.D.
314. The first missionaries from Gaul came to the British Isles
prior to that time so the popular assertion that the English Church
was founded by King Henry VIII has no real basis in fact. Resistance
to the increasing domination of the Roman pontiff and to usurpation
of ecclesiastical and political authority had existed since the
seventh century. Under Henry, finally, the nation and the Church
were able to renounce papal supremacy and to eliminate abuses which
had crept into the doctrine and discipline of the Church during
the medieval centuries of papal influence.
Under Queen
Mary, Henry's elder daughter, the English Church reverted briefly
to papal authority; but with Elizabeth I as queen, it gained complete
freedom from all Roman claims and has remained free ever since --
a Church profoundly influenced and revitalized by the great religious
movements of the Reclamation but whose essential worship, ministry,
and doctrine continued to be what they had always been in the historic
Church of Christ.
Thus, the Church
remains both Catholic and apostolic -- Catholic and standing for
the wholeness of the faith and life of the Christian community,
apostolic because it continues in unbroken succession from the time
of the Apostles.
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The
Anglican Communion
The Anglican
Communion is made up of 32 self-governing -- and largely self-supporting
-- Provinces located in more than 160 countries. Linked by tradition
and a common worship, they are in full communion with the See of
Canterbury.
The Church
of England, the "Mother Church," has two spiritual leaders:
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is Primate of All England and
Metropolitan, and, in the northern province, the Archbishop of York,
who is Primate of England and Metropolitan. The first Archbishop
of Canterbury, St. Augustine, arrived in his future see (official
seat) in A.D. 597 as a missionary monk sent by Pope Gregory I and
was consecrated in Gaul in A.D. 601. The present Archbishop, Rowan
Williams, is its 104th occupant.
The current
primate of the Church in Wales is also the Bishop of St. Asaph.
In Wales the primacy is not associated with any particular see.
The Church off Ireland has two metropolitans: the Archbishop of
Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan, and the Archbishop
of Dublin, Primate of Ireland and Metropolitan. St. Patrick was
bishop in Armagh from about A.D. 432, and Armagh remains the senior
Irish see.
The Scottish
Episcopal Church is the second oldest branch of the Anglican Communion.
Its office of primus dates from 1704, but, as with Wales, the office
is not associated with any particular see.
The North American
continent contains three Anglican Provinces. Our own Episcopal Church
-- which also includes dioceses in Central America, the Caribbean,
northern South America, and Taiwan, plus seven parishes in Europe
and the Mission Territory of Micronesia with its bishop -- is next
in Anglican seniority after the Scottish Episcopal Church. The Episcopal
Church was constitutionally inaugurated by The General Convention
of 1789 although its first bishop, Samuel Seabury, was consecrated
in Scotland in 1784.
The primate
of the Episcopal Church is entitled Presiding Bishop. The Anglican
Church of Canada dates from 1787. Each of its four provinces has
an archbishop who is metropolitan of a particular ecclesiastical
province, but its primate has no diocesan jurisdiction. Mexico,
once a missionary dioceses of the Episcopal Church, is the newly
autonomous Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico; it has five dioceses.
South America
has two independent Anglican Provinces since: Iglesia Anglicana
del Las Americas (comprised of five dioceses) and Igreja Episcopal
Anglicana do Brasil; one of the Episcopal Church's first missionary
endeavors, the Church in Brazil now has seven dioceses. The Church
in the Province of the West Indies has eight dioceses. The Dioceses
of Cuba, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela are extra-provincial
to the Episcopal Church while the Dioceses of Bermuda is extra-provincial
to the See of Canterbury.
The four dioceses
of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, which
includes countries along the entire Mediterranean Coast of North
Africa, are under the presidency of the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem.
