How To Meditate And Meet Spirit Guides

Many people, on their first visit to a church, are a little worried about how to behave. This page is a short guide to some of our common customs intended to reduce anxiety in new visitors.

Standing, Sitting and Kneeling

Because the chapel lacks kneelers, we don’t kneel as a general rule. The service booklet generally notes when you should stand or sit, the will usually invite you to stand or sit at the appropriate time either verbally or with a gesture.

Before the start of the service, you should sit (or if you prefer kneel) to meditate or pray quietly.

A common custom in all Christian communities is to make the at particular times. If you’re not comfortable doing so, don’t worry. If you’d like to adopt the custom (in one of its various forms), it is typically done:

• Whenever a priest makes the sign of the cross over the people in a blessing or absolution
• Whenever the name of the Blessed Trinity is said (we have several of these formulae such as “In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “In the Name of the Pleroma and The Logos and the Pneuma Hagion” and so on)
• At the end of the reading of the Gospel

The priest will stand in front of you with the chalice. He or she will dip the host into the consecrated wine and hold it before you saying, “Be what you see, receive what you are.” You should respond, “Amen” and then open your mouth. The priest will place the bread on your tongue – close your mouth and allow the bread to dissolve before swallowing it.

Once you have received communion, feel free to either kneel or sit and pray or meditate on the gifts of the Eucharist.

Forms of Address

Priests and other clergy are ordinary human beings with normal human strengths and weaknesses. When the community of the church chooses individuals to serve in the Major Orders, they take up an ancient office with heavy responsibilities on behalf of their community. Having said all that, we honour our tradition and the dignity of the offices of the Church by using particular terms when addressing ordained people:

The Patriarch — Your Eminence

Deacon — Deacon

Welcome

The celebration of liturgy is an occasion for joy because we draw closer together as a community, we draw a little closer to the Divine and we offer ourselves as agents for the ongoing life of the world. If you’re unfamiliar with attending services, all these guidelines might seem a little overwhelming, but don’t worry – it’s not hard to follow, there’s people there to help and we were all new once.

The important thing is being open to the mystery of liturgy and present to the other human people working with you. If you can do that, everything else falls into place.

Welcome to Saint Uriel’s!