By Peter Vanderveen
The worship of The Episcopal Church is richly varied in substance and style. In keeping with this richness, we provide three different experiences of worship each Sunday.
The 7:45am service is a meditative celebration of the Eucharist in the more formal language of Rite One. Its consistent rhythm as a spoken service provides a simple yet grounded recitation of our faith.
The 9:00am service is more robust and proclamatory in its pageantry, music, and variation. We use different expressions of the Eucharistic liturgy, and at regular intervals we observe appointed feasts for saints of the church in a simplified intergenerational service.
The 11:15am service liturgy is an abridged form of Choral Matins, designed to give emphasis to beauty, prayerfulness, and the unique expression of the Psalms. Its mood will be distinct from the other Sunday morning services, and its focus will be in providing a particular experience of sabbath, offering space for solace and reason for strength. Communion from the reserved sacrament is offered each week following this service.
On the second Sunday of the month at 5:00 pm, we offer a service of Choral Evensong. This beautiful service is sung primarily by the officiant and the choir. One observer has described Evensong "as a fragment of the worship which is offered to God by Christian people every hour of the 24 in every part of the world." Evensong provides an opportunity for rest and deep contemplation in a society that never seems to stop.