Knowle Paris Church-Section A
The soldier’s chapel is on the left hand side of the church, near to the front. It is a small room with big stained glass windows, remembrance tablets, two pews and a table. On the table there is a bible and a book which people can write prays in. The tablets are bronze and the pews and the tables are wooden. On the walls of the room there are doves, crowns and animal designs. The room has a beige carpet and it is a very cosy and welcoming place.
Knowle Paris Church-Section A
St John’s Chapel is also known as “The Ladies Chapel”. It is on the right of the church just to the side of the pulpit, near the front. There is a communion rail going around the chapel to block it off. In the chapel are two flags saying, “Knowle Mother’s Union” and “Knowle Women’s Fellowship” and a table with a red cloth thrown over it. When sacraments are taking place two candles are lit on each side of the table. There is also an ancient chest in the chapel and a framed, lead panel on the wall.
Saint George and Saint Teresa- Section A
The lectern is a wooden stand with a different colour cloth over it depending on the occasion. When I visited the church, the cloth was green to represent “ordinary times”. The lectern is placed at the front of the church facing the pews were people sit. The person reading stands behind the lectern and there are compartments which hold different things.
Saint George and Saint Teresa- Section A
The tabernacle is a gold container, at the front of the church. It is in the sanctuary along with the sanctuary light, the altar, the lectern and the font. It has a cloth thrown over it with a cross placed on the top.
The sanctuary light, when lit, is a red light. It hangs off the side of the wall on the right in the sanctuary. The candle is held in a gold tray and the chains going up to the top are very ornate.
Saint George and Saint Teresa- Section A
There are two stoups in the hallway before you enter the main part of the church. They are on each side of the wall of the entrance door. The stoups are bowls sticking of the walls; they are made of concrete and contain holy water.
Saint George and Saint Teresa- Section A
The confessional box is at the back of the church, on the left. There are two separate rooms with separate wooden doors. The priest sits on the green chair with the bible on his lap, whilst in the other room the penitent kneels down. There is a box that opens so the priest and penitent can see and hear one another from the different rooms.
Saint George and Saint Teresa- Section A
Virgin Mary’s Chapel is at the front of the church, on the right, against a brick wall. There is a white stone table, with AVE in gold writing on the front of it. AVE is a Latin word. Over the stone table there is a decorative white cloth and a candle on either side. In the middle of the table there are flowers. Above the table, stuck of the wall, is a gold plate with a blue shiny rim around it. On the gold plate is an ornament of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus in her hands.
Knowle Parish Church- Section B
The altar is the main focal point of the church, it was used in the olden days for sacrificing people but that doesn’t happen anymore. The main reason for the altar now is the Holy Communion. A Holy Communion is a sacrament- an outward sign for an inside blessing from God. A Holy Communion is held to remember the words and actions of Jesus at the last supper he had with his disciples on Maundy Thursday. Christians celebrate Holy Communion to remember Jesus’ death on the cross. Christians believe Jesus’ death saved the world from the punishment deserved from God for committed sins. Another name for the Holy Communion is Eucharist, the means Thanksgiving.
At a Holy Communion in Knowle Paris Church, Christians kneel on the altar rail and the vicar hands out the bread and wine. Two candles are lit on each side of the altar to show Jesus is the light of the world. They believe the bread they eat is representing Jesus’ body and the wine represents his blood. They believe Jesus’ spirit is present in the bread and wine. The Christians drink the wine out of a Chalice, eat the bread of a Paten and the bread they eat is usually a wafer. All the remaining bread and wine not used at a service, can not be put back into storage- so the vicar has to drink and eat it all himself.
Other services held at the altar are funerals and marriages. A funeral is a ceremony of burial of a dead person and marriage is the legal connection between a male and a female in order for them to live together and have a choice to create a family.
Knowle Parish Church- Section B
The pulpit is high up at the front of the church. It is used to stand on and speak out to the Christians at services. The vicar sometimes stands at the pulpit to preach sermons. A sermon is a talk or preaching about the Christian way of life. It is given during the service to help the Christians way of life. It is given during the services to help Christians think about what it means to be a Christian. Jesus explained to his followers on the hill, how to pray and he told them the Lord’s Prayer. This is how we know about Jesus’ teachings now.
