Beloved in Christ,
The worship of Almighty God is the beating heart of the Christian life, and St. Martin’s is a Parish richly blessed with opportunities for prayer, praise and proclamation.
From the splendor of grand celebrations in the Church to the quiet of weekday gatherings in Christ Chapel; from the guitar strums and drumbeats of Riverway to the mighty organ and sweet-singing choir of our traditional services; from the holy chaos that is Family Table to the simple dignity of daily Morning and Evening Prayer — we are always seeking to glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost through our worship, no matter the style, space, or hour in which it is offered.
All are welcome at every one of our worship services. While it’s true that some liturgies are designed with certain members of our community in mind, none of our services are the sole preserve of a single demographic. Infants and young children participate in all our services (even the 8 a.m. Holy Eucharist in the Church!), and we regularly welcome empty-nesters attending Family Table. Children, teenagers and young adults help to lead worship at traditional services, and I have seen 90-somethings tapping their toes to the tunes in Riverway.
As the largest Parish in the Episcopal Church, it is meet and right that we offer a diverse range of services for the diverse needs of our community, and we invite all to find their place in our worshipping life.
What’s New This Fall
Mindful of the blessed diversity within the Body of Christ and eager to ensure that all our worshippers can engage in all our services, I’m excited to share several changes and additions to our Sunday worship schedule, beginning Sunday, Sept. 13.
| TIME | SERVICE | LOCATION | WHAT’S NEW |
| 8 a.m. | Traditional Holy Eucharist with sermon and without music | The Church | unchanged |
| 9 a.m. | Traditional Morning Prayer with sermon and traditional music | The Church | *new format: Morning Prayer every Sunday except for Holy Eucharist on the first Sunday of each month and when Holy Baptism is observed |
| 9:15 a.m. | Family Table Holy Eucharist with sermon and contemporary music | Parish Life Center | unchanged |
| 10:15 a.m. | Sunday School (children, youth, and adults) | Across Campus spaces | unchanged |
| 11:15 a.m. | Traditional Holy Eucharist with sermon and traditional music | The Church | *now with Children’s Chapel |
| 11:15 a.m. | Riverway Contemporary Holy Eucharist with sermon and contemporary music | Parish Life Center | *now with Children’s Chapel |
| 4 p.m. | Choral Evensong with sermon and traditional music | The Church | *new weekly offering |
| 5 p.m. | Fellowship and formation gathering | Bagby Parish Hall | *new weekly offering |
| 6 p.m. | Traditional Holy Eucharist with sermon and without music | The Church | *now without music |
What Isn’t Changing
Before the details of what’s new, a word of reassurance: the only substantive changes in our schedule are a shift in format at 9 a.m. and the addition of a service at 4 p.m. None of our other services in the Church or the Parish Life Center will change from their current times or formats.
This means that you could, for example:
- Attend Riverway on Sunday morning at 11:15 a.m., then return after lunch and a nap for Choral Evensong at 4 p.m. and an evening Bible study at 5 p.m.
- Watch the 11:15 a.m. traditional Holy Eucharist online, then come to receive the sacrament in person at 6 p.m.
- Simply keep coming quietly at 8 a.m. each week, as so many of our faithful souls do!
9 a.m. — The Return of Morning Prayer
Starting Sept. 13, the 9 a.m. Traditional Service in The Church will once again become a service of Morning Prayer with a sermon, except for the first Sunday of each month when it will be a celebration of Holy Eucharist.
Morning Prayer is an inspiring service of Scripture, song and prayers. For most of the history of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, Morning Prayer was the principal Sunday morning worship service in every congregation. Any Christian, lay or ordained, can share in the leadership of Morning Prayer. And, significantly, even with joyful music and meaningful preaching, Morning Prayer reliably lasts just one hour.
While we should never be stingy in offering our time to the Lord, we also recognize that many of those attending our 9 a.m. service are eager to participate in Sunday School for children, youth and adults beginning at 10:15 a.m. By offering Morning Prayer most Sundays of the month, we will ensure that formation classes can begin and end on time.
Morning Prayer also represents an ideal bridge for families who have been blessed by Family Table in their earliest years, but who are now ready to transition to worshipping together in The Church.
In reintroducing this tradition, we eagerly look forward to including even more young people as acolytes, lectors, choristers, prayer leaders and ushers — in every aspect of leading and serving the Lord’s people in worship!
11:15 a.m. — A New Children’s Chapel
Families will now be able to begin worship together in their service of choice — either in The Church or the Parish Life Center — and still receive an age-appropriate message for their children.
Here’s how it will work: During the 11:15 a.m. Traditional Holy Eucharist and Riverway services, we will introduce a Children’s Chapel gathering in the Children’s Life Center designed for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Just before the sermon in each space, children who wish to attend Children’s Chapel will follow adult leaders to the Children’s Life Center for an engaging, age-appropriate message. They will then return to join their families for the Holy Eucharist. Our hope is that this allows families to worship together while every age group also receives a message meaningful to them.
4 p.m. Choral Evensong Returns to the Weekly Schedule
Each Sunday, our Parish Choir and musicians will offer some of the finest music ever composed in the service of God. Following the service, we invite everyone to stay for fellowship as we build community together.
At 4 p.m. each Sunday in The Church, all are invited to attend Choral Evensong with a sermon — another much-loved Anglican tradition that has now become part of St. Martin’s weekly schedule. It follows the same basic pattern as Morning Prayer: hymns and anthems, chanted Psalms, the reading of God’s Word and beautiful prayers. Its place in our weekly offering also provides the opportunity for a thought-provoking sermon series attuned to each season. These sermons will be distinct from those preached at other services, making Evensong a meaningful experience even for those who attended Church earlier that day.
Our inaugural Evensong Sermon Series, “Teach us to pray: Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer,” begins this fall. I hope you will join us.
We have also developed an additional opportunity for fellowship and formation at 5 p.m., between Evensong and the 6 p.m. Holy Eucharist service. This time will allow us to build community, continue conversations and grow in faith alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ. This investment of our musical resources in Choral Evensong means that, for the time being, the 6 p.m. service will be offered as a simple spoken service offering of Holy Eucharist without music, just like the 8 a.m. service.
A Closing Prayer
The service you attend and the style in which it is offered does not matter. What matters is that you are here at St. Martin’s, shoulder to shoulder with your brothers and sisters (of every age) in Christ Jesus, praising the Lord. My prayer is that these new opportunities will draw you and those you love closer to God and to one another, that together the Body of Christ in this wonderful Parish will be strengthened in faith and service.
As we will say each week at Morning Prayer: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation!”
May we indeed praise Him, now and always.
The Rev. Dane E. Boston
Fifth Rector,
St. Martin’s Episcopal Church