Sunday Worship in Lent
Lent was historically a time of preparation for baptism. Those preparing for baptism (called catechumens) entered into a time of prayer, fasting, and intense study of the scriptures before receiving baptism at the Easter Vigil. Before being baptized, they left at the Peace and did not even watch the celebration of Eucharist. After being baptized, they were admitted to Eucharist for the very first time and joined the full Christian community.
Our customs are different today. We invite everyone to stay for the whole service! Still, in the spirit of fasting and preparation for Easter, we give up some things in this season.
We do not say or sing the word Alleluia. We will hide the Alleluias on Shrove Tuesday and save them for Easter!
We begin the service with more quiet, and ask people to give the gift of quiet to others.
On the first Sunday in Lent, we say or sing The Great Litany - the oldest liturgy in the Prayer Book. This series of intercessions seeks God’s forgiveness, protection, and help. On remaining Sundays, we begin with the Penitential Order, starting the service with our confession of sin.
We pray with Rite I, the older language of the Prayer Book, in order to pay more attention to what we are praying. With Bishop Wright's permission, we are modifying Rite I a bit at the 10:30 service to make the language more inclusive of all people, but it will still sound like an older form of worship.
We encourage you to try out different customs of worship in this season. Give yourself more quiet at the start of the service. If you do not typically kneel, try kneeling if that is comfortable for you. Maybe let go of the bulletin for parts of the service and listen with your ears. Consider receiving communion in a different way - perhaps by sharing the common cup if that has not been your custom. Or try a different service in this season - 8:30 or 10:30 on Sundays, Wednesdays at 5:30, the contemplative healing service on March 16 and April 13 (Palm Sunday) at 5.
Join us for worship in this holy season!
Sermons in Lent
God is STILL with us March 5: Ash Wednesday - God is with us in Secret
March 9: Lent 1 - God is with us in the Wilderness
March 16: Lent 2 - God is with us in Despair
March 23: Lent 3 - God is with us in Anger
March 30: Lent 4 - God is with us in Worry
April 6: Lent 5 - God is with us in Grief
