"I am the door. By me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture."
- John 10:9
At every parish where I have had the pleasure of attending services, there is always a small group of people who find their way all the way up to the church building but don't actually attend services. At one parish it was a group of male gypsies who talked on cellphones or smoked cigarettes. At another it was a few Protestant husbands who, though they never attended services, opened the parish doors for people as they filed in. At yet another parish the men stood in the narthex and chatted until it was time to receive and then got in line. Latin or Greek Catholic, Eastern or Oriental Orthodox I see the same small throng of men standing next to the front door, but not standing, sitting, or kneeling amongst the people.
If it were me (and I can only speak for myself here) this option would be an unsavory one. The boredom would be immediate. The anxiety of someone saying something rude would always be there. As it's not me I'm not capable of making an unbiased judgement, but I do wonder what can be done. Prayer comes to mind immediately. How does one approach this situation in a way that is tactful and respectful? Is it as simple as being the "priest's job"?
Posts
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Men-Hate-Going-Church/dp/0785260382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237843175&sr=1-1
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Added to wish list.
ReplyDeleteReading the synopsis I concur from anecdotal and online evidence that encouraging men to be involved is quite important. In the U.S. Latin Church in particular women and girls are taking on more and more roles while men seem to be continually stepping back from them.
i'm not orthodox but am interested in a lot of its theological ideas. Is it permissible to stand in the back and just observe as a guest? Is it permissible to sit among the people and participate, just not receive the sacrament? Or would this be considered offensive?
ReplyDeletereborn1995: In the vast majority of Orthodox parishes you can participate in all but reception of the Eucharist. There are a few more strict groups out there, but in the average parish you can participate as much as you feel comfortable.
ReplyDeleteThat said, non-Orthodox people often sit in the back and watch what's going on. In truth even people from another ethnic background may do so when traveling because - while there is much uniformity in Orthodox practice - there is also a lot of little differences that can trip a family up (translation of prayers, kneeling, drinking and eating antidoron after receiving, different music, etc.).
You could wait for someone to accidentally set off the fire alarm and then have the priest address it in front of everybody during announcements! That's what just happened this last Sunday at my parish, and really it needed to be said for quite some time. People in the back were chatting through the Gospel, the sermon, even up through Holy Communion. I'm really glad he said something about where our priorities should be, and I think it will help.
ReplyDeleteis there a good play to go--written, or video, or whatever--to see how an orthodox service would go? what it's like? what takes place? what is meant by it? etc.?
ReplyDeleteA good question.
ReplyDeleteThis is very popular:
http://www.antiochian.org/node/16963
Here is more of a collection of information:
http://www.oca.org/QAindex-liturgicalservices.asp?SID=3
Here is another:
http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/worship
As for a video, this was just put out:
http://theobooks.tofg-secure.com/product.cfm?product_id=607