By Robin G. Jordan
A friend has invited you to attend her new church. She is really excited about it. Your friend has promised to have lunch with you after church at your favorite restaurant. You are not keen on the idea of church but you like your friend and you are looking forward to having lunch with her. Your friend has told you that she will meet you at church. You did not write down the address of where the church is meeting. After driving around the block a couple of times, you see a church feather flag in front of a hotel. You assume that it is the flag of your friend’s new church and pull into the hotel parking lot. Inside the hotel lobby you see an easel with a large sign on it. The sign informs you that St. Boniface Anglican Church, a church of the Anglican Church in North America, is meeting in the hotel conference room and has an arrow pointing in the direction of the conference room.
At the door of the conference room a gray-haired man in a blazer and a tie is handing out church bulletins. He gives you a once-over and then hands you a bulletin. You dressed casual because your friend said that the church services are come as you are.
You walk into the conference room and find a seat. You notice that each chair has a bright red prayer book and a dark blue hymnal on it. The prayer book has a Jerusalem cross embossed upon the front cover and the hymnal The Book of Common Praise 2019. You sit near the back of the room and save an empty chair for your friend. With the exception of a couple of teenagers with their eyes glued to the screens of their cell phones, most of the people are middle-aged or older. The chairs are lined up in rows and the only thing that you can see is the backs of their heads.
You are sitting next to a center aisle and if you lean out into the aisle, you can see a table in the front of the room. It is pushed against the front wall and is covered with a white table cloth. It has two tall brass candlesticks on it and two tall candles in the brass candlesticks. The candlesticks and the candles dwarf the table.
In the center of the table is a chalice and paten covered with a bright red burse and veil. To one side of the chalice and paten is a brass book stand which hold a large book in a bright red cover. On a smaller table to one side of the table you can see wine and water cruets and lavabo bowl with a purificator draped across it. On the other side of the table is a gray-haired woman sitting at a portable electric keyboard.
You look at your cell phone. It is near time for the service to start and your friend has not arrived. You gather from the church bulletin that it is the Feast of Pentecost. The grey-haired women begins to play a piece of music on the keyboard. You do not recognize it. The setting that she is using on the key board sounds like an old-fashioned theater organ. A few stragglers enter the room and quickly take a seat. A voice booms from the amplifier of the portable podium in front of the room, announcing the number of a hymn. The gray-haired woman begins to play an introduction to the hymn. Everyone is now standing with open hymnals. You hurriedly flip through the pages of the hymnal until you find the right hymn and stand. The gray-haired woman begins to play the hymn. The voice again booms from the portable podium, drowning out what little singing that you can hear. You notice that the room has an acoustical tile ceiling and a thick carpet. It is meant to deaden sound. You also notice that whoever has the wireless mike for the podium is singing off key.
A teenager in an alb walks past you, carrying a processional cross. Behind him comes a gray-haired man in a tight-fitting cotta and a cassock, swing a smoking censor. He resembles a walking sausage. The smell of the incense is sickly sweet and the billowing smoke irriates your eyes and makes them water. You are reminded of the time when you visited a Roman Catholic church with a high school friend when you were a teenager. Behind the walking sausage comes a gray-haired priest wearing a bright red chasuble. He is singing. It is the priest who has the wireless mike for the podium.
The two men and the teenager reach the front of the room. The priest takes the censor from the man in the tight-fitting cotta and cassock and censes the table and then the empty row of chairs in the front of the room. The priest then launches into a lengthy introductory dialog. The dialog concludes before you find it in the prayer book. Everyone has begun to say an opening prayer together. After the opening prayer the priest reads the Ten Commandments. The congregation says a response after each commandment. At the conclusion of the Ten Commandments the gray-haired woman at the keyboard begins to play an introduction. It is a nine-fold Kyries. The words and the melody are printed in the church bulletin. Everyone begins to sing but the only person that you can hear is the priest. The pinched nerve in your spine is sending shooting pains down your left thigh from standing too long. But having concluded the nine-fold Kyries, the priest and the congregation are singing a Gloria. The voice of the priest booms from the podium as he mangles the Gloria. You shift your weight from one leg to another, hoping to relieve the strain on your spine and the pain in your left thigh. The priest finishes singing and begins to pray. The prayer is a short one. You sigh in relief when the priest invites the congregation to sit for the Old Testament reading.
