Worshipping without words

SHARON — Christ Church Episcopal is offering programs every Wednesday night through the duration of Lent. The church also offers programs once a month throughout the rest of the year.

According to Christ Church’s Rev. Jon Widing, this year’s Lenten theme is “Aids to Worship in the Church.â€�  

“For 1,500 years, the Word was in Latin and since most people couldn’t read or speak Latin they had to rely on images and symbols,� Widing explained.

The Lenten program that is currently underway will seek to examine some of the ways in which this was done.

One area of focus: the use of stained glass windows that served as visual instruction to those who could not understand Latin. Often these windows were used to dramatize a Bible story featuring one of the many heroes or heroines found in the scripture.

“The way they worshipped was very different then, they were much less dependent on the auditory word,� Widing said. “In times past, they were accustomed to visual worship using aids such as stained glass, whereas these days we are so dependent on words that I think they sometimes just wash right over us.�

Cloister gardens were also examined for their role in worship, in a presentation given by Judith Schwerin on Feb. 27.  These gardens, which are found throughout England and Europe, are usually at the center of the church community, particularly in monastic communities or convents. Often, the monks and nuns who tended to them were very knowledgeable about herbs and flowers.

The herbs were used as healing agents, while the flowers usually were symbolic and were attached to a story of some kind.

The gardens also represent paradise, which is one of the central concepts of Christianity. According to Widing, the beauty of these gardens “conveyed the spirit well.�

The next presentation will be given Wednesday, March 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. and will feature a pot luck dinner and a speaker. The Reverend Lesley Hay, who is also a priest from the Diocese of Oxford, Church of England, will be visiting the Christ Church Episcopal to present the Lenten address.

Hay’s pastoral duties have taken her to the Christ Church of the Crimea, Istanbul and St. John Chrysostom in Manchester, England. She is also responsible for organizing a soup kitchen in New Haven and a chaplaincy at Yale/New Haven Hospital.

For more information, call the church at 860-364-5260.

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