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Many people who are not familiar with our liturgy become self conscious about sitting, standing, or kneeling at the “right” time. Some advice: Don’t worry about it! It’s not a precision drill. In fact, these practices vary somewhat from church to church.
Generally, we sit when we are listening or learning, we stand when we sing or when the Gospel is proclaimed, and we kneel to pray.
But that’s just “generally”. Sometimes we sing while seated and sometimes you’ll see some people kneeling while others are standing. If kneeling is physically difficult for you, feel free to sit or stand instead.
Our liturgy is guided by the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and we use The 1982 Hymnal for congregational singing. Don’t worry if you can’t keep them straight. The colors and sizes of these books vary from church to church. Here, the BCP is black and the Hymnal is red.
Even we find it difficult at times to get to the proper page in the BCP quickly! So, especially during special seasons of the church year, we may use a separate document to guide us through the service in detail. A single page handout guides us through the week’s scripture readings, psalms, and announcements.
We also use a third book at
The primary liturgical feast is the Celebration of the Eucharist, also referred to as “the Eucharist”, “communion”, or “mass”. It is the reenactment of the Last Supper where Christ commends his Apostles to “do this in memory of me” and all who are baptized or are seeking a deeper relationship with Christ are welcome to receive.
Communion is administered in both forms – bread and wine. You may take the bread and wine separately as they are offered to you or you may hold the bread in your hand and dip into the wine.
If you wish to receive only a blessing, you may indicate this to the priest by crossing your arms over your chest. If you wish to receive only bread and not wine, simply do the same as the chalice bearer approaches you.
At Communion time, it is our practice at Church of the
There is a time reserved in our service when we greet one another and this part is referred to as “The Peace”. Visitors to Church of the
Children are an important part of our community life and our future. We want families and children to be comfortable here and there is a “soft space” for young children in the back of the church.
Children through sixth grade may attend
At just about every Episcopal Church, Coffee Hour follows the service and this gives you an idea of the importance of “community” in our tradition. Please join us at Coffee Hour. It will give us a chance to meet you and answer any questions you may have. (Coffee Hour doesn’t really last an hour . . . but there’s always coffee!)
If you have any questions, just ask the person next to you. Another tradition of The Episcopal Church was expressed well in a national advertisement prepared for the Church, which read, “There’s only one problem with religions that have all the answers. They don’t allow questions.” (Now, the person next to you may or may not know the answers to your questions – but it’s OK to ask!)