Sub-Saharan
and Africa is divided into twelve Anglican Provinces, each presided
over by an archbishop. The fastest-growing area of the Anglican
Communion, as many as 3,000 persons are added to the membership
rolls each day with the Church of the Province of Nigeria being
the largest Anglican Province in the communion (5 million members
in 47 dioceses). The other sub-Sahara Province since are the Episcopal
Church of Burundi (four dioceses), the Church of the Province of
Central Africa (10 dioceses), the Church of the Province of the
Indian Ocean (five dioceses), the Church of the Province of Kenya
(20 dioceses), the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda (seven
dioceses), the Church of the Province of Southern Africa Paris and
23 dioceses), the Province of Sudan and (12 dioceses), the Church
of the Province of Tanzania (16 dioceses), the Church of Uganda
(24 dioceses), the Church of the Province of West Africa (11 dioceses),
and the Province of the Anglican Church of Zaire (five dioceses).
The Anglican
Church of Korea has three dioceses, and the Church of the Province
of Myanmar (formerly Burma) has six dioceses. Sri Lanka has two
Anglican dioceses while four dioceses in southeast Asia hold their
mission from the see of Canterbury as extra-provincial dioceses.
The 11 dioceses of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Holy Catholic Church in
Japan), another early missionary field of the American Church, have
as their current primate the Bishop of Kita Kanto.
The Episcopal
Church in the Philippines, also an original mission territory of
the Episcopal Church, is now independent and has five dioceses.
The Province of Melanesia contains six dioceses, and the Anglican
Church of Papua New Guinea has five dioceses. The Anglican Church
of Australia is divided into five provinces, one of whose archbishops
serves as primate; the Dioceses of Tasmania is extra-provincial.
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has nine
dioceses.
The Chung Hua
Sheng Kung Hui (the Holy Catholic Church in China) has been incorporated
into the "post-denominational" Three-Self Movement and
is not to a Province of the Anglican Communion; the Anglican Dioceses
of Hong Kong and Macao is temporarily separated from it and is incorporated
into the communion through association with the Council of the Church
of East Asia, a regional grouping of Provinces and dioceses.
The Spanish
Reformed Episcopal Church and the Lusitanian Church (Portugal) are
under the Metropolitan jurisdiction of the See of Canterbury.
The total membership
of our communion is approximately 70 million. In addition, Anglicans
are in a relationship of full communion with a number of non-Anglican
Churches, including the (European) Old Catholic Churches of the
Union of Utrecht, the Philippine Independent Church, the Mar Thoma
Syrian Church of Malabar (India), and four Churches which came into
being as a result of the union of former Anglican dioceses with
Christians of other traditions: the Churches of Bangladesh, North
India, Pakistan, and South India.
Relationships
are developing between the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Churches
of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, and Sweden as well
as between the Episcopal Church and be Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America. Additionally, ecumenical dialogues continue with the
Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and a group of Protestant
denominations through a consortium known as COCU (Consultation on
Christian Unity), to mention but a few, and interfaith dialogues
also exists with the Jews and the Muslims.
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The
Gospel
The Church
exists to continue the ministry Jesus began. That ministry was,
and is, simply the announcement of the Gospel -- the Good News.
The Good News
is that God is the Lord of all life; that although sinful humanity
cannot earn or deserve God's love, that do it is freely given; that
the company of forgiven people, living together as the Church, forms
a community in which they and others who join with them receive
new life and power; that in Jesus the Christ, God has raised humanity's
distorted nature to what it was intended to be so that insofar as
any person lives in Christ, that person is freed from the slavery
of sin and is assured of the Kingdom of God.
To say this
by proclamation and by witness, in its corporate life and in the
lives of its individual members, is the Church's reason for being.
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Baptism
Membership
in the Church is bestowed by God's action through The sacrament
of Holy Baptism in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Herein one's life is initially and deliberately
opened -- by oneself or, in the case of an infant, by those who
bare responsibility for a child during his or her early years --
to the care and sustaining of one's Heavenly Father, to God's action
in one's early life and the Incarnate Son, to God's presence and
strengthening power as the Holy Spirit. Baptism is into the Body
of Christ, a fellowship of people guided, taught, and strengthened
by the presence of God the Holy Spirit in their relationships with
each other.
