One of my coffee mugs has Robin Williams’s Top 10 reasons to be an Episcopalian on the side. (Yes, he was one of ours.) His list is funny and smart—and it’s largely true. Here I want to zero in on a couple of his items that visitors to St. Mark’s (or any other Episcopal church) might find problematic.
Pew aerobics
Several years ago, I visited a huge church in the Chicago area. The main auditorium was set up with very good theater-style seats and a stage up front where everything happened. That wouldn’t work for us.
If you watch any Episcopal church on a Sunday morning, you will see a lot of action. People sit, stand, kneel, stand up again, kneel again, and then wander around shaking hands. After that they sit down, then kneel some more and finally make their way to the front of the room. And kneel. When they get back to their seats, they sit, kneel, and stand up to sing. Mixed in with all this, people do things like crossing themselves and bowing to the altar. It’s all very confusing. (One small benefit is that it’s very difficult to fall asleep with all this going on.)
Here’s my advice if you visit our congregation:
- Don’t panic. If you want to just sit there and listen, that might be your best strategy as a newcomer. Nobody will point at you and embarrass you. (That was how I began.)
- If you want to join in with any of the action, try to find a seat where you can watch someone who seems to know what they are doing. Then imitate them.
- Because we are Episcopalians, we have a lot of variety. Some people cross themselves several times during a worship service. I don’t. Some people cannot kneel for prayer and some forget. That’s OK—the prayer works anyhow. And it’s always OK to ask why we do certain things. There is usually a reason.
Free wine on Sunday
Communion (we usually call it “Eucharist”) creates some confusion. One of my friends recently asked me what one must do to be eligible for Communion in an Episcopal church. So I gave her a quiz: “Were you ever baptized by anyone in any Christian sense whatsoever? Do you want to receive Eucharist?” If the answer to both is “yes,” you passed the test. (By the way, if the answer to that first one is a problem, I’m going to suggest a work-around.)
Yes, it really is a common cup, and yes, it really is wine. If you have trouble with either of those, you’re not alone. Here are a few alternate ideas:
- You can simply dip the Communion wafer in the cup when the person brings it to you. (This is a very popular idea during cold-and-flu season.)
- You don’t need to partake of any wine whatsoever. By a very long-standing rule, the wafer by itself is a full communion.
- You can simply cross your hands across your chest to receive a blessing without eating or drinking anything. (This is the work-around I mentioned for people who are uncertain about whether they have been baptized. It is also a good option for people with severe food allergies.)
The bottom line here is that the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Communion—whatever you want to call it) is a profound sign of our unity with one another and with Jesus. We don’t want to shut anyone out.
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