Finally, I mustered up the strength to walk into my local Episcopal church on a Sunday. Before I made my trip, I researched the liturgy online so I wouldn’t look like a fool.
It was love at first sight ”“ the beauty of the church, and sounds, too, since I loved the sermon, the prayers and the hymns. Most of all, I loved the people in this small parish. I felt very welcome and sensed that they were very accepting. The stereotypes I had of “church people” were shattered. I used to believe people who went to church were judgmental, humorless, rigid and had nothing in common with me. How wrong I had been.
I found this an interesting perspective on how the writer did homework before making her first visit to the church. Our CANA church has been thinking a lot about helping first-time visitors and now prints the entire service, including the music for the hymns in a 16-page service book. It helps newcomers follow the service without struggling with several sections in the prayerbook, the service sheet, and the three different hymnbooks we use.
I am glad she found a welcoming congregation. She did not reveal much about finding Jesus there or any impact He has had in her life. That may have been too personal to discuss.
And they encouraged her to question the bible. Was this their bible study?
And where is Jesus in her narrative?
No. 1, Paragraph 1 – I can say from my own experience how helpful such a program was when I first visited the Episcopal parish I joined years ago. When I recently was looking into Catholic and Eastern Orthodox parishes, bouncing around their missal was difficult and would, I imagine, make it difficult for newcomers. One Western Rite Antiochian parish I otherwise would praise, had one following the bulletin, 2 sources for the liturgy and 2 hymnals – it was difficult. In my TEC parish, there was debate on whether this was money well spent, but the rector wouldn’t consider stopping it, saying it made Christ and his Word more accessible. I understand not everyone can afford it, but if you can, I think it’s a good idea. Another option is projecting it on a screen for people to follow.
I too had done a lot of reading before joining (Bernardin’s intro particularly moved me). Any help a parish’s website can give to a seeker on what to read would be a help, and if the parish has a bookstore (mine did at the time), make useful books available. A few of the Orthodox parishes I visited do this (and for what they didn’t have, they had some sort of deal with Amazon), none of the Catholic ones did.
Even after 50 years, I still considered the format of the BCP to be a disaster. Here are my recommendations for any newcomer to a traditional Episcopal church.
1. Arrive 10-15 mnutes early (you will be the first one to sit down).
2. Hunt down the usher who passes out the bulletins. He will not be ready for you, but he will know where to find the bulletins. Alternatively, look around the foyer for the bulletins; they will likely be available on a handy table.
3. Sit down and examine the back of the pew in front of you; there will be bookracks and a card rack.
4. Grab a fistful of the cards. Ignore their contents; their true purpose is to be used as bookmarks.
5. Examine the service bulletin and try to pick out the page numbers of the hymns. Bookmark all the hymns. It may be your misfortune that there are two music books. Sort that out and bookmark those songs also.
6. Most of the remaining page numbers will be in the prayer book, also called the BCP. The following are some hints for the Rite Two service; your experience may vary:
A. The service begins on page 355, but perhaps only two lines will be used on that page. Hint: where it says “people” you will say the words with everyone else.
B. After the Nicene Creed p358, the Prayers of the People will be found elsewhere; consult your bulletin and bookmark it. You will return from there to either the confession or the Peace on p360.
C. However, Holy communion may not start on p361. Consult your bulletin and bookmark the Eucharistic Prayer. You will return from there to the Lord’s prayer on p364.
D. You may have noticed that a “proper preface” is said. Don’t worry about finding the page number for that; no one else knows where it is either.
7. Take all of your bookmarks out of your books and put them back in the card rack. You may amuse yourself by reading some of them.
8. Follow the crowd out the door. Since you were the only newcomer there, the preacher may wish to speak to you.
It’s actually been some time since I’ve been to an Episcopal service that was done out of the prayer book — most places seem to have gone to printing the service in the bulletin these days. That way you only have to juggle the bulletin and the hymnal.
In some ways I miss using the big red pew prayer books — but I agree, expecting a newcomer to navigate a service out of the book is a bit much.
What I would really like is to find a way to encourage regular attendees to commit most of it to memory — it isn’t that much, really — so you don’t have everyone’s face buried in their text for the entire service. Newcomers and occasional visitors would need the printed version, of course, but the regulars should be able to master this feat.
Our parish has printed cardstock “cheat sheets” that are handed out with the bulletin. There’s a set for Rite I, Rite II, Baptism, and large print of each Rite. I have most of the service memorized and refuse to accept one of these sheets every Sunday. Newcomers have expressed how relieved they are to have them, though.
This summer we spent a couple of weeks on the Mississippi gulf coast, and I don’t really like any of the ‘Piskie churches there (I’m in DioFW), so I went to the local RC parish. After a couple of weeks, I was able to navigate through the RC missal fairly easily. But then I got there a few minutes early and mark the pages needed using the bulletin for a reference.
I would have encouraged her to question the NRSV also ;^)
Br_er Rabbit,
A traditional Episcopal Church’s service would begin on p. 67 in a 1928 BCP. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
When we see a newcomer struggle with the prayerbook and hymnal we make it a point to stay close to that person or family and help them navigate through the service. It is a wonderful way to welcome a newcomer on his/her/their first visit. After the service (during which the priest will have given them something to chew on in his well-prepared sermon) walk with them as they leave the church, getting acquainted enough so that you can stay with them as they are greeted by the priest. “Fr. Brown, this is Mr. and Mrs. Jones from Kokomo, Ind. They are visiting a daughter who lives in our city, but does not attend here.” And then stay with them long enough to introduce them to other parishioners at the coffee hour. Who knows? Before Mr. and Mrs. Jones have made their second visit, the daughter just might investigate this strange Anglican/Episcopal church where the “Chosen are not Frozen.” And you have put into their hands one of the treasures of the English language — the Book of Common Prayer. Now how hard is that?