Services & Classes
Holy Week Services - Sunday Services - Thursday Services
Holy Week Services
Palm/Passion Sunday, April 17
10:00 a.m.: Worship service of Word & Table, beginning outside with a palm procession: We experience the adulation of the crowd for Jesus and then their sudden turning on Him.
11:30 a.m.: Refreshments
11:45 a.m.: Afterword (post-service discussion) to review and internalize what happened in the service
Maundy Thursday, April 21 (Part 1 of "The Great Triduum," or "The Great Three Days")
7:00 p.m.: Service based upon The Book of Common Prayer, followed by the stripping of the altar, so that the place of worship begins to resemble a burial sarcophagus. This Part 1 ends without a benediction, because the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil services are regarded as one continuing service, just as the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus are one integral event.
Good Friday, April 22 (Part 2 of "The Great Triduum")
7:00 p.m.: Service based upon The Book of Common Prayer, including the reading of the Passion of Our Lord; the Solemn Collects; and the Tolling: the organ announces, in one repeating solemn tone, each of the years of the earthly life of our Lord. Again, there is no benediction.
Easter Vigil, Saturday Night, April 23 (Part 3 of "The Great Triduum")
8:00 p.m.: After the people gather out-of-doors for the lighting of the fire and Paschal candle, the service proceeds in semi-darkness with the glorious and ancient hymn, the Exsultet, the reading of the stories of Creation, Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea, salvation offered freely to all, the giving of a new heart and a new spirit, and Christ's Resurrection. Upon the announcement of the Resurrection, the lights come up to the accompaniment of the "Epworth Peal," and the essential unity of The Great Triduum comes together as at no other time. Renewal of baptismal vows and Holy Communion follow to conclude The Great Three Days.
Easter Sunday, April 24
10:00 a.m.: Worship service of Word & Table, concluding with the organ Toccatta from Symphony No. 5 by Charles M. Widor
11:30 a.m.: Refreshments
11:45 a.m.: Afterword (post-service discussion), to review and internalize what happened in the service
Sunday Services
10:00 a.m. Word and Table Service
Four scripture portions are read aloud and provide the basis for the sermon of the day. Prayers are adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, and the people may add their own unscripted intercessions and thanksgivings. The people sing hymns with solid theological content and musical quality, especially (but not only) from Wesleyan and Anglican experience. The sermon and Holy Communion integrate and apply the Wesleyan-Anglican theological emphasis upon Christ's readiness not only to forgive but also to nurture and change. All of this is done in a way that is easy to follow the first time one attends, without prior knowledge or experience.
Afterward, "Afterword": Refreshments are served, and then the pastor leads a discussion of the service just concluded, including as experienced in the scripture readings, sermon, hymns, prayers, and Holy Communion. People may participate in the discussion as they wish, or merely listen.
Thursday Services
7:00 p.m. Evening Prayers
This prayer service, which usually takes about 20 minutes, consists of prayers which are based on and adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, Family Prayers by William Wilberforce, Esq., and Jonathan M. Wainwright's Short Family Prayers for Every Morning and Evening of the Week, and for Particular Occasions. The people may add their own unscripted intercessions and thanksgivings. This service brings peaceful, quiet closure to the day.
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