Worship is at the core of what we do, because God is at the core of who we are, and there is no higher privilege than for a human being to join with others in adoring and praising the God of the universe.

We are a liturgical church, which means that the form of our worship is one that has been refined over centuries of use. It is formal, but not somber. It is joyful, but reverent. There is room for spontaneity, but usually in a way that will be respectful of the diversity of those in the worshiping assembly.

 

Our liturgy takes seriously the fact that we have bodies, so it involves posture (standing, sitting, kneeling), gesture, movement, and color. It appeals to all five senses. It invites active participation, but doesn’t demand it. It is at the same time clear and mysterious, transparent and ineffable. It is rooted in 2,000 years of Christian tradition, but spills over into the nuts and bolts of our everyday lives.

 

Our Sunday services are always celebrations of the Holy Eucharist—known variously in other Christian traditions as the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion, the Mass, or the Divine Liturgy. In this act, we participate in the mystery of our redemption through the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and ongoing ministry of Jesus Christ, as well as the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. We literally re-member the Body of Christ as we share the elements of bread and wine, become for us the body and blood of the risen Jesus. In the Episcopal Church, all Christians who have been baptized with water in the name of the Trinity are welcome to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion.

After each service, there is an opportunity for refreshments and visiting in Rose Hall.

 

St Anne’s is privileged to be able to follow the ancient custom of opening the door of the church daily for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.  (The Book of Common Prayer also includes Noonday Prayer and Compline, but we do not read these services publicly.)  The Daily Office consists of Psalms, scripture readings, and prayers that mark the day of the week and the time of the day.  Morning Prayer lasts about 20 minutes; Evening Prayer is finished in just under ten minutes.  There is normally no sermon or music.  The congregation for these services is usually quite small, but we believe it is the heartbeat of a our parish life of worship. The Morning Office read in St Mary’s Chapel: Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 8:45 AM, Wednesday at 9:30 AM, and Sunday at 7:30 AM. Evening Prayer is read Tuesday through Friday at 5:15 PM, also in the Chapel.

 

Click here to download the latest Worship Team service schedule.

Special Worship Events

Sunday

Holy Eucharist 10:15 AM

» March 14 2010

Our main service is at 10:15 on Sunday mornings. There is an abundance of singing, accompanied by a diversity of musical instruments. We hear three separate readings from the Bible, plus sing some verses from a Psalm. The sermon is usually about 20 minutes in length, and focuses on breaking open the meaning of one or more of the scripture readings. Normally, we recite the Nicene Creed together, corporately confess our sins, and pray together for one another and for the world. Then we celebrate the Eucharist. We are typically finished by about 11:30 AM. There are typically around 100 people in attendance, sometimes more and sometimes less.

Liturgical Notes

Lent, ultimately, is all about baptism. Part of preparing to celebrate baptism or renew our baptismal vows involves penitence. In keeping with the penitential nature of the season, then, the liturgy is markedly different. The Confession of Sin is expanded and placed at the beginning of the service. The more restrained Kyrie eleison replaces the Gloria in excelsis as the Hymn of Praise, and at the Breaking of the Bread, Agnus Dei supplants Christ our Passover. Also, the customary blessing at the end of the liturgy gives way to a simpler “Solemn Prayer over the People.”

At the same time, the Fourth Sunday in Lent has traditionally been viewed as a bit of a pause for refreshment. At various times and places, it has been known by different names associated with themes present in the readings: Laetare Sunday (the Latin version of St Paul’s exhortation in Philippians that we “rejoice” in all things), Jerusalem Sunday (referring to the heavenly city that is the metaphor of our eternal hope), Mothering Sunday (referring to the New Testament description of Jerusalem as the “mother of us all”), and, of course, Refreshment Sunday. It is customary to relax Lenten discipline a bit today as we get ready for the home stretch into Holy Week and Easter. In many places, flowers make an appearance around the altar on only this Sunday of all the Lenten Sundays.

There is one Prayer Book holy day this week, the feast of St Joseph on Friday. We might think of Joseph as the patron saint of those who “play second fiddle.” He was given the difficult assignment of marrying a woman pregnant with a child not his own, and raising that child. He is quietly faithful to that task, and then recedes from view, claiming no honor for himself. Mass for St Joseph’s Day will be celebrated on its eve, Thursday, March 18 at 5:30pm.

There are also three lesser commemorations in the Prayer Book calendar:
• Wednesday—St Patrick, fifth century son of a British (Celtic) priest, was kidnapped by pagan Irish pirates. After several years, he escaped to France, where he was educated and ordained. He returned to the land of his former captors as a missionary bishop, and is the one person most responsible for the evangelization of Ireland.
• Thursday—St Cyril of Jerusalem was bishop of that city in the mid-to-late fourth century. He is remembered as a catechist and gifted liturgical leader.
• Saturday—St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop who helped heal the breach between Celtic and Roman traditions in seventh century Britain.

Holy Eucharist -8:00 AM

» March 14 2010

The 8:00 AM Sunday service is our most traditional. It uses the form Episcopalians know as Rite One. The language of the liturgy comes from the 1500s, and may remind you of the King James Version of the Bible, or a Shakespeare play.  There is no music.  The congregation can range between 15 and 50, depending on the time of year.  The liturgy usually lasts 50-55 minutes.

Tuesday

Wednesday

5:30 PM Mass

» March 17 2010

Join us regularly for a mid-week “pause that refreshes.” On most Wednesdays at 5:30 PM there is a quiet said celebration of the Eucharist in St Mary’s Chapel. There is a short homily, and we are finished inside of thirty minutes.

Friday

Stations of the Cross

» March 12 2010

The devotion known as the Way of the Cross is an adaptation to local usage of a custom widely observed by pilgrims to Jerusalem: the offering of prayer at a series of places in that city traditionally associated with our Lord’s passion and death.

The number of stations, which at first varied widely, finally became fixed at fourteen. Of these, eight are based directly on events recorded in the Gospels. The remaining six (numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 13) are based on inferences from the Gospel account or from pious legend.

We gather on each Friday during Lent (with the exception of Good Friday) to walk the Via Dolorosa—the Way of Sorrows—with our Lord, beginning at 5:30 PM, in the church. The devotion lasts approximately 35 minutes.