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be your name; you will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive is our trespasses, who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
For the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever
Amen
(This is the Lord’s Prayer)
Knowle Parish Church- Section B
The lectern is a brass stand which holds the bible. The bible is used for Christians to find out more about their faith, find ideals for living as God would wish and try to hear the voice of God within them whilst praying or meditating. The vicar will stand behind the lectern and read from the bible at services. The eagle on the lectern represents Jesus’ messages been spread over the world. As the eagle is a powerful bird, it is used as this symbol. Christians believe that God spread the word of Christianity, so the lectern is an important symbol in the church. There are three lions circling the bottom of the lectern and these are to symbolise the guard and protection to the word of God (the bible).
Knowle Parish Church- Section B
The font is used for baptism, it is used at the ceremonies and is at the entrance to the church because when people get baptised they become a new member of Christianity (join the church). Baptism is a service in which infants join the Christian religion.
At the service, godparents and the parents are standing around the font with the new infant. The godparents are people chosen to speak on behalf of the infants. The service starts by the vicar telling the parents and godparents that the infant will depend on them to bring them up into the Christian faith. The parents and godparents have to make three promises; to turn to Christ, repent sin and renounce evil. They are also told to believe in the trinity.
Inside the font is the holy water that has been blessed by the vicar, the vicar puts his fingers into the font and then wipes a cross on the infant’s forehead and says a prayer. After that, the infant will be considered a member of the church and accepted as a Christian. When the water is wiped on the infant’s forehead, the Christian believe it has had its sins washed away, ready for a good, sin-free life. The parents and godparents have a candle throughout the service to represent that the infant has passed from the darkness of sins into the light of the lord.
Knowle Parish Church- Section B
The Soldier’s Chapel is a room on the right at the front of the church where people go to pray. It is called the Soldier’s Chapel because it is a remembrance room of people who died in wars. People’s names are on plates around the room and it is a place to go not just to pray, but to think. There is a bible in the chapel and a notebook where people write in prays for people to read. There are also poppies around the room of a sign of remembrance. You can sit down in the room and there is heating and pillows in there, to make you feel warmly and welcome. The stained glass windows in the chapel are made to represent remembrance too.
Knowle Parish Church- Section B
The St John’s Chapel is near the front of the church, opposite the pews (where people sit at services) on the right below the pulpit. It is also known as the Ladies’ Chapel. This is because two women’s Christian groups use the Ladies’ Chapel as their place to meet and talk about things and socialise, they also meet to have religious services together and organise events to help the church.
In the chapel there is a big, wooden, dug-out chest and in it there are important parish documents and valuables, it is a very pressures chest. There is also another chest and the back of the church with the same sort of contents in it. To open the chest both the church wardens and the priest have to be there, as these three people each have a different key.
There is a rail going around the chapel which is called the communion rail. This is because if there is not enough room at the altar rail left whilst a holy communion is happening, the remaining people go and kneel at the communion rail instead and get their bread and wine brought to them over there.
Saint George and Saint Teresa Church- Section B
The lectern is a wooden stand on the left of the Sanctuary. It is where the priest stands for the daily services to read out the gospels from the lectionary. The lectionary is a book with exacts from the bible in it and the Catholics believe the lectionary is more important than the bible because it has inside it everything you need to know for them. The gospels that the priest reads out are from the sermon and the other name for a gospel is a homily. The lectionary has gospels, prayers, hymns and the guide to life for a Catholic inside it. It has inside it something to read out at a service everyday and Catholic’s believe this book is the word of God.
Saint George and Saint Teresa Church- Section B
The Tabernacle and the Sanctuary Light are both in the Sanctuary of the church, at the front. The tabernacle is a golden coloured container and it has the bread and wine from the Holy Communion in it. The Roman Catholics call there Holy Communion ‘Mass’ and have a Mass every Sunday. They believe in transubstantiation, which is when they think they are actually eating Jesus’ body(in the bread) and sipping Jesus’ blood(from the wine). They call the bread and wine, the host. Tabernacle is a Jewish word for tent and Jesus used to live in tents, so they call the Tabernacle this as Jesus’ body and blood are inside it. The tabernacle is a reserved, blessed sacrament.
