Sunday Services
Join us for our Holy Communion services. We follow the order for Holy Communion found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Solemn Mass
Sundays and Holy Days: 9:30 a.m.
Low Mass
Sunday: 7:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: 9:30 a.m.
For more information about our weekly events, see our online calendar.
What to Expect from a Traditional Communion Service
The traditional Anglican Communion Service could feel foreign to today's modern Christian who is unfamiliar with liturgical worship. Due to the richness of the Scripture, symbolism, language, and physical participation, the power and meaning of the liturgy are fully appreciated only with time. Even for the first-time attendee, however, the beauty of this service and the clarity with which the gospel is expressed will be compelling.
Corporate Prayer
The Order of Holy Communion provides a series of written prayers meant to be expressed by the entire congregation at once, as well as many statements and prayers expressed by the ministers. In this way, the collective nature of worship and prayer is emphasized. As a body of Christians, we make our petitions to God and affirm his promises to us. A Common Prayer Book was written, in part, to preserve the worship service's adherence to sound doctrine and biblical truth.
We consider personal prayer and devotion to be essential to the Christian life. The corporate worship model allows for the Holy Spirit to speak to each individual in particular ways through the readings, prayers, and practices of the service, while the emphasis for Sunday morning worship is on the corporate body of believers. The Prayer Book provides orders for personal and family prayer to be utilized on a daily basis.
Scripture Readings
The Book of Common Prayer provides biblical selections to be read during each week of the year. These selections follow a calendar of themes relating to the life of Christ and His Church. At each Holy Communion service, an epistle, Gospel, and often an Old Testament passage are read by members of the clergy.
Homily
A brief homily, or sermon, is spoken by a member of the clergy to ellaborate on the themes of the liturgical season and/or the biblical passages for the week.
The Eucharist
At every Holy Communion service, bread and wine are prepared and offered to the congregation as the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. At this point in the service, the worshippers will kneel or stand near the altar where the elements are prepared, and receive from the priest or deacon a piece of bread and a drink of wine, or bread dipped in wine and placed on the tongue. This is the culminating moment of the Order of Holy Communion, for in this moment God imparts grace and the very presence of Jesus Christ to the worshipper. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross, "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world" (BCP, p. 80), is made present in this Sacrament in a mysterious way, and is intended for baptized Christians.
Ceremonies
Ceremonial gestures, such as crossing the chest, kneeling, and bowing are common to liturgical worship. Our Archbishop Mark Haverland describes these activities in this way:
"The central doctrine of the Faith is the Incarnation, our belief in the embodiment or enfleshment of God the Son by which he became God-with-us. It is natural, given this doctrine, that the Faith continues to express itself outwardly in physical rites and ceremonies." Anglican Catholic Faith and Practice, 2004. p. 91
These physical gestures are taken from tradition and scripture, and allow the worshipper to express, not only with word but with body, the realities set forth in the liturgy. They are, however, intended to be employed only when it serves personal piety and preference of the worshipper and are not considered essential for worship.
Hymns
Corporate singing from the 1940 Hymnal, the standard hymnal for the Anglican church, is a common part of the liturgical worship service. We choose traditional hymns due to their foundational texts which follow the liturgical calendar themes, the classic musical quality, and their appropriateness for corporate singing.
