One of the truest things about being human is that we talk to one another. And another truth is that every little group gets its own language started. You did it too, when you were a teenager—and you sort of enjoyed your parents’ puzzlement when you used a word that EVERYONE uses (but they couldn’t figure out). It happens everywhere—your job, your ethnic group, the friends you hang out with.
So it is not too surprising that the Episcopal Church has some words that you might not know. After all, we have roots that go back centuries and across the ocean, and some of our scholars work their way through Latin and ancient Greek. Here, in no particular order, are a few that tripped me up (because I came in as an adult after a long time in a Presbyterian background).
- Sanctuary: In most churches, this means the big room where people gather to sing, pray, and listen to sermons. Properly speaking in Episcopal tradition, though, it is that small area near the altar on the other side of the altar rail (that fence-like thing). The larger area is called the nave, a great word derived from the term for “ship.” (Look up at the ceiling in many churches and it resembles the inside of a boat, upside-down. We are all in the same boat.)
- Sacristy: This is just a room where things such as priests’ robes and communion items are stored.
- Narthex: If you know this one, you can win Trivia Night at an Episcopal Pizza Place. It’s the little entrance hall between the front door and the big room (see “Nave” above).
- Vestry: From the Latin, you would think this is the place where people put on special robes for the worship service. Hold that thought for a minute. Like nearly all churches, we have a group of lay persons who are responsible for most of the day-to-day business (deciding if we can fix the roof, for example). Some time in the past, these people used to meet in the room where the robes were kept (yes, the vestments), so even though their responsibility is no longer maintaining robes and such, we call them the Vestry.
- Diocese: This is a geographical subdivision of the larger denomination. Ours is the Diocese of Ohio approximately the north half of the state, and we have been here a very long time, the first one established west of the Alleghenies.
- Liturgy: There is more to it than “someone says something and the group says something back.” The concept here is that worship is not just a matter of one person saying (or doing or singing) something and the audience sitting there passively. The “Prayers of the People” part of Sunday morning is an excellent example of liturgy in two ways. For one thing, the prayer is not complete if the leader just rattles on without the rest of the congregation joining in and responding. We really do believe that of the people part. For another, we like to use prayers that were prepared beforehand. After all, if you were presenting a solemn request to the king, you wouldn’t just rattle off the first thing that comes to your mind; you would think it through carefully and get it right—both the content and the language. And all of this gets back to the standing, sitting, kneeling, and crossing oneself—the congregation is part of the work of worshiping.
One more little verbal oddity, which you will run into frequently: The scene is a miscellaneous crowd of some sort (perhaps at coffee hour) where everyone is milling around and chattering. Suddenly someone (usually in some sort of leadership role) says, very loudly, The Lord be with you! and everyone in the room responds And with your spirit! That is a very polite way of saying, “Everyone stop talking and come to order!” It is often followed by Let us pray! after which the leader prays a blessing on the meal or whatever. (Last Thanksgiving, my very non-liturgical family asked me to pray, so I tried this strategy. It worked!)
If you are like me, you hate being the only person in the room who doesn’t know what is going on. I hope this little list took some of the edge off that—and I am certain that I left something out. If you want another definition, just click the POST A COMMENT and ask.
Comments