People of any
age may be baptized. The first converts to Christianity were naturally
adults, but the Church has always understood a loving God as willing
that all would be his, and therefore the baptism of infants was
an early Christian tradition and is one the Episcopal Church rightly
continues. Faith is basic to Baptism. While a baby in a Christian
family does not yet have the equipment to make a personal decision,
that baby is the participant in the community of faith just as he
or she is the participant in the secular community that accepts
him or her in the cradle as a loyal citizen. The climate or environment
in which that faith is nourished and matures is in the supporting
life of Christian fellowship, the Church.
If a person
has been baptized by water (symbolizing spiritual washing and renewal)
in the Name of the Trinity through the ministry of the any Christian
body, the Episcopal Church recognizes that baptism and does not
require, indeed does not permit, rebaptism unless there's a strong
doubt of earlier baptism.
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Confirmation
The word "confirmation"
is derived from confirmare, which means "to strengthen."
The Rite of Confirmation, laying of apostolic hands on baptized
believers, strengthens persons through the action of the Holy Spirit
at the time they assume personal responsibility for their baptismal
vows. In the early days of the Church, when most of the new members
were adults, this "Laying on of Hands" was a part of the
service of Holy Baptism and was immediately followed by First Communion.
This same procedure is used today when adults are baptized at a
service presided over by a bishop. In addition to laying hands on
the newly baptized, the Bishop may anoint them with oil (chrism).
As infants
were brought into the fellowship through Baptism, the Western Church
lengthened the period between Baptism and the Laying on of Hands.
It recognized that one's growth from a child, primarily nourished
by the Christian family, into a mature adult member of the Body
of Christ is a process extending through a number of years. In Confirmation
persons do not "join the Church." They joined -- or, better,
"were joined to" -- the Church in Baptism. But now they
renew their promise to obey Jesus as their Lord and accept for themselves
responsibility for Christian belief and life previously accepted
by others on their behalf. Then through the sacramental action of
the laying on of the bishop's hands, their status as mature and
responsible members of the Christian community is to signified and
the special gifts of the Holy Spirit for adult Christian life and
ministry become theirs.
Candidates
for confirmation must have been baptized, must be penitent for their
sins, must be ready to affirm their confession of Jesus as Savior
and Lord, and must have received such instruction as will guide
them in being intelligent, loyal, and regular members of the Christian
community and effective ambassadors or Christ in daily life.
In addition
to the Rite of Confirmation for those baptized as children, the
Church provides special forms for the bishop to use when admitting
to the Episcopal Church persons who were baptized in another denominations
and for blessing persons who desire to re-affirmed their baptismal
vows.
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The
Sacraments
The Episcopal
Church is a sacramental Church. Its central rites of worship are
sacraments, visible signs and effectual means by which God's grace
works in us and by which our faith in God is strengthened. They
express the Church's belief in the sacramental nature of the universe
and life, that God is not divorced from his creation, but is present
and always at work in all aspects of it. This truth was supremely
expressed in God's entering human history as a human being, in Jesus
the Christ.
Jesus ordained
the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion)
as the chief sacraments of his Church.
By means of
the water of Baptism we are cleansed from sin, are united with Christ
in his death and resurrection, are born again by the action of the
Holy Spirit, and are adopted by God the Father as his sons and daughters.
Through the bread and wine of the Eucharist we are fed by Christ's
Body and Blood and strengthened in our union with him and with one
another. Without attempting to explain or define this "holy
ministry," the Episcopal Church always has held to the ancient
Christian belief that not only is the Holy Eucharist celebrated
in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice, but that he is really present
in the Sacrament.
The other traditionally
important rites, though not specifically ordained by Christ, but
which the Episcopal Church recognizes as having sacramental character,
are Confirmation, Reconciliation of a Penitent (Penance or Confession
and Absolution of Sins), Marriage, Ordination, and Unction (Anointing
or Laying on of Hands) for the Sick.
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The
Creeds
The Episcopal
Church is a believing Church. Its answer to those who object to
"ancient, old-fashioned creeds, and dogmas" is what a
person does and stands for depends upon what and in whom he or she
believes. Everyone lives by some creed. To believe in a creedless
Church is to state a creed.