A gray-haired man walks to the podium and declaims the Old Testament reading as if he was reading one of Shakespeare’s plays. The podium also has a fixed mike and his voice booms across the room. He has not learned to modulate his voice when speaking into a mike. As the reader returns to his seat, the walking sausage goes to the podium and announces the psalm appointed for the day. He bids everyone to stand and to read the psalm responsively by half verse. You groan. Everyone stands. The psalm is a long one and the shooting pains in your left thigh grow worse. You are glad when everyone recites the Gloria Patri. After the lengthy recitation you are relieved to sit down again. You remember what your old pastor said: You sit for the psalm at the Holy Eucharist and you do not say the Gloria Patri at the end of the psalm.
The man in the tight-fitting cotta and cassock announces the New Testament reading from the podium. As soon as he is finished, the gray-haired woman plays an introduction to a hymn on the keyboard. All stand. Partway through the third verse the priest stops singing. The congregation, however, continues to sing. The priest, preceded by the man in the tight-fitting cotta and cassock, swinging the smoking censor, walk down the center aisle to the midst of the congregation. The priest censes the Book of Gospels and announces the Gospel reading. The congregation says a response. As he reads the Gospel, his voice booms from the podium. It is weird. He is standing in the midst of the congregation but his voice is coming from somewhere else. At the end of the Gospel reading, he says, “This is the Gospel of the Lord” and the congregation says a response. The gray-haired woman at the keyboard begins playing the hymn again and the congregation sings the last two verses of the hymn as the priest and thurifer return to the front of the room. The priest joins in the hymn as soon as he reaches the front of the room. By the time the hymn is finished, you have forgotten what the priest read from the Book of Gospels. The last two verses of the hymn have driven it out of your mind.
The priest goes to the podium. He bids the congregation to sit and launches into a long sermon about the Feast of Pentecost and how it is the birthday of the Church. You are thankful that you can sit down again. You notice that one of your neighbors has fallen asleep. The drone of the priest’s voice is making you drowsy too. At the conclusion of the sermon the priest bids the congregation to stand and to affirm their faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. By this point in the service the shooting pains in your left thigh are excruciating. Shifting your weight from leg to leg no longer relieves the pain. After the Nicene Creed the priest launches into a long prayer throughout which the congregation remains standing. You are in agony.
At the conclusion of the long prayer the priest gives an invitation to confession. Everyone sits in their chairs with bowed heads as they say the confession. A few hardy souls kneel on the floor. After the confession the priest pronounces the absolution and then reads four passages of Scripture. Next the priest says, “The peace of the Lord always be with you,” and everyone responds, “And also with you.” The members of the congregation in front of you enthusiastically great each other, shaking hands, hugging, and saying, “Peace be with you.” They ignore you. You turn in the direction of the woman who is seated three chairs down the row from you. She turns her back to you and greets the person in front of her.
The gray-haired woman at the keyboard begins to play the introduction to a hymn. The congregation begins to sing. You can barely hear them. After preparing the table, the priest joins in, his voice booming from the podium and drowning out the congregation with his off-key singing. Four gray-haired ushers pass two collection plates up and down the rows of chairs. One of them frowns at you when you do not put anything in the collection plate. As soon as the hymn is finished, two ushers march forward with the collection plates while the congregation sings the doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” The priest receives the collection plates, offers them as if he is offering the wave offering in the Temple in Jerusalem, puts them on the table, says a lengthy prayer over them, and then hands them to the teenager in the alb.
The man in the tight-fitting cotta and cassock brings the smoking censor to the priest and the priest censes the table again and the bread and wine on the table. After handing the censor back to the thurifer, he begins the Sursum Corda, facing the congregation, after which he turns his back to the congregation and faces the table. He launches into a very long eucharistic prayer. You notice some people are sitting down while others remain standing The man who fell asleep during the sermon has dozed off again. You can hear his snores. The two teenagers are playing Pokemon on their cell phones. You sit down. You are in too greater agony to remain standing.
