Candlelight Communion

~ Prayer and Song from Taizé ~

The candles are lit, the musicians are ready, the table is set. A banquet of peace awaits you.

This 45-minute service, held each Sunday evening at 5 p.m., allows all who attend to enjoy the peace and serenity of worship in our chancel on Sunday evenings, singing the songs of Taizé, praying in the candlelight, and feasting on the Eucharistic meal.

Something Different

Morning Prayer and Eucharist as one Liturgy – 8am on the Last Sunday of Each Month

 Last spring, our Worship Commission considered a request to have an experience of an historic liturgy on Sunday each month.  Thus was born Sung Matins on the last Sunday of each month at 8:00am.  We have received your comments as requested and have made some important adjustments in what we will offer.  A large portion of Morning Prayer will be the Liturgy of the Word.  At the appropriate point, the Offertory will lead us into the Eucharistic Prayer with Communion.  The entire time of worship will be the same as usual.  One of the lessons will be removed for this Sunday only to assure an appropriate time frame.

Background

In the latter part of the 18th Century, the Anglican Church in the Colonies  was growing faster than the ability to have clergy for each parish.  Persons would either have to return to England to study for ordination or come from England as seasoned priests.  During that period – and well into the 19th Century --  priests did a “circuit ride” to three or four parishes.  On the Sundays that the priest was not in a parish, he would leave a prepared sermon for the Sr. Warden to read to the congregation, and a Lay Leader would officiate at a sung Morning Prayer.  Historically, Morning Prayer has been known as Matins – the early morning Office of the seven-fold Daily Office of the 3rd Century monastic breviary (and all subsequent community breviaries where Offices were routinely prayed). 

As all too often happens, the circuit riding style continued even after there were enough priests for every parish in the country.   With the work of the Standing Liturgical Commission – beginning in 1949 – we began to recapture the essential character of the historic Church.  The 1979 Book of Common Prayer returned Noonday Prayers and Compline to the Daily Office structure and returned the Eucharist as THE central act of the Christian community on the Sabbath.   Thus, the Episcopal Church recaptured its roots and came into line with its sister traditions based in sacramental life.

Now

Even though Sung Matins has its own integrity, the rubrics (rules) of the Book of Common Prayer allow us to use significant portions of the Morning Office (Morning Prayer) and utilize it as the first half of the full expression of sacramental worship.  The offertory will become the transition into the Eucharistic Prayer, which will provide Communion for the congregation.  In making some alterations, we can create a liturgy that is within the time parameters that will allow for the balance of morning activities that rely on good timing.