Our Worship Services
Sundays
Our Sunday worship during the academic year is at 10 am. This service is Holy Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion or Mass), using the Book of Common Prayer and other authorized liturgies of the Episcopal Church.
Weekdays
A
service of Morning Prayer is held at 7:15 AM Wednesday through Friday.
These services consist of psalms, Bible readings, and prayers, without
music.
Our Hidden Brook contemplative prayers service is on Thursday nights at 7 pm. More information about this beautiful service is here. After a summer break, Hidden Brook will resume on Sept. 15th.
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Order and Variety in Worship
Worship of God is the heart of our life together, inspiring and preparing us to carry out the ministry of reconciliation to which we have been called. Everyone of all ages, faith backgrounds, cultures, and sexual orientations and expressions is welcome not just to "show up," but to bring their joys and pains, talents and questions, fears and hopes.
Our worship follows patterns Christians have used since early church times. While
some parts of the service are always the same, others change. At the
Holy Eucharist, for example, two or three Bible selections are read. These change each Sunday.
So do the psalms. Certain of the prayers also change, depending on the occasion, season, or needs of the world. We try to make the service as easy to follow as possible for everyone. But do not
be embarrassed to ask your neighbor if you have questions!
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What will service be like?
Our worship uplifts, challenges and unites us, but it is not really for us. It is for God, whom we name as the source of our being and the giver of all gifts. We come to praise and thank God and to learn from God so that we can join in God's work of reconciliation and love.
Most of what you need to join in worship is in the worship bulletin the greeter will hand you. You will also find prayer books and hymnals near your seat.
You
may wonder when to stand, sit, or kneel. Practices vary even among
individual Episcopalians. The general rule is to stand to sing hymns
(found in the Hymnal) and other songs (many of them from the
Holy Bible), which are printed as part of the service. We stand, too, to say
our affirmation of faith, the Creed; and for the reading of the Gospel
in the Holy Eucharist. Psalms are sung or said while sitting.
We sit
during readings from the Hebrew scriptures or New Testament Letters,
the sermon, and the choir anthems. We stand or kneel for prayer to show
our gratefulness to God for accepting us as children or as an act of
humility before God.
Can I take Communion?
The tradition of the Episcopal Church
is one of hospitality. This is God's table and all are welcome to
receive the consecrated bread and wine of communion, in which we believe
in the real presence of Jesus Christ, or a blessing of the church. For
Communion, it is our custom to come forward and place the palm of one hand in the other to receive
the bread. You may receive the wine either by guiding the chalice to
your mouth, or by intinction (carefully dipping the bread into the
wine).
If you would like the celebrating minister to bless you
instead, come forward without presenting
your hands for the bread.
Before and After Services
It is the custom upon entering church to sit for a prayer of personal preparation for worship. Some people also bow to the altar on entering and leaving the church as an act of reverence for Christ.
Episcopalians do not talk in church before a service but use this time for personal meditation and devotions. At the end of the service some persons kneel for a private prayer before leaving. Others sometimes sit to listen to the organ postlude.
You Will Not Be Embarrassed
When you visit an Episcopal church, you will be our respected and welcome guest. You will not be singled out in an embarrassing way, nor asked to stand before the congregation nor to come forward. You will worship God with us.
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