Worship Styles

St. Paul’s offers a variety of worship styles. Below are descriptions of those styles. With the exception of a few special services, all our worship offers Holy Eucharist which is also called Holy Communion. Holy Communion is the real presence of Christ contained within the blessed/consecrated bread and wine.

Here at St. Paul’s everyone is invited to receive Holy Communion.

Weekly Services

Blended Holy Eucharist:

Currently St. Paul’s has only one Sunday morning service. The style of worship is Blended, which for us means we blend together our worship styles of Praise and Traditional as listed below.  At this service you will hear the organ, piano, praise team, and choir. Children’s Sunday School is offered during this service.

Praise Service with Holy Eucharist:
This service is not a prayer book service, though the components of worship follow the order set forth in The Book of Common Prayer, 1979. This service incorporates prayers from both Episcopal supplemental sources and Anglican sources throughout the world. For the most part the liturgy for this service is “bookless” and is projected onto screens by way of computer slides. The music during this service is provided by our praise team, which includes guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, as well as other percussion instruments. During the first part of this service the children have their own educational time but rejoin the congregation at the passing of the peace. This service is our largest service with attendance ranging from 100 to 160.

Holy Eucharist, Rite II with Choir:
This service uses the Eucharistic Liturgies contained within The Book of Common Prayer, 1979. The music provided is mostly organ, but also piano depending on the hymn selection. A majority of the hymnody is from The Hymnal 1982, however we also use selections from the hymnals Wonder Love and Praise and Lift Every Voice and Sing II. The only hymnal we have in the pew is The Hymnal 1982, which is why it gets used the most; the others require the selections to be printed. The attendance at this service ranges from 35 to 55.

Special Holiday Worship Events

Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols:
Usually on the Sunday before Christmas, this is a service in which we celebrate our known history with God as we re-experience our walk with God through a series of Holy Scriptures that represent important developments in our relationship with God. This is a day of scripture and song and Holy Communion is not offered.

Christmas Eve: Praise Service with Holy Eucharist:
This service begins at 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. with fifteen minutes of Christmas carols before the service begins. Though once geared more towards our children, these days it’s for all generations and includes the hymn Silent Night sung by candlelight.

Christmas Eve: Holy Eucharist Rite II:
We begin this celebration at 8:00 p.m. with fifteen minutes of traditional Christmas carols before the service begins. This is a prayer book service which includes the hymn Silent Night sung by candlelight.

Christmas Day: Holy Eucharist Rite II:
Christmas day worship begins at 10:00 a.m. and is Holy Eucharist, Rite II without music.

All Saints’ Day:
All Saints’ Day is one of the seven principal feasts of the church year, and one of the four days recommended for the administration of baptism. On this day we commemorate all saints, known and unknown, which also includes those who have died that have made a positive impact on our lives. We celebrate All Saints’ Day on the Sunday following Nov. 1.

Ash Wednesday:
The first of the forty days of Lent, named for the custom of placing blessed ashes on the foreheads of worshipers at Ash Wednesday services. The ashes are a sign of penitence and a reminder of mortality, and may be imposed with the sign of the cross. Our Ash Wednesday services are at 12:10 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Holy Week Services:
From early times Christians have observed the week before Easter as a time of special devotion. From this beginning evolved the rites we observe today on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These services provide a worship experience of the last days of Jesus’ earthly life, as well as the time and events leading up to his resurrection. Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Maundy Thursday centers around Jesus washing his disciple’s feet. On Good Friday we experience Jesus’ Death on the cross and Holy Saturday helps us experience an emptiness without Jesus. Holy Week ends at sundown on that Saturday, or with the celebration of the Easter Vigil.

Easter Vigil:
This service is intended as the first resurrection celebration of Easter. This service begins in darkness, sometime between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day, and consists of four parts: The Service of Light (kindling of new fire, lighting the Paschal candle, the Exsultet); The Service of Lessons (readings from the Hebrew Scriptures interspersed with psalms, canticles, and prayers); Christian Initiation (Holy Baptism) or the Renewal of Baptismal Vows; and the Eucharist. This service begins at 8:00 p.m.

Easter Day:
Easter Day is the annual feast of the Christ’s resurrection. Faith in Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday or third day following his crucifixion is at the heart of Christian belief. Our Easter services are held at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. We have an Easter egg hunt between services.

Pentecost:
The term is used in the NT to refer to the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), shortly after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. The Pentecost event was the fulfillment of a promise which Jesus gave concerning the return of the Holy Spirit. In the Christian tradition, Pentecost is now the seventh Sunday after Easter. It emphasizes that the church is understood as the body of Christ which is drawn together and given life by the Holy Spirit. Some understand Pentecost to be the origin and sending out of the church into the world and call it the birthday of the Church. The Day of Pentecost is one of the seven principal feasts of the church year in the Episcopal Church. Our worship is often combined on this day at 10:00 a.m. Everyone is encouraged to wear red as a sign of the Holy Spirit and when weather permits we hold this service outside in the garden area.

The Blessing of the Animals:
On or near Oct 4th we celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. People are encouraged to bring their pets to this service in order that they receive a blessing. This service celebrates the connection of all of God’s creatures. The service time varies from year to year.