What to expect when you worship here

Something for everyone
We have two services on Sunday morning, both related, yet different, reflecting the diversity of our traditions and those who come to worship with us. The 8:15 am service is a quiet and contemplative spoken service, with no music. The 10:30 am service follows the same liturgy from the Prayer Book, but is more expressive of our Episcopal and Anglican heritage and tradition. The 10:30 am service includes a small but faithful adult choir, occasional special liturgies, like Holy Baptism, a full procession of Vergers, acolytes, choir, and clergy, chanted Psalms, and sung portions of the liturgy. See Worship Services for our schedule.

We read a lot of scripture at services in the Episcopal Church, anywhere from two to four lessons (Old Testament, New Testament, Gospels, and Psalms).

As both Episcopalian and Anglican Christians our worship on Sunday mornings represents the best of both the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the church. Colorful, orderly, ancient catholic liturgy and tradition, combined with gospel centered preaching, uplifting and diverse music, and freedom to express your worship of God in a variety of ways and forms.

We participate in the worship
The Episcopal Church is a liturgical church.  Liturgy means “work of the people.”  The worshipers are active participants in the service.  All of our services of worship are contained in the Book of Common Prayer, which has been the source of Anglican/Episcopal liturgy since the first Book of Common Prayer was published by the Church of England in 1549."Common prayer” is that prayer and worship which we share together, in common, or in community. Common prayer provides an opportunity for a gathered community to worship in unison, despite its diversity. It acts out our oneness in Christ. We pray together, sing together, respond back and forth between Priest or Bishop and congregation. We are a gathered community of prayer by our actions in worship. Common worship provides opportunities where we do not have to invent the words to pray, but instead allow the ancient words we all pray together, and which Christians have recited and prayed for centuries, to move in and through our souls.

Every Sunday service at St. Peter’s is the liturgy of the Holy Eucharist, which is called the Mass or Holy Communion. Our Sunday morning worship is based around this sacred service of Word and Table because we believe this is the principle act of Christian worship through which we hear and respond to God’s Holy Word and both physically and spiritually receive the precious Body and Blood of Our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Outline of our typical Sunday Eucharist is as follows:

Opening procession, in which the vested (robed) clergy, choir, acolytes, and other leaders of worship enter the sanctuary.

Opening prayers and songs to set the tone of the day.

Scripture readings to hear and remember the story of our Salvation through the Hebrew scriptures, in the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and the founding of his body the Church, in the New Testament.

The sermon, which is always based upon the scripture readings of the day.

The Creed, which is our response to the opening of scripture and is our reaffirmation of our belief and faith

Prayers of the People are a response to our belief and are offered to share our concern for others and to pray for the world, the church, those in need, and our sinful selves.

Offertory, in which we present back to God a portion or tithe of the many blessings that God has poured out on us in our lives.

Holy Communion, where we bless the bread and wine that has been offered using the words Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us and distribute His Body and Blood to give us sustenance for our Christian journey, to assure us of forgiveness of our sins, and to unite us with Christ. Every Sunday the Faithful are called to the altar to physically and spiritually receive Jesus and take Him into our hearts and into our lives.

Dismissal sends us forth into the world, empowered by God, to live our Christian lives through serving the poor and needy and striving to build the Kingdom of God “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Additional Notes:

Lord’s Prayer — Like all other Christians we pray the Lord’s Prayer, also called the “Our Father.” It is so important to Anglicans and Episcopalians that every worship service we do in public includes the Lord’s Prayer.

Music is very important to our worship, and we have a great variety:

• Most common is traditional English and European church music and hymns played with great energy and enthusiasm on the organ and on the piano.
• We also draw on the treasures of American and African-American hymns and Spirituals, and on rich music of the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky.
• At St. Peter’s, our music comes from sources as old as the 4th century to as new as the 21st.

Our worship is Christ-centered, biblically based, and immersed in 2,000 years of Catholic and Anglican tradition and history. Our prayers are offered in the name of Jesus and the Trinity and are often direct quotes from scripture turned into prayer, while some come from the numerous ancient liturgies of both Eastern and Western Christianity.

Worship is at the center of our life at St. Peter’s, and our rule of prayer guides and shapes our rule of belief as Episcopal and Anglican Christians.

Eucharistic Visitation Ministry
When requested, a lay Eucharistic Minister takes the Eucharist to members of the parish who are ill at home or in care facilities, or who are unable to attend one of our Sunday services. These lay ministers are available to visit all our members who wish to receive such visits. If you or a member of your family would like to receive the Eucharist via this ministry, please contact the Parish Office.

Opportunities for Service
The Altar Guild and Flower Guild take care of many of the "behind the scenes" aspects of preparing our worship services. Click here to read more about them.