NEW INTERGENERATIONAL WORSHIP SERVICE

SUNDAY MORNINGS AT 9:30 A.M.

All are welcome.

We worship three times every Sunday, and our services feature excellent music and insightful sermons which bring the good news of Jesus to bear on everyday living, and where the Eucharist (communion) is celebrated and offered for the people of God. All services are being held in the Sanctuary, and can be viewed via our streaming platforms  on Facebook or Youtube.

8:00am is our traditional Rite I Service, from The Book of Common Prayer, which is often quieter and more reflective with a smaller group of devoted attendees.

9:30am is our Intergenerational Worship Service: a more relaxed worship opportunity where all are welcome, especially children and their families. At this service, Heather, our music director, leads and invites children and their parents to participate in making music with various percussion instruments, during the hymns and at Eucharist. We encourage older children to read the lesson and lead the prayers as they feel comfortable.

11:00am is our significantly larger service with people of all ages attending. During the program year, there is a large choir, often accompanied by the youth choir. There are also youth acolytes, lay readers, and lay Eucharistic ministers who help to lead our worship. The pattern of our worship is primarily centered on the Rite II Eucharist Service of The Book of Common Prayer, but also includes opportunities to use different services, like Morning Prayer, and other services from the wider Anglican Communion, like the Eucharist Service from the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer.

COVID update:

At this time, virtually all state, county, and diocesan COVID related restrictions have been lifted with regard to our regathering for services and other activities at Grace Church.  However, we ask that you please review the following Graceful Regathering guidelines, developed by the Regathering Task Force, to ensure that we all remain safe and healthy. We give thanks to God for bringing us through the past 18 months to the point where we can regather as a church family.

A Graceful Regathering

All Are Welcome!

We are delighted to be able to open our church for in person services once again. For our regathering services, Grace Church will make no distinction between those who have been vaccinated and those who have not.  You will not be asked about your vaccination status.

Therefore, in order to protect and keep safe all members of our church family, you will be expected to wear a mask throughout the entire service, to sit with your household group, and to maintain social distance with all others.

In order to make sure that all feel comfortable and welcomed at our services, we ask:

• Only attend worship and receive communion when you are healthy and non-symptomatic with any contagious disease.
• Maintain a social distance from others in the congregation, outside of your family group.
• Respect any requests for distancing to ensure the safety and comfort level of others.

During the church service, you are welcome to join in congregational singing, while remaining masked.  There will be prayers, music, a sermon and communion with wafers only, served individually.

When You Arrive for Services

• You may enter the church through any of the outside doors. Proceed to the entrance into the nave where you can pick up a copy of the service bulletin.
• There will be hand sanitizer available for your use, if desired.
• We will have masks available, if you forget yours.
• Select any pew you would like, remembering to sit with your family group, while maintaining social distance from others.

At the Offertory

• You may leave an in person offering in: (1) a designated box at the rear of the church, (2) in one of two collection plates that will be placed near the steps leading to the altar.

At the Peace

• Please maintain social distance while passing the Peace with people outside your household group. You are welcome to acknowledge others by bowing, waving, making the Peace sign, or just making eye contact.

At Communion

All are welcome to receive the Holy Sacrament.

• Please approach the altar in a single line, keeping proper social distancing between each person.
• You will be given a small cup with the bread inside (located at the bottom of the cup).
• After receiving the bread, move to your right or left to consume the wafer.
• You can then return to your seat, departing to either the right or the left, depending upon where you are seated in the congregation.

At the Dismissal

• As you leave the church after the service, we ask that you keep your mask on and maintain social distance.
• Please take your service bulletin with you and recycle at home.
• Clergy will be available to greet you, if so desired, after the service has ended. Please be mindful of maintaining social distances between those waiting in line, as well as appropriate ways of greeting the clergy.

Coffee Hour

• When Coffee Hour is available, you are welcome to participate. All drinks, coffee, lemonade, and water, will be served to you.
• Any refreshments will be individual wrapped.

Facilities

• All bathrooms will be open and available for your use.

While our services are fairly traditional, our parish has a relaxed atmosphere.  Our hope is that you feel comfortable worshipping with us.  Children of all ages are always welcome in worship, though we do have a crib nursery for children up to age 3 and an active Sunday School program for older children.  The worship bulletin contains the order of service along with directions, making it easy to follow along.  And, anyone who seeks a deeper connection with God is welcome at the altar rail during communion.

No matter who you are or where you are on your spiritual journey, we believe that worship will lead you down the path to a deeper relationship with God, and we hope you will join us some Sunday.