The Episcopal
Church states her faith in the historic words of the two great creeds
of Christendom, the Apostles' and the Nicene. These have come down
to us from the early Church and have been accepted statements of
Christian faith for centuries. The Apostles' Creed in almost its
present form was used in Rome in the middle of the second century
to instruct candidates preparing for Baptism. Though it cannot be
traced all the way back to the Apostles and has never been used
in the Eastern Church, it is the oldest creed in continuous use.
The Nicene Creed is the "ecumenical creed," adopted by
church Councils representing the whole of Christendom. It is the
work of three such Councils -- Nicaea in A.D. 325, Constantinople
in A.D. 381, and Chalcedon in A.D. 451.
Recognizing,
however, but there is always more in the continuous revelation of
the nature of God than can be set forth in any human statements,
the Anglican Communion encourages fearless to open-minded pursuit
of truth in every area of life. The Episcopal Church, which places
no limitation on any honest human endeavor to study and investigate,
stands for the use of the mind and reason as God-given faculties
that will enrich and widened the understanding of God's revealed
truth. It trusts the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us into
newly revealed truth and believes that this same Holy Spirit will
enable the Church to relate all truth to God's truth in Jesus the
Christ.
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The
Bible
The Episcopal
Church is a Bible Church. The early Church recognized the writings
we know as the books of the Old and New Testaments as inspired by
God and as being crucial in our knowledge of God in Christ, and
it brought them together in the "Cannon of the Scripture,"
the Holy Bible. Leaders of the English Church were in the forefront
of the long struggle to have the Bible printed in the language of
the people, to give everyone the right to read the Gospel record
and hear it publicly read in the language they understood. Though
many modern and distinguished translations exist, probably the greatest
achievement in the English language is the King James translation
of the Bible, the Bible revision the Anglican Communion gave to
the world.
The Episcopal
Church believes the Holy Scriptures contain all doctrine necessary
for salvation and that nothing that cannot be read in or proved
by Scripture shall be required as an article of the faith or necessary
for salvation.
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The
Prayer Book
The Book of
Common Prayer has well been called the Bible in worship. It also
contains doctrine the Church requires to be taught and believed.
Next to the
King James Version of the Bible, The Book of Common Prayer has probably
had a wider influence than any other book in the English language.
It is a product and development of the service books used in the
Church for many hundreds of years, and it also contains elements
from the Jewish services held in the synagogues and in the homes
of the faithful at the time of our Lord. Almost every Province of
the Anglican Communion has revised and updated the Prayer Book according
to its particular needs. The first completed contemporary revision
is the American Prayer Book of 1979. (Previous American revision
took place in 1789, 1892, and 1928.) In addition to preserving the
best materials from previous Prayer Books, the 1979 revision provides
services in contemporary English and special services are use on
Ash Wednesday and in Holy Week. The three-year Lectionary (plan
for reading the Scriptures on Sundays) is an Episcopal version of
the one many other Western Churches have adopted.
Common prayer
is the prayer and worship used "in common" when the members
of the fellowship are gathered together. It does not surplant the
private prayers and devotions of the individual Christian, but is
equally a part of the worshiping life. Neither approach to God is
complete without the other: In Christ we're both individuals and
"members one of another."
The Book of
Common Prayer is one of the finest collections of great prayers
ever offered by human beings to God. In it are prayers suited to
every need and occasion. It is a devotional manual by which the
worshiper may, in concert with others and with beauty and dignity,
participate actively in the services of the Church. It is also a
magnificent guide for private prayer and meditation.
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The
Church's Worship
The most frequently
used of the Church's services are the Holy Eucharist, which is the
principal act of Christian worship on Sundays and other major feasts,
and the daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. These are printed
in The Book of Common Prayer together with services for special
times of the year and for different occasions in one's life.
The Prayer
Book is so arranged that a person, by noting the rubrics, or directions,
may easily follow and participate in the services. The rubrics receive
their name from the Latin word meaning "red." They were
printed in red as guidance for the conduct of worship. In altar
editions of the Prayer Book they are still printed in red.