The Sanctuary Light is a red candle on the wall. It is always lit inside the church to show that the Lord is always present. It is called the Sanctuary Light because it is in the Sanctuary along with the Altar, Lectern, Font and The Tabernacle.
Saint George and Saint Teresa Church- Section B
There are two stoups, both at the entrance of the church. They are bowls of holy water, also known as the water of baptism. This is to remind you of when you become a member of the church. The priest blesses the water in the stoup to make it holy and when people walk into the church they put their fingers inside it and wipe a cross on to their forehead, whilst praying. They pray to say that they are walking into God’s house and leaving everything behind them. They also pray for the trinity; god the father, god the son and god the Holy Spirit.
Saint George and Saint Teresa Church- Section B
The confessional box is at the back of the church on the left. There are two rooms with a box in the middle for people to speak through. The priest sits on the left side and the penitent sits on the right. The penitent is any person welcome in the church who wants to gain forgiveness from God for the sins they have committed. The penitent tells the priest the sins they have committed or the sins they are going to commit and the priest will talk to the penitent about there wrongs and try to help. By the penitents confessing to the priest they believe they are getting forgiven by God. The priest holds the bible with him whilst talking to the penitent to give advice from.
Whatever is said in the confessional box has to be kept confidential by the priest and he can never repeat the conversation to anyone. Recently in the past 10 years people have started talking openly to the priest instead of going in the confessional box for help and forgiveness in this particular church, but it is still occasionally used.
Saint George and Saint Teresa Church- Section B
The Virgin Mary’s chapel is at the front of the church by the Sanctuary in the right. People stand in front of the table and look up at the statue of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms and pray to her. The candles on the table are lit to show Jesus is the light of the world. The Catholics think Virgin Mary is the most important person in there religion as they see her as the “mother of God” and believe everyone looks up to their mothers, so they should look up to her.
You do not need to go to a place of public worship to be a Christian. Do you agree?
A Christian is a religious person who believes and follows the teachings of Jesus Christ and is a member of a Christian denomination. The word Christian means “belonging to Christ”. People go to places of worship to attend sacraments and to worship God and come together with people to worship with and like to be in churches as many Christian see the churches as a house of God.
I personally agree that you do not need to go to a place of public worship to be a Christian. I agree with this because I think that you don’t have to show that you believe in Christianity to be a Christian, as long as you, yourself know that you believe in it and live by the Christian rules. You can worship at home and some people may think by doing this, in peace with no distractions, is the best way to get closer to God. One of Jesus’ commandments was to “Remember the Sabbath” and the Sabbath to Christians is the seventh day of rest which is on a Sunday, so I think that Christians should interpret this commandment by staying at home and resting instead of going to church like most Christians do on Sunday’s. The Salvation Army and Quakers are two Christian denominations which don’t have Holy Communion, baptism or any other sacraments, so for these certain denominations the Christians have no need to have to go to church services or other places of worship to be accepted as a Christian.
People could disagree that you don’t have to go to a place of worship to be a Christian because at the very beginning of Christianity the believers went round to each others homes to worship God, so Christian could see this as a tradition and want to worship as a group too by going to a place of worship; also some people might think that it is good to share your beliefs with other people. The bible says that you had to have a holy communion and especially for Catholics (as they celebrate this every week), it is essential for Christians to go to church for this reason. Christian denominations such as the Charismatic Christians believe in celebrating together with music and dancing because they think worshipping as a group like this is the best way to praise God. Therefore this denomination would say that you had to go to a place of worship to be a Christian.
Overall, I think it’s up to the individual Christian where they want to worship God and if they don’t go to a place of worship they should still be considered a Christian as they believe in Christianity and that should be the most important thing. Christians believe that worship is not about what makes them happy as much as what makes God happy and no one knows exactly how they can make God happy so by everyone worshiping in there different ways, God will appreciate what everyone chooses to do.
Bibliography
The resources I used to gather my information to present my coursework was from:
- Mrs Halton- My R.E teacher
- Mr Gent- Another R.E teacher
- Paul Grosvenor- The Deacon of Saint George and Saint Teresa Church
- School GCSE R.E textbooks
- Information based leaflets from the churches
- The internet also helped me with some information I was unsure of