The eucharistic prayer is mind numbing. You are not feeling exactly at love and peace with your neighbor. The priest’s amplified voice is giving you a headache.
To your relief the priest finally concludes the prayer. Those sitting struggle to their feet to join those standing in saying the Lord’s Prayer. “Communion will be next,” you think. But the priest launches into a prayer of preparation. He then receives communion and faces the congregation. He is holding the chalice in one hand with a wafer above it in the other hand. He says, "Behold the Lamb of God who was slain for the sins of the word” or something like that. Once more you are reminded of the Roman Catholic church that you visited when you were a teenager. The ushers roll two portable kneeling benches in front of the table and lock them together. They hover at each end of the benches. You soon discover why. Some of the communicants need assistance rising from the kneelers. It takes three ushers to haul a very large woman to her feet. You decide to forego communion. You are in a foul mood. The long, boring service has exhausted you. You are wondering what happened to your friend. You cannot imagine what she sees in this church.
During the communion the gray-haired woman at the key board plays a piece of music that sounds like a funeral march. Some of the communicants genuflect before they go forward. When all have received communion, the priest reads several passages of Scripture. He then leads the congregation in a prayer of thanksgiving after which he pronounces a blessing over the congregation, making the sign of the cross. The gray-haired woman begins playing the introduction of a hymn on the keyboard. As the congregation sings a final hymn, the priest, preceded by the man in the tight-fighting cotta and cassock with the smoking censor and the teenager in the alb with the processional cross, walk to the back of the room. The priest’s voice booms over the podium’s loudspeaker. At the back of the room the priest launches into a lengthy closing prayer. At the conclusion of the prayer the teenager in the alb returns to the front of the room with the processional cross and extinguishes the candles. The priest then dismisses the congregation. You head for the door, not even stopping to shake the priest’s hand. The shooting pains in your left thigh are unbearable. Your head is pounding.
Once outside you turn on your cell phone and check your text messages. There are several from your friend. “Where are you?” “Have you changed your mind?” “What about lunch?” You text her back. “I went to your church. What happened to you?” “I was at church,” she replies. “I didn’t see you,” you reply. “What church did you go to?” she texts back. You text her the name of the church and the address of the hotel.” “But that’s not my church,” she replies. You agree to meet her at the restaurant. Over lunch she and you laugh about how you went to the wrong church. She invites you to her church again, saying that she will pick you up on Sunday. You reluctantly agree because you do not want to disappoint her. She is a lot of fun to be with and you really, really like her.
Next Sunday rolls around. Your friend is ringing your door bell bright and early. “I’m taking you to breakfast,” she says. After breakfast she and you drive to where her church meets. The church rents a storefront a couple of blocks from the hotel where you went to church the previous Sunday. A large sign over the entrance identifies the meeting place. The lettering is simple, bold, and eye-catching. A plastic sandwich board sign points to the entrance.
Your friend has been telling you in the car that the church is a part of a new network of Anglican churches that has been organized in North America. She has been going to the church for more than six months and she really likes it. She thinks that you will like it too.
At the entrance to the storefront are several people of different ages greeting each new arrival. You notice that they really appear glad to see you. You go inside. One of the first things that you notice is how the seating is arranged. It is arranged in two sections facing each other with a wide space between the two sections. Each section is curved so that the people sitting at one end of the section can see the people sitting at the other end of the section. The chairs are spaced so the person behind you does not see the back of your head but the people in the other section. At one end of the space between the two sections of seating is a lectern. A short distance behind the lectern and to one side is a keyboard, guitar stands, a bass guitar and an acoustic guitar, stools, floor mikes, and a collection of percussion instruments—steel drums, djembe, box drums, and stacked bells.