One of the
great Anglican principles is the Church's worship is a corporate
affair, an activity of the whole fellowship. Thus, great emphasis
is placed on a congregational participation in the services, and
the Prayer Book is designed to be used by both clergy and laity.
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Instruction
The Episcopal
Church is a teaching Church. It has cherished customs, a rich history,
and a great tradition, all of which stem from the earliest days
of Christendom. Great emphasis is placed upon the teaching of all
three.
But over and
above customs, traditions, and history, all members of the Church
need to be informed about the great body of Christian belief. The
Church wants all persons to know in whom they believe and to be
convinced that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Every parish
strives to provide opportunity for instruction for people of all
ages. At the present time, increasing attention is being given to
Christian education for adults, both for members of the Church and
Inquirers, and for catechumens (adults preparing for Baptism).
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The
Ordained Ministry
The Episcopal
Church teaches that all its members share in Christ's ministry to
the world and to one another. Within the Church, however from the
time of the Apostles, there have been three orders of ordained ministers:
bishops, priests, and deacons.
The chief pastors
of the Church are bishops, persons ordained and consecrated to proclaim
the Good News to the world, to be the chief pastor and sacramental
minister of a dioceses, and to ordain others to the ministries of
bishop, priest, and deacon. Bishops are ordained through the Laying
on of Hands by other bishops whose authority has come down in an
unbroken line from the Apostles. The very word episcopal means "of
or relating to bishops," and the bishops, by virtue of their
historic office, are both a visible symbol of Christian unity in
the Church's life and a link with the Church of all the ages. Like
the Apostles, the bishops are the Church's accredited witnesses
to the Resurrection and have special responsibilities for maintaining
the integrity of the Church's faith in its risen Lord.
Priests (also
known as presbyters) are ordained and consecrated to assist the
bishop in overseeing of the Church. They usually serve as pastors
of congregations, teaching and preaching God's word, celebrating
the sacraments, and pronouncing absolution and blessing in God's
name. When vested, they wear a stole (a band of fabric representing
the yoke of Christ) about the neck, over both shoulders.
Deacons are
ordained and consecrated to assist the bishop in the ministry of
service, particularly to those in need. They also help in public
worship, proclaiming the Gospel and assisting in the celebration
of the sacraments. Another of their duties is to take Holy Communion
to the sick and shut-in. When vested, they wear a stole over the
left shoulder.
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Church
Government
The Episcopal
Church is both constitutional and democratic in its government.
Some of the men who played leading roles in the framing of the Constitution
of the United States had responsibility for drawing of the Constitution
and Canons of the Episcopal Church. The two governments have many
similarities.
Every parish
Church has a body of lay persons called the vestry, elected by the
congregation to be its legal representatives in all matters concerning
its corporate properties and to perform other duties prescribed
by church law. After consultation with the bishop, the vestry calls
a priest to serve as rector of the parish. The priest serving a
chapel or a mission congregation is known as a vicar and is appointed
either by the bishop or the rector involved.
A dioceses
is a geographical area containing no fewer than six parishes and
is under the jurisdiction of a bishop. It is governed by its bishop
and a diocesan convention composed of the clergy of the dioceses
and lay persons elected by the parishes. A dioceses elects its own
bishop or bishops, subject to the consent of the majority of the
bishops and diocesan standing committees of the Church.
The dioceses
are grouped geographically into areas known as provinces.
The governing
body of the Episcopal Church is the General Convention, which meets
every three years. It is composed of two Houses: the House of Deputies,
whose members are laity and clergy elected in equal numbers from
their dioceses, and the House of Bishops. Between meetings, the
program of General Convention is administered by a smaller elected
body of bishops, clergy, and lay people called the Executive Council.
The laity,
who comprise more than 99 percent of the Episcopal Church, share
extensively and responsibly in its government and internal affairs,
but their responsibility goes beyond that: The laity must also represent
the Church in the affairs of the world.
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Symbols
and Vestments
The Episcopal
Church believes that God is the Creator and is therefore constantly
being revealed through the materials of creation. The Church expresses
this truth in the enrichment of its worship by the use of many of
God's earthly gifts: splendid buildings and beautiful music, a great
variety of material symbols, vestments worn by clergy, choir, and
others.
