| Answers to our most frequently asked questions.
What is XP?
What appears to be an “XP” in the CHRISTCHURCH logo really isn’t something borrowed from the modern world of advertising. Its origin and significance is far older, almost two thousand years, in fact.
As you may recognize, it’s an ancient form of the CHI RHO, one of the very earliest symbols for Jesus Christ, used especially as the Church began to reach out into the Gentile world of the Roman Empire, where the most common language was Hellenistic Greek. What looks to an “X” is the Greek letter CHI, which was pronounced as the “hard C or K” sound, as in KIGH. What looks like a “P” is the Greek letter for the “R” sound – the RHO – pronounced ROH.
Together they comprised the first two letters for the word “Kristos” or Christ, and were utilized in what is known as a Christogram nearly twenty centuries ago. In a time when there was great risk in being publicly identified as a Christian, because the early Church was an illegal religion, the CHI-RHO was an important necessity. It was a kind of secret symbol for Christ, allowing secret means whereby believers could identify and communicate with each other without being found out.
Though it looks like something from Madison Avenue, as an historic symbol, it's therefore and even older emblem than the Cross an appropriate logo for a community of faith like CHRISTCHURCH, where we committed to keeping ancient truth as we offer the hope of new life.
See the fish? One further point: notice that, when placed together, as they are, the CHRISTCHURCH CHI RHO suggests a fish, another historic symbol for the Christian faith, again even older than the Cross.
If You're protestant, why do Anglican clergy wear white collars?
The collar serves as an instant sign that the person wearing it is there to help in whatever way possible and to remind those who see it that the church of Jesus Christ is active all through the week - not just on Sunday.
Some non-clergy people will tell you that seeing someone in a collar gives them comfort and also helps in emergencies. As we heard one person say, "When I walk into a room and see someone with a clerical collar, I know immediately that they are a person dedicated to serving God. I like that. And, when I'm in a hospital or other area where there may be an emergency and numbers of people about, it is a tremendous help in knowing how that person may help."
While the white collar is most commonly identified with the Roman Catholic Church (the Anglican church is Protestant), its usage was given a great boost by the Anglican church. The white collar is a remanent from the past when the collars worn by serfs or slaves in ancient lands indicated that the person wearing it had been bought by a master and devoted his life's activities to that master and the betterment of his properties and lands. Clergy wear their collar to indicate that they are slaves -- by choice -- of Jesus Christ, who bought them through his crucifiction -- and that they spend their lives serving him and building His kingdom.
Why do clergymen in the church wear robes during the worship service?
There are several reasons. It eliminates the focus on the personal clothing taste of the person leading or participating in the service. It removes that distraction so we can focus on worshiping God.
The robes, or vestments as they are sometimes called, link us to the very earliest days of the church when similar clothing was worn by the earliest Christians.
The robes help establish a mood in the church that is unlike the world outside -- they are a visual reminder for us to leave the secular world behind and find that peace that only comes when we focus totally on worship. The long cloth worn around the shoulders is called a stole and is the insignia of the ordained clergy -- it's an instant way of telling them from the rest of the worship leaders when you enter the sanctury for worship.
May Anglican priests marry?
Yes. The church believes that clergy who have their own families are often better able to understand their parishioner's family situations and are better able to help. Both priests of Christchurch are married. One has two sons. One has two daughters.
If I meet your preacher at church or in a social situation, what do I call him?
Most of the time, adults at Christchurch call our priests John-Michael (or JM) and Rusty. The term "Reverend" is not used when addressing a member of the clergy in person. Some people precede the preacher's first name with "Father", but it is not required and is used as a term of respect and love. It is also OK to call a clergyman "mister." The term "Father," as used in the church, recognizes the role of clergyman as the head of the Christian family - the church.
Do you pray to Mary?
No.
Do you pray for the Queen of England?
No. But she has a tough job - it would be a thoughtful thing to do, wouldn't it? We do pray each week for those in authority, including our president, governor and mayor.
Do you have a pope?
No. We view the person commonly thought of when that title is used as the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the head of the Roman church, and a really great fellow, but we do not recognize his authority in other parts of Christiandom.
Your service has some elements that look like those used in the Catholic Church. Are you Catholic or Protestant?
The word catholic -- when spelled with a small "c" -- means universal. But it is often confused with the phrase Roman Catholic, which refers, instead, to the church headquartered in Rome and headed by a pope. We are not members of the church based in Rome.
We use the word catholic to remind ourselves and others that we are all members of the worldwide body of believers in Jesus Christ. In the Protestant movement, however, we did not give up our links to the early Christians and disciples via Apostolic succession - the laying on of hands from clergyman ordaining clergyman ordaining clergyman from the Apostles down through the centuries.
We use the term "Protestant" to mean a Christian church with separate authority that has eliminated the things considered to be out of line with the spirit and practice of scripture and the earliest Christian church but keeping those things that are necessary and valuable for the salvation of souls.
What Bible do you use?
Our "official" Bible is the Revised Standard Version. We also like the New King James Version (NKJV). Many of us also use the King James Version (KJV) and the New International Version (NIV) -- but our default setting is to the (RSV). You don't have to bring your Bible with you when you come to Christchurch, but many of us do and find that the more we keep it close by the more we read it and the more we read it the more we learn and the more we love it; and the more we deepen our faith.
What's with the Prayer Book?
Yes, we do pray "from the heart" as some say, but we also realize that when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he gave them the acknowledged perfect outline of prayer -- the Lord's Prayer -- which most Christians recite publicly and in unison with others many times in a lifetime. The prayers in our prayer book also help us learn to pray. The church in the earliest days realized that we can often find ourselves praying for things that, if we really thought about it, we might realize they were not as Christian as we intend. The collects and prayers in the prayer book were a way the church instructed -- and instructs -- people in prayer that focuses on the right ways to pray so that we may carry that training over into our personal prayers.
Some of the services in the Prayer book are almost identical to services held in the first Christian communities as seen in the Book of Acts and parts of the Epistles. The prayers range from the second century to the nineteenth. The ordination forms are in accordance with the ones used by Christians in the beginning of the church. We continually find new life in His historic faith.
Attend a gathering of Anglicans and you'll likely hear five small words that were spoken before the birth of Christ. Today, more than 2,000 years later they can silence and focus the attention of a noisy crowd of 10 or 10,000.
For Christians of varying nationalities around the world, this short phrase -- “The LORD be with you!” -- uttered by a single person -- is the soft verbal gavel that immediately brings silence. As those words are heard, activity and conversation among us immediately stops and those present respond: “And also with you!” -- and we give the speaker our full attention.
Those words, The Salutation, as they are known, are based on Ruth 2:4 and is part of the dialog in our worship service that we recognize as a punctuation point before the most important parts of the service.
The earliest known written recording of its use in Christian worship is in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus in or about 215. Although it is used in several places in our worship services, it was then, as now, a part of what is known as the Opening (Eucharist) Dialogue which consists of three exchanges between the presider (priest/preacher) and the congregation:
“The Lord be with you,” -- (Response)“And also with you”
“Lift up your hearts” -- (Response)“We lift them up to the Lord”
“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God” – (Response) “It is right to give him thanks and praise.”
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