How We Worship
Depending on your experience with church in the past, the way we worship at Calvary and in The Episcopal Church may feel very familiar or very different to you. Let us take a moment to explain how we worship, why and where our worship practices come from.
Our worship centers on the Word of God & the Table where we celebrate communion. The formal word to describe our worship is liturgical, meaning the work of the people. In our services, you may notice how many people are involved in the procession into the sanctuary, the readings, the prayers, the music and serving communion. While a priest offers prayers on behalf of the people and pronounces God’s forgiveness over us, our worship involves all of us. It is our work of thanksgiving and love that we offer to God and each other – and we are in turn nourished and fed.
- Some joke that our worship can feel like aerobics - up, sit, up, kneel, up, down, sit! While it won’t take you long to figure out what to do and say (most of that is in the bulletin), worshipping God is meant to engage not just our hearts and minds but our bodies as well. This simple act makes us active worshippers instead of passive receivers while also reminding us that our bodies are holy gifts from God.
The Book of Common Prayer
Prayer shapes believing. The way we pray and the words we pray reveal who we believe God is and how we believe God works in our lives and in the world. So for us, sharing common prayer is important. How powerful it is to hear our many voices become one as we recite a psalm or respond to the peace with “And also with you.” In an increasingly isolated world, we are reminded that we are not alone.
The Book of Common Prayer contains almost everything needed for Episcopal worship. It has roots in the first Book of Common Prayer in the Church of England back in 1549. The Prayer Book includes our Sunday services, services from baptism to marriage and funerals, Morning & Evening Prayer and prayers for all kinds of life experiences. There is also our catechism, which outlines our basic beliefs. However, as Episcopalians, what brings us together is common prayer. Episcopalians have many different beliefs about God (and some doubts and questions too!) but we are one when we pray and at the altar.
