Sundays at Saint Michael

Saint Michael offers traditional and contemporary worship amidst a growing community of people pursuing Christ, serving one another and the community. Whether you are a long-time Episcopalian or new to Episcopal worship, come explore Saint Michael and make friends, find a place to grow, and create your home. Saint Michael is a place where you belong!

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SERVICE DESCRIPTIONS

7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite I - Traditional (no hymns)
Offered in-person
Saint Michael Chapel

This service is a traditional Rite I Eucharist. It uses the Book of Common Prayer.

9 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite II - Traditional
Offered online or in-person
Church

The 9 a.m. service in the Church is a traditional Rite II Eucharist. Our choristers (boys and girls) along with staff singers and organ lead the congregation in hymns and service music. They also sing an Offertory anthem. Children and parents who prefer a more formal service are among those who attend, as well as a large cross-section of adults. Lectors and acolytes serving at this service include teenage parishioners.
This service uses the Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal. This service is streamed live here.

9 a.m. Joy: A Children’s Service
Saint Michael Chapel

This joy-filled, casual communion service is for children ages 0-5 and their parents. The music is led by the Joy Band. The service features an accessible children’s sermon.

10 a.m. Sunday Formation Classes (Children and Adult)

11 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite I - Traditional
Offered in-person
Church

The 11:00 a.m. service in the Church is a traditional Rite I Eucharist. The adult choir and organ lead the congregation in hymns and service music. As a more musically substantial service, the choir also sings the Psalm, an Offertory anthem, a Communion motet, and on feast days a Choral Mass setting. The greatest feast days also regularly include orchestra. A cross-section of the parish attends this service, which uses the Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal.

11 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite II - Contemporary
Offered online or in-person
Parish Hall

This casual communion service is in contemporary language and has band-led worship music. The service features an in-depth, practical sermon for adults. It meets in the Parish Hall. This service is streamed live here.

5:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist Rite II - Traditional (with hymns)
Offered in-person
Saint Michael Chapel

The 5:30 service in Saint Michael Chapel is a traditional Rite II Holy Eucharist, and features hymns led by a cantor and organist. Worshipers often attend in casual attire to end their weekend in a relaxed setting. This service uses the Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal.

GETTING TO CAMPUS

We are located just south of Northwest Highway off of Douglas Ave. at Colgate Ave.

Via Northbound Tollroad: Exit Lovers Ln, continue straight on Lomo Alto a few blocks to Colgate. Church is on your right.

Via Southbound Tollroad: Exit Northwest Hwy, turn left to Douglas Ave. Turn R on Douglas and church is a few blocks down on your right.

Via US 75: Exit Northwest Hwy and go west to Douglas Ave. Turn R on Douglas and church is a few blocks down on your right.

Campus Map & Directions

UNDERSTANDING EPISCOPAL WORSHIP

Whether you are new to Episcopal worship, or a longtime Episcopalian, worship at every church is different. So first things first, all are welcome—no matter age or denomination!

Worship Styles

Episcopalians worship in many different styles, ranging from very formal, ancient, and multi-sensory rites with lots of singing, music, fancy clothes (called vestments), and incense, to informal services with contemporary music. Yet all worship in the Episcopal Church is based in the Book of Common Prayer, which gives worship a familiar feel, no matter where you go.

Liturgy and Ritual

Worship in the Episcopal Church is said to be “liturgical,” meaning that the congregation follows service forms and prays from texts that don’t change greatly from week to week during a season of the year. This sameness from week to week gives worship a rhythm that becomes comforting and familiar to the worshipers.

For the first-time visitor, liturgy may be exhilarating… or confusing. Services may involve standing, sitting, kneeling, sung or spoken responses, and other participatory elements that may provide a challenge for the first-time visitor. However, liturgical worship can be compared with a dance: once you learn the steps, you come to appreciate the rhythm, and it becomes satisfying to dance, again and again, as the music changes.

The Holy Eucharist

In spite of the diversity of worship styles in the Episcopal Church, Holy Eucharist always has the same components and the same shape.

The Liturgy of the Word

We begin by praising God through song and prayer, and then listen to as many as four readings from the Bible. Usually one from the Old Testament, a Psalm, something from the Epistles, and (always) a reading from the Gospels. The psalm is usually sung or recited by the congregation.

Next, a sermon interpreting the readings appointed for the day is preached.

The congregation then recites the Nicene Creed, written in the Fourth Century and the Church’s statement of what we believe ever since.

Next, the congregation prays together—for the Church, the World, and those in need. We pray for the sick, thank God for all the good things in our lives, and finally, we pray for the dead. The presider (e.g. priest, bishop, lay minister) concludes with a prayer that gathers the petitions into a communal offering of intercession.

In certain seasons of the Church year, the congregation formally confesses their sins before God and one another. This is a corporate statement of what we have done and what we have left undone, followed by a pronouncement of absolution. In pronouncing absolution, the presider assures the congregation that God is always ready to forgive our sins.

The congregation then greets one another with a sign of “peace.”

The Liturgy of the Table

Next, the priest stands at the table, which has been set with a cup of wine and a plate of bread or wafers, raises his or her hands, and greets the congregation again, saying “The Lord be With You.” Now begins the Eucharistic Prayer, in which the presider tells the story of our faith, from the beginning of Creation, through the choosing of Israel to be God’s people, through our continual turning away from God, and God’s calling us to return. Finally, the presider tells the story of the coming of Jesus Christ, and about the night before his death, on which he instituted the Eucharistic meal (communion) as a continual remembrance of him.

The presider blesses the bread and wine, and the congregation recites the Lord’s Prayer. Finally, the presider breaks the bread and offers it to the congregation, as the “gifts of God for the People of God.”

The congregation then shares the consecrated bread and the wine. Sometimes the people all come forward to receive the bread and wine; sometimes they pass the elements around in other ways.

All Are Welcome

All baptized Christians—no matter age or denomination—are welcome to “receive communion.” Episcopalians invite all baptized people to receive, not because we take the Eucharist lightly, but because we take our baptism so seriously.

Visitors who are not baptized Christians are welcome to come forward during the Communion to receive a blessing from the presider.

At the end of the Eucharist, the congregation prays once more in thanksgiving, and then is dismissed to continue the life of service to God and to the World.

Have questions or want to know more about Saint Michael?