At the other end of the space is a counter top height table covered with a white table cloth. On the table are two hand-made shallow ceramic bowls, each with a hand-crafted sand candle in it. When lit, the sand candles give off the fragrance of frankincense. The only other thing on the table is a dark blue pillow decorated with a swirl of multi-colored butterflies. The walls of the room are painted a soft white. On two of the walls are large wall panels repeating the same motif –swirling multi-colored butterflies on a dark blue background. As the butterflies swirl upward they become an iridescent gold. “The work of a local artist,” your friend tells you, ”There are a number of artists in the congregation.”
As the chairs begin to fill up, you notice the diversity of the congregation—young children, teenagers, young adults, senior adults, Black families, Hispanic families, Asian families, single parents. They are like the multi-colored butterflies spiraling upward on the cushion and the wall panels.
The priest is white-haired. He is wearing what you friend says is a white co-celebration alb and a dark blue stole with the same butterfly motif as the pillow and the wall panels. He has a friendly face and young children run up to him and hug him and receive a hug in return. He chats with different families and individuals as he leisurely makes his way to his seat near the lectern. He sits with the rest of the congregation.
The music group unobtrusively takes its place. The percussionist, a young Black man, strikes a bell with a mallet and a hush falls over the congregation. “He is a music major at your university,” your friend whispers to you. “He is really good.” The priest stands and welcomes those present. He nods to the music group and the percussionist begins to play a lively Jamaican tune on the steel drums. Everyone stands. A member of the music group sings the opening verse of Stephen P. Starke’s “All you works of God bless the Lord.” All join in on the refrain, clapping their hands at the end of the refrain. Even the young children are singing. All join in on the final verse. At the end of the song a hush once more falls over the congregation. The priest then says the Prayer of the Day.
After the prayer everyone takes a seat. A young Hispanic woman stands and walks to the lectern. She announces the Old Testament reading. As reads the passage, it is clear that she is reading it from her heart. At the end of the reading she says, “This is the Word of the Lord.” All respond, “Thanks be to God. A hush falls over the congregation.
The priest stands and announces the psalm portion appointed for the day. The congregation remains seated. The congregation reads the psalm portion antiphonally, from side to side. The people in one section of seating read the first half of each verse and the people in the other section of the seating read the second half of each verse. After the psalm portion a hush once more falls over the congregation.
A second reader stands, walks to the lectern, and announces the New Testament reading. Like the first reader, he reads the passage from the heart. At the end of the reading he says, “This is the Word of the Lord.” All respond, “Thanks be to God.” Silence follows the reading.
The priest nods to the music group. The percussionist plays the introduction to the Gospel Acclamation on the djembe. All stand and sing “Halle, halle, halle,” accompanied only by hand clapping and drum beats. At the conclusion of the Gospel Acclamation the priest goes to the lectern and announces the Gospel reading. All respond, “Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.” After the Gospel reading, the priest says, “This is the Gospel of the Lord.” All respond, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.” Silence follows.
At the conclusion of the silence the priest walks to the center of the space which divides the sections of seating and sits on a stool that an assistant minister has unobtrusively placed there. He invites the younger children to join him. They sit on the floor around him while he tells them a simple Bible story, using it to teach them about following Jesus. This week it is the story of the three young men in the furnace. You notice that the rest of the congregation is listening closely to what he is saying. When he finishes the Bible story, the priest dismisses the children who go to their children’s ministry groups in an adjoining room.
Taking the stool with him, the priest goes to a point right in front of the lectern where all can see him. Sitting on the stool, he begins the sermon. He takes one of the readings and draws out its meaning for the congregation and how it applies to their lives. He has the rapt attention of the congregation, you included. At the end of the sermon he observes a period of silence before asking the congregation to stand and affirm its faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.
After the Apostles’ Creed a member of the congregation goes to the lectern. All stand. He invites the congregation to pray in unison. After he announces each theme for prayer, the whole congregation pray together out loud, individually at the same time. “Why are they praying like that?” you ask your friend, “It is Tongsung Kido,” your friend explains. “It is a unique form of Korean prayer.”