The central
symbol in Episcopal churches is the altar, or holy table, a visible
testament of the presence of the living God, whose Son was sacrificed
that we might find new life. Here, in Holy Communion, we are made
one with him and with one another.
Candles and
flowers about the altar serve to beautify it and the church. They
are symbolic of the Church's joy in the Resurrection of the Lord
and in the Light of Christ.
The colors
displayed in altar hangings and in the vestments of the clergy symbolize
various great emphases of the Gospel and the Church year. Common
usage in worship is:
White or gold
-- symbolizing victory and purity. Christmas season, the Epiphany
(through the following Sunday), Easter season, the Transfiguration,
and other joyous festivals and saints' days, Baptism, Confirmation,
Marriage, Ordination.
Violet -- signify
seasons of preparation. Advent and Lent. In some churches, in place
of violet, unbleached linen is used during Lent. Deep red (crimson)
is frequently used in Holy Week.
Red -- symbolizing
the Holy Spirit (the tongues of fire at Pentecost) and martyrdom.
The Day of Pentecost and days of saints known to be martyrs.
Green -- signify
universality and growth (the most frequent color in nature). The
season after Epiphany and the long season after Pentecost, seasons
during which the texts of the Gospels and Epistles and are read
sequentially from Sunday to Sunday.
Other equally
proper traditions of color usage and symbolism may be found in certain
parishes.
The lectern-pulpit
(ambo), from which the Scripture readings are proclaimed and preached
on, usually stands to the right or left of the altar but somewhat
closer to the people. It symbolizes Christ present in his Word.
In many older churches the lectern is separate from the pulpit and
stands on the opposite side of the church.
Clergy, choir
members, and others wear vestments in obedience to long-standing
Church custom. The vestments symbolize the sacred nature and function
of the office rather than the importance of the person. They are
also reminders of the democratic nature of Christ's Church as those
who occupy the same office are dressed in like manner. Vestments
are worn for the sake of dignity, beauty, and uniformity.
Each emblem,
sign, vestment, word, and act meaning and purpose. Yet many of these
could be eliminated, even the church building itself, and a person
praying by the side of another (for example, a chaplain on the field
with a soldier) would still be the Christian Church at worship in
the presence of God.
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The
Congregation
We have stated
a basic principle of Anglican worship: The congregation is made
up of participants, not spectators. Members of the Episcopal Church
attended services to worship God, not to be lectured or entertained.
Congregational participation in worship is expressed in such actions
as standing, sitting, or kneeling as liturgical or psychological
needs require.
Many people
practice other customs -- such as bowing low when approaching the
altar, genuflecting (bending the knee) before the Sacraments, bowing
the head at the name of Jesus, making the sign of the cross, or
bowing the head as the cross goes by in procession -- as expressions
of reverence. All outward actions in worship are signs of and aids
to inward devotion.
Visitors and
strangers are not required to observe any particular customs, but
many people find that as they become familiar with them, the traditional
ways of worship are increasingly helpful and meaningful.
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Episcopalians
and Their Church
Episcopalians
show great reverence for God's house as a hallowed place where his
people gather to worship and pray. This is sometimes mistaken by
visitors or newcomers as coldness or lack of cordiality on the part
of the church's members. It means simply that the Lord is in his
holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. This is
a holy place.
But Episcopalians
also find great joy in their Church and its fellowship. They have
a deep affection for the Church and an awareness of the privilege
of being members of it. A person coming to church will generally
leave with a deepened sense of "one-ness," of belonging
to one great family. Exceptions to this to no doubt occur, but they
do not express the spirit of the Episcopal Church.
Episcopalians
are humbly grateful for their Church. Wherever they may go in the
world, the Church with its life of common prayer ministers in the
same familiar manner. To Episcopalians it offers a way to God that
fully reveals the mind, the spirit, and the love of Jesus.
As they give
themselves to the Church and to its outgoing concern for God's world,
they find their lives are richly blessed by God through the holy
Church that is their heritage.
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