We welcome you to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. We know that our liturgy can be confusing, if you have not participated in it before, so we offer the following brief description to help you get your bearings.

The Place of Worship
As you enter, you will notice an atmosphere of calm and reverence.  It is the usual custom for Episcopalians to be quiet in the church building, and we are a little reticent about accosting strangers because we do not wish to interrupt the meditations of others.   We would be delighted, however, if you would join us for coffee following the worship service, a time we set aside to enable visitors and newcomers to meet members of the congregation and for the parishioners to get to know each other better. 

Once in the Nave, or the main body of the sanctuary, your eye will be drawn to the altar, or holy table, and to the cross centrally placed upon it.  So our thoughts are taken at once to Christ and to God whose house the church is. On the altar there are candles to remind us that Christ is the ``Light of the World.''  There are often flowers there also to beautify God's house and to recall the resurrection of Jesus.

The Act of Worship
Episcopal church services are congregational.  In the pews you will find the Book of Common Prayer, the red book,  and a Hymnal which usually has a blue cover.  On your way in, one of the ushers will have given you a Sunday Bulletin.  In that, you will find the order of service for that particular Sunday, the numbers of the hymns we will use and a variety of other useful information about what is happening at St. Paul's. The bulletin will guide you through the service, but if you need more detail, you will find it  in the Book of Common Prayer in large print.  The smaller italic print gives directions to ministers and people for conduct of each service. 

You may wonder when to stand or kneel.  We try to include information about this in our bulletins to reduce confusion because practices vary --- even among individual Anglicans. The general rule, however,  is to stand to sing the hymns. We stand, too, to say our affirmation of faith, the Creed, and for the reading of the Gospel during the Holy Eucharist.  Psalms are sung or recited while sitting.  We also sit during readings from the Old Testament or New Testament Letters, the sermon, and the choir anthems.  We stand or kneel for prayer to show our gratefulness to God for accepting us as His children, or as an act of humility before God.

The Regular Services
The principal service is the Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion.  Our communion is open and all baptized persons are invited to receive communion in the Episcopal church. On any given Sunday, both services follow the same order, but there is no music at our 8:00 AM service.  The choir sings only for the Family Service at 10:30 AM each Sunday.

While some parts of the services are always the same, others change. At the Holy Eucharist, for example, two or three Bible selections are read. These change each Sunday.  So do the psalms.  These lessons and psalms can be found on the bulletin insert each Sunday.  Certain of the prayers also change, in order to provide variety.  Page numbers for parts of the service printed elsewhere in the Book are usually announced and given in the service bulletin.  But do not be embarrassed to ask your neighbor for the page number.

You will find the services of the Episcopal Church beautiful in their ordered dignity, God-centered, and yet mindful of the nature and needs of human beings.

Before and After Services
It is the custom upon entering church to kneel in one's pew for a prayer of personal preparation for worship.   In many churches it is also the custom to bow to the altar on entering and leaving the church as an act of reverence for Christ.  You will find members of the congregation doing both at St. Paul's, but do not be surprised if some do neither.  As we have already mentioned, practices vary among Anglicans.

Most Episcopalians do not talk in church before a service, but use this time for personal meditation and devotions. At the end of the service, some persons kneel for a private prayer before leaving.  As you leave after this prayer, the priest who conducted the service will be at the door of the nave to greet you and will be only too glad to have a chat or to arrange for a later call.

Vestments
To add to the beauty and festivity of the services, and to signify their special ministries, the clergy and other ministers wear vestments. Choir vestments usually consist of a surplice. The clergy may also wear cassock and surplice.

Another familiar vestment is the alb, a white tunic with sleeves that covers the body from neck to ankles. Over it (or over the surplice) ordained ministers wear a stole, a narrow band of colored fabric.

At the Holy Eucharist, a bishop or priest frequently wears a chasuble (a circular garment that envelopes the body) over the alb and stole. Bishops sometimes wear a special headcovering called a mitre. Stoles, chasubles, and dalmatics, as well as altar coverings, are usually made of rich fabrics.  Their color changes with the seasons and holy days of the Church Year. The most frequently used colors are white, red, violet, and green.  At St. Paul's, we also use blue during the season of Advent.

The Church Year
The Episcopal Church observes the traditional Christian calendar.   The season of Advent, during which we prepare for Christmas or the coming of Christ, begins on the Sunday closest to November 30th.   Christmas itself lasts twelve days, after which we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th).

Lent, the forty days of preparation for Easter, begins on Ash Wednesday. Easter season lasts fifty days, concluding on the feast of Pentecost.

During these times the Bible readings are chosen for their appropriateness to the season.  During the rest of the year --- the season after Epiphany and the long season after Pentecost (except for a few special Sundays) --- the New Testament is read sequentially from Sunday to Sunday. The Old Testament lesson corresponds in theme with one of the New Testament readings.

Coming and Going
The ushers will greet you and, if you tell them that this is your first visit to an Episcopal church, seat you with some of our parishioners who can guide you through our worship service. If you desire, they will answer your questions about the service as well.  Please feel free to sit anywhere, as pews are usually unreserved in our church.  As we have mentioned, following the service the pastor greets the people as they leave.

You Will Not Be Embarrassed
When you visit an Anglican church, you are our respected and welcome guest. You will not be singled out in an embarrassing way, nor asked to stand before the congregation, nor to come forward. You will worship God with us, as one of us.

Should you wish to know more about the Episcopal Church or how one becomes an Anglican, the priest will gladly answer your questions and suggest the way to membership.