Worship
Worship
is at the heart of our life together. Sunday by Sunday we meet to sing,
pray, hear Scripture read, listen to the sermon, and share in the Eucharist.
Trinity offers the following opportunities to gather together in liturgical
worship.
The
Holy Eucharist
(Sundays at 8 and 10am)
The Eucharist is the central worship service of our life together. It
is here that God meets us through the Word of God read and preached,
and the sacramental bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ. It
is one of the two great sacraments insituted by Christ ( the other is
Baptism). We invite all who are baptized (no matter what tradition you
come from or what age you are) to receive the bread and wine; those
who do not wish to do so are invited to come forward for a blessing.
Baptism
Baptism
is the second of the two great sacraments. It is, according to the catechism,
the sacrament “by which God adopts us as his children and makes
us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom
of God.”(BCP, p.858) Once baptized,
always baptized (that is, in our tradition there is no such thing as
re-baptism), and being baptized makes you a full member of the church,
whether you are 7 weeks or 70 years old. From that day, you belong to
the church, and can receive the sacrament of Holy Communion. Baptisms
occur at our 10am Sunday services on occasions throughout the year.
Baptism is a free gift, the grace of God at work, and we welcome you
to contact
us if it is something you want for
yourself or your child. See also the section on Families
and Kids.
Confirmation
Confirmation
is “the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ,
and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying
on of hands by a bishop.” (BCP p.860) It has two functions. First,
it is the way we state our adult faith, and take on for ourselves the
commitments that were made on our behalf at Baptism (BCP p.304-305).
Confirmation is not just a rite of passage to go through at puberty
(or a graduation rite from Sunday School — though it often seems
to have worked that way in the past); it is about making a conscious
decision to be Christian, to live asa follower of Christ in everything
we say and do. Second, in confirmation we are given of the Holy Spirit
through the laying on of hands of a Bishop. God works within us, as
we are received by the Bishop as members of the denomination called
the Episcopal Church (we were received as members of the Christian religion
in Baptism). Confirmation is for those who have been baptized but have
not received the laying on of hands by a Bishop. That includes those
baptized as infants, children or adults in the Episcopal Church who
have not yet been confirmed, and those baptized as adults in denominations
without confirmation by a Bishop. If you were confirmed in another denomination
by a Bishop, you can be received — this makes you an Episcopalian.
If you are intersted in being confirmed, please contact
us
.
Morning
Prayer
Worship
and prayer are not just for Sunday mornings. One way to get into the
habit of everyday worship is to participate in Morning Prayer. We encourage
you to pray at home, using the service on page 139 of the Book of Common
Prayer. We publish the readings for each week in our bulletin, or see
this website.
Special
Services
There are many other special services here at
Trinity. They include services for special occasions in the church year,
and for special occasions in your life. Please contact
us
for more information about weddings, renewal of wedding vows, reconciliation
of a penitent (confession), thansksgiving for a child, prayers for healing,
and funerals.
Everyday
Worship
Worship is not confined
to what we do Sunday mornings in the church building, in the liturgy.
We continue to worship God as we go about our daily lives, doing all
that we do as a form of service of God and in a spirit of thankfulness,
and as we work prayer and Bible reading into our days.
