Search Results

This chapter examines the clergy's core task of leading worship in their parishes. It explores the evidence about Sunday services, about how frequently they were held, the manner in which they were conducted, the conscientiousness or not of the clergy, the frequency of weekday services, and the frequency and manner of celebrating Holy Communion. The extent of the participation of lay people in conducting worship is examined, especially in terms of music, in choirs, and the attitude of the clergy to this. The observation of Church fasts and festivals is examined, as well as the involvement of clergy in communal celebrations, such as fairs and friendly societies. The role of the clergy in churchings, baptisms, and weddings, including ‘clandestine marriage’, involving more or less serious legal irregularities in conducting a marriage, is investigated.

This chapter examines the role of the ceremonies of the Church of Scientology. Scientology aims at personal, spiritual self-development and does not a priori need a religious service. Hubbard may, in fact, have invented these ceremonies to imitate the major confessions and denominations of the Western world and give his movement the appearance of being a religion. These ceremonies nevertheless do have a form: they contain a particular ritual and specific words, expressing a basic ideology. There are two types of ceremony: the religious Sunday service and occasions of the passage of life (naming after birth, marriage, ministers' ordination, and funerals). This chapter also examines their functions as compared to their theophilanthropic equivalent.

This chapter explores Little Zion's traditions or events of church life, including Sunday services, weddings and funerals, and the education of children. It describes the ways in which traditions at Little Zion have changed in the past century, including the style of worship and the change of culture surrounding Sunday school instruction.

A significant insight gained from the intense fieldwork schedule was the embodied realization that Sunday services were a welcome relief from the week’s labour. The church service also structured the day. For Generation A, Sunday was a special time to dress up, greet friends, make Sunday lunch, and be with family. As they have aged and friends and families have drifted further apart, a Sunday church service structures what might otherwise be a lost and lonely day. Generation A is unequivocal about the importance of church attendance. The Church of England hierarchy is reconstructing its idea of belonging to include a wider ‘worshipping community’, but Generation A discuss the matter differently: attending church is, and should be, a non-negotiable aspect of being a Christian. It is, they explain, what Christ commanded. It is also a means of marking and protecting the regulars who count as members of the ‘church family’.