I believe that one of the very important things to understand about our Church and its worship is that it appeals to all of our senses. In our worship, the Church   attempts to engage the entire person in the worship of God. There are sights, images, sounds, fragrances and bodily movements which all are meant to bring us into a deeper union with God and others.

For example, the iconastasis is one of the important parts of any Byzantine Church. This structure defines an area of the building which is meant to represent the next dimension of God’s Kingdom, namely that which is to come. It is like the Holy of Holies that we hear about in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, that place where the people believed God dwelled in a very special manner.

The nave of the church building is meant to represent God’s Kingdom on earth for those who believe. The vestibule represents the outside world which may not be a place of faith. When we come to church we pass through that portion of our world which is without faith and enter into the earthly kingdom of God. We see, however, that there is a world yet to come which we are currently separated from by the wall of images (icons) that represent the fact that we must go through a process of personal transformation before we can enter into the next dimension of God’s Kingdom. There are, however, doors on the iconastasis which tell us that we do have access to the next dimension if only we choose to embrace a life of personal transformation and change.

What is wonderful about this church structure is that on the Great Day – Easter – and throughout Bright Week and on St. Thomas Day all the doors are open to the altar area, that is the world to come. This should teach us a very important thing, namely that God, in the Person of Christ, has Himself shown us how to enter into this next dimension. God, out of His deep love for us, took the initiative to come and show us how to live so that we might be able to enter into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

We must allow ourselves, however, to respond to fully to the experience of going to church. We must allow ourselves to   experience not just the verbal prayers of our services, but also the place where these prayers are offered.

Our worship is truly sensual in the very best sense of this word. We can become, if we allow ourselves to, totally engaged – body, mind and spirit – in our worship. When we allow ourselves to do this, we begin to experience God and also begin to experience what it means to be a human being. God created us with senses. These are the means that we have to learn about life, others and our God. Allow yourself to truly experience our worship.