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hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
Tue May 7, 2013, 12:42 PM May 2013

What kind of worship service does your house of worship have?

Is it structured or improvised at the moment? Is it ritualistic or simple?

My Episcopal parish is a high church parish which means that it is ritualistic and celebrates the Eucharist every Sunday. If you were to go to a service in my parish you would think you were in Roman Catholic church except for the fact we have women priests and the congregation sings at the top of their lungs.

High Church, Low Church, and Broad Church are the terms we use in the Episcopal Church and the World Wide Anglican Communion, which we are a member of, to describe worship style.

High Church-Eucharist everyday and high mass on Sunday with incense and vestments. Very similar to Roman Catholic Worship.

Low Church-Eucharist once a month as required by church law. Usually clergy ware simple choir dress during service. Tends to be more evangelical preaching in these parishes.

Broad Church-A mixture of both. Broad churches tend to do the Eucharist every Sunday but incense is rarely used, and vestments tend to be simple Eucharistic vestments.

We have bishops, priests, and deacons as our clergy. We believe in Apostolic Succession which means it is an unbroken line from the apostles when it comes to ordinations. Only Bishops ordain clergy and you need three to ordain another bishop.

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What kind of worship service does your house of worship have? (Original Post) hrmjustin May 2013 OP
Nose bleed Episcopalian Bok_Tukalo May 2013 #1
I have never heard of nose bleed episcopalian. hrmjustin May 2013 #2
High church Bok_Tukalo May 2013 #3
I will have to remember that one. hrmjustin May 2013 #4
Anglo-Catholic TrogL May 2013 #5
Cool organ pic! hrmjustin May 2013 #8
That's one model up from the one I actually have TrogL May 2013 #11
My church is a very holy place. 18 of em to be exact. OffWithTheirHeads May 2013 #6
I don't get it. hrmjustin May 2013 #7
As in 18 holes. N/T Meshuga May 2013 #10
Our services are brief except for the High Holidays Meshuga May 2013 #9
"when we pray we are talking to god but when we study god talks to us" I really like this! hrmjustin May 2013 #12
Yes, it's a very liberal reform congregation n/t Meshuga May 2013 #13
I don't know if there are RCC rules... goldent May 2013 #14
Yes it is called a 360 or the Queen Anne. hrmjustin May 2013 #15
Below low church. Very unstructured and simplistic ButterflyBlood May 2013 #16

Bok_Tukalo

(4,322 posts)
1. Nose bleed Episcopalian
Tue May 7, 2013, 01:00 PM
May 2013

Much like yours but without the thurible. We have it out on certain occasions but not every Sunday.

TrogL

(32,818 posts)
11. That's one model up from the one I actually have
Tue May 7, 2013, 01:44 PM
May 2013

Mine's the biggest two-manual they make with extra speakers. The subwoofers are right behind me and at full organ, the ground is shaking so bad I have trouble seeing the music. For big occasions, I add extra synthesizers playable from the console through MIDI.

Meshuga

(6,182 posts)
9. Our services are brief except for the High Holidays
Tue May 7, 2013, 01:42 PM
May 2013

On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we go all out with the full services conducted by the Rabbi and two Cantors. We also celebrate holidays and festivals like Purim, for example.

However, throughout the year our services are brief and rushed so we can get to the shmooz and study. And the services are usually twice a month. The rest of the time is all filled with classes and other events.

We, as a congregation, prefer to study and discuss Jewish topics more than attend services. We use the saying that "when we pray we are talking to god but when we study god talks to us" so we enjoy the classes and discussions.

That is a good fit for me because I am not a big fan of services. They are repetitive, long, and I pray for them to be over. But that is one of the requests that never seems to be granted.

We used to be members of a conservative shul where Shabbos services were from 9AM to 12PM (which was brutal). But we were one of the many families that arrived at 11:45 to enjoy the other stuff and to mingle.

The conservative services were looong, all in Hebrew, and I kept sleeping at times not getting up when supposed to. We only had to attend the whole thing when we were part of some honor such as Aliyah or other special occasions like a bnai mitzvah.

 

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
12. "when we pray we are talking to god but when we study god talks to us" I really like this!
Tue May 7, 2013, 01:47 PM
May 2013

Sounds like a cool congregation. 3 hour services in any religion is torture. Is it a reform congregation?

goldent

(1,582 posts)
14. I don't know if there are RCC rules...
Tue May 7, 2013, 08:26 PM
May 2013

but I've never been at a Catholic mass (in America) where incense is used, outside of funerals, big days such as Easter and Christmas, and all of Holy Week. It seems quite a bit different in Europe (every Sunday in some cases).

Speaking of incense, when there is a procession (say Palm Sunday), does the person with the incense burner occasionally swing it overhead, sort of a "round the world" kind of move? This seemed to be a tradition (and quite dramatic) at a previous parish of mine, and the first time I saw it, I was like "whoa" I hope they check the chain for safety!

 

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)
15. Yes it is called a 360 or the Queen Anne.
Tue May 7, 2013, 08:33 PM
May 2013

In the Roman Catholic Church before Vatican two Every Sunday High Mass had incense.
Now it is optional.

ButterflyBlood

(12,644 posts)
16. Below low church. Very unstructured and simplistic
Tue May 7, 2013, 11:50 PM
May 2013

Charismatic. With all that hand raising and waving in the air and people swaying and jumping and dancing stuff. Not really much beyond songs and a sermon. There's communion at the end of every sermon series, so roughly once a month.

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