When I came into the church, there were lots of candles. The candles symbolise the light that God brought to the darkness. The candle is called the votive. If wanted to pray for somebody, light the candles and pray. [1]When the candles are burning, it reminds us that the Christ comes to us through the petition and it’s an ongoing prayer to God. Before the service, a prayer book and the paper which has lyrics on were given to me. It was interesting their service was based on the prayer book, not bible.[2] However the liturgies are based on the bible and the teaching of the Christ from the words of Jesus. At the beginning, they sing three songs that were played by organ and very soft and it sounds old for me. [3]The priest chooses the hymns that are suitable for the readings every service. I am familiar with contemporary music so the music, played in the church was awkward for me. There are no rules about specific types of music being played in the church. The lady we interviewed said if there are group of talented young musicians then they will be used. Also there are lots of individuals but they don’t want to form together. Although there are lots of Anglican churches with band, but at the moment, they’re focused on more of a traditional hymn. The reason is that concentration services. [4]They think the old hymns are talking about worshipping God, whereas most of the modern songs these days, such as Hillsongs, are more words of this generation.
This is how the Anglican churches are governed. As bible says, there are elders and Bishops etc, so are the Anglicans. The head of the Church is called the primate. They stay in the area where they were elected from but can be anywhere. The archbishop, Phillip Aspinal oversees the whole of Australia. He’s in charge of the structure of Australia amongst Anglican Churches. They do not believe in the Pope as he’s the head of the world wide Roman Catholic community, but the head of the world wide Anglican community is the Archbishop of Canterbury. This church has a priest with two messengers. The priest has the robe on which is significant. The colours could be red, yellow, green and purple. They use red at the moment as they’re thinking of the death of the Christ. The priest stands in the place of Christ to us, offering the sacrament and the sacrifice the Christ as mad for us. He is not standing as a husband, friend or a family. He is standing in front of people to represent the Christ. Therefore, they put on the garment to cover up themselves so that it is not him the others are focused on, but the Christ. [5]The man is covered as much as he could which represents the garment of the Christ when he was on the cross.
During the service, they read bible as the priest read a paragraph and the followers read the next paragraph. [6]There is another interesting thing is that all around the Anglican and the Catholic churches have the same reading every service. Also the priest with two messengers came to the centre of the church to read a testimony in the middle of service. [7]As portraying the gospel is very important, they bring the candles into the body of the church, which is in the middle so the gospel is shared instead of just standing in the middle, away from the people.
The Anglicans believe in God and the creed which has the teachings of the Christ and Baptism. They believe that there are people who have gone before us who have gone great works for God. They acknowledge Mary as the mother of the Christ, who has gone lots in the life of Christ, but not like the Roman Catholics do.[8] Therefore, she is important for them to serve, for the willingness she gave, in the response of that she was willing to be the mother of Jesus Christ.
The Anglican Church I went was very similar as the Catholic Church but it has own a historical origin and a different way to worship God. As I am Christian, believing in Jesus is the same point for every church, although there are many different kinds of churches and they have different theological understandings and liturgies. It was a great experience to know about Anglican Church.
[1] Collins, D. A member of St Gabriel’s Anglican Church, 9 May.
[2] Ibid 1
[3] Ibid 1
[4] Ibid 1
[5] Ibid 1
[6] Ibid 1
[7] Ibid 1
[8] Ibid 1
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