After the congregation has prayed for each theme, the prayer leader invites members of the congregation to ask for the prayers or thanksgivings of those present. Several people share prayer requests and concerns or report answered prayer. The congregation prays for the prayer requests and concerns and offers thanks for the answered prayers. At the conclusion of this time the prayer leader invites the congregation to join in the Lord’s Prayer.
As the prayer leader returns to his seat, the priest invites the congregation to confess their sins. After a period of silence for self-examination the priest leads the congregation in the confession. He then declares God’s forgiveness and invites the congregation to stand. The priest says, “The peace of the Lord always be with you,” to which all respond “And also with you.” The exchange of the peace that follows is very exuberant. People come across the space between the two sections of seating to greet you. Your friend gives you a big hug. The music group begins to sing a joyous song of praise. All return to their seats and join in the song. The lyrics are very simple. The song almost sings itself.
You notice that two members of the congregation are preparing the table and the priest has moved from the end of the central space close to the lectern to the end of the central space close to the table. The younger children have returned from their children’s ministry groups and have joined their parents.
As the song comes to a conclusion, the priest takes his place behind the table, facing the congregation across the table. Two members of the congregation come forward. One is carrying a shallow basket with several loaves of pita bread on a white napkin in it. The other is carrying a jug of wine. They hand the bread and the wine to the priest who places them on the table. They take their place to one side of the table. A third member of the congregation brings the priest a container of water and he mixes the wine and the water in the cup and returns the container of water to the member of the congregation. The third member of the congregation goes to a small side table and returns with a small ceramic bowl, a towel, and the container of water. The priest washes and dries his hands. The third member of the congregation returns the bowl, the towel, and the water to the side table and then takes his place to one side of the table. A hush falls over the congregation.
The priest begins the introductory dialog of the eucharistic prayer, “Lift up your hearts.” The congregation responds, “we lift them to the Lord. The eucharistic prayer is a simple one. After a short preface, all sing the Sanctus to a setting played on the keyboard. The priest offers a short thanksgiving and asks God to grant that those who receive the bread and wine in obedience to Christ’s command, in remembrance of his suffering and death, will share Christ’s body and blood. He then says the words of institution during which he takes the bread and breaks it and takes the cup of wine. He then invites everyone to receive communion, “Come let us eat and drink in remembrance that Christ died for us, and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.”
The member of the congregation who brought him the water from the side table brings the priest a second chalice which he fills. He gives a full chalice and a basket of bread to one of the two other members of the congregation. The second basket has been nestled in the first basket. He gives a second full chalice to the third member of the congregation and takes a basket of bread. The priest and the three communion assistants take their place in front of the table.
The music group begin a simple communion song, one that the people can sing as they come forward to receive. It is a simple round, “Worthy the Lamb who has died for us, worthy, worthy the Lamb….” The two guitarists play and sing while the keyboardist and percussionist go forward to receive communion. When they return and the keyboardist begins a second simple communion song, the two guitarists go forward to receive communion.
After all have received communion, a profound silence envelops the room. The music group then begins a song of praise in which the congregation joins with uplifted hands. A second praise song flows out of the first. A time of spontaneous praise and thanksgiving follows the second praise song. As the spontaneous praise and thanksgiving dies away, the priest invites the congregation to join him in a prayer of thanksgiving. The prayer of thanksgiving is a short one. The priest announces the parting blessing, “Bow your heads for God’s blessing.” He then pronounces God’s blessing upon the congregation who stand with bowed heads, stretching out his hands to the congregation in a gesture of blessing. After the blessing he dismisses the congregation.
While the music group play a joyous tune, the priest seeks out the first-time guests and newcomers and greets them. Your friend brings you to meet him. He greets you and your friend, shakes your hand, and chats with you for a few moments before someone drags him away to meet her cousin who came with her to church. You and your friend mingle with the other members of the congregation and your friend introduces you to different people that she knows.
As you leave, your friend asks, “What do you think?” All you can say, “I really like this church.” She smiles happily. “Shall I pick you up next Sunday?” she say. You nod your head in agreement.
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