What’s the point of worship?
To spend time with God.
To spend time in a community of faith.
To deepen your life of prayer.
To celebrate life, together with others.
To make new friends.
To have bread and wine from Jesus’ table.
To laugh, to think, to be creative.
To be fully yourself and fully loved.
How do you know what to do in worship?
The Bulletin
The bulletin is like the program you get when you go to a play. It tells you what’s going to happen during the service.
Pick up a bulletin from the white table located just inside the front glass doors of the church.
If you have trouble reading a lot of text at once, there are colored plastic strips in the gray container beside the stack of bulletins which may help you read better. (When the service ends, you can either keep the plastic strip, or put it back in the container, making sure to use the wipes there to wipe it down, first.)
For those who don’t read at all, or don’t read well, there are visual symbols in the bulletin, to follow along. These also act as a warning system for activities which might be a trigger, like music or social interaction.
COMMUNION
What is communion?
It’s bread and wine, which we bless and share in memory of all the meals Jesus shared with people.
Meals were a time when people were healed or forgiven by Jesus, and he always welcomed everyone.
In the Episcopal Church, all people of any age are welcome to receive communion. Jesus didn’t have rules about it; neither do we.
Step One: Bread and wine are blessed
The priest stands behind the altar and says a prayer of blessing over the bread and wine, then brings the tray to the center table, and invites everyone to step up and have some, according to their own pace and preference.
Step Two: Come and get it!
(1) Communion is self-serve, any time after the tray has been put on the center table.
(2) If you want to, step forward to take a piece of bread. (The bread is plain naan from Trader Joe’s, torn into pieces by someone wearing gloves.)
(3) You can either dip the bread into the cup of wine in the center of the tray, then eat it, or just eat the bread without the wine.
(4) Return to your seat.
If you want communion, but don’t want to or can’t go to the center table, raise your hand, and the priest will bring some bread and wine to you.
If you don’t want to receive communion, but would like a blessing instead, go to the priest and cross your arms over your chest in an X. You can also do this after taking communion, if you want.
The Blessing:
The priest will hover a hand over your head, and say, “May God bless you and keep you, and fill you with joy. Amen.” (This form of blessing is OK for non-Christians, since it’s not done in the name of Jesus.)
What’s OK to do
in worship
Since everyone else in the service has their own form of diversity, or is a friend or family member who understands, please feel free to be completely yourself during the service.
That means that any of these things that are fine to do or have here:
Stimming, moving around the room
Verbal sounds
Communication devices, headphones
Fidget toys, comfort aids
Changing seats
Taking a break outside the room
Leaving church to go to the restroom
What isn’t allowed in worship?
Incredibly loud noise
Making reasonable amounts of noise is fine. Children’s voices don’t disrupt worship. It’s OK to ask your parents a question, to laugh, to sing off-key, to make random noises if that’s your thing, to stim or otherwise make noise by moving, or to drop something by mistake.
The only noise that isn’t OK is a noise that’s so loud that the service can’t continue because no one can hear anything else. If you need to make that level of noise, please take a break and make noise away from the church building, then come back in when you can keep it down to a lower level.
Physical violence
No physical violence is OK in church, against people or things. No hitting or throwing things; no biting, scratching or kicking. No damage to anything or anyone.
If you’re in meltdown mode and want to strike out, please take a break outside, and come back in when you’re feeling more calm. (If your meltdown isn’t violent, and you just need to yell a couple of times, that’s OK, just do it and get it out. We’ll wait for you.)
If you’re not yet in meltdown mode but can feel yourself getting upset, the table with Emotional Resources on it has tools to help you deal with whatever you may be feeling.
Taking a break
You can take a break from worship at any time.
How?
Get up and walk around, inside the church
Step outside the church and walk around campus, or find a peaceful bench to sit on
Go to the restroom, off the breezeway between the two big buildings
If you want to be inside, there’s a seating area just inside the office doors, to the right, where you can talk things over with a parent or someone else
Children who have a parent to supervise them can play on the playground. (A parent MUST supervise this, it’s required by our insurance. Active supervision please, not just playing on your phone!)
