Worship, Prayer and Contemplative Ministries

Sunday Worship, September-May / Sunday Worship, Summer Schedule / Weekdays & Saturdays

Worship is one of the ways in which human beings open themselves to sacred mystery. Our hope is that our experience of God in worship—through Scripture readings, prayers, silence, music, sacrament, and relationship—increases our awareness of God’s action in our daily lives. All worship is done in communion—in communion with the worldwide church and with the communion of saints through the ages. In our worship, we transcend the divisions of the world and the values of rushing, striving, achieving and accumulating, in order to enter more fully into the Divine Life in which all human beings are sisters and brothers, beloved of God.

At St. Stephen’s Church, there are many ways to participate in corporate worship. Most of our worship services are listed below.

In addition, this parish church seeks to help people learn how to pray. Through Second Saturdays Centering Prayer, weekday Morning Prayer, and the contemplative 5:30 service on Sundays; as well as through workshops, retreats with the brothers of SSJE both here and at the monastery in Cambridge, guest speakers and small group experiences, we seek to nurture habits of the heart that further each unique soul in his or her spiritual journey.

Sunday Evening Service
At 5:30 p.m., we offer a service of Celtic Evensong with Holy Communion. Our Celtic worship is drawn from the liturgical traditions of Iona and Northumbria in Scotland, and the music at these services can be contemplative, lively and haunting. The prayers are at once earthy, holy and inclusive. This service has been well received not only by St. Stephen's parishioners and other Episcopalians from the area, but by those from other religious traditions, including those with little or no religious background. All are welcome at this service.

The Daily Office
In addition to our Sunday worship offerings, we pray the Daily Office of Morning Prayer at 8:10 a.m., Monday through Friday, in the Holy Spirit Chapel. Praying the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer has long been considered by many to form the basis of Anglican spirituality. In the sixteenth century, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, set the pattern of prayer we now observe, when he reduced the eight daily monastic services of prayer to two and put them in a book to be used by clergy and laity alike. Morning Prayer is also known as “Matins,” and Evening Prayer is also known as “Vespers.” The Offices are recited daily throughout the world, and our praying them has the effect of immersing ourselves in the Holy Scriptures and joining our voices in the world-wide community of Christians who set aside and consecrate set times of the day for prayer.

Sundays, September-May:

8 a.m.

Holy Eucharist, Rite I, in Good Shepherd Chapel

9 a.m.-- Holy Eucharist, Rite II in the Main Church and Instructed Eucharist in Palmer Hall Chapel*

10:10 a.m.
Christian education for all ages*

11:15 a.m.--Holy Eucharist, Rite II or Morning Prayer in the Main Church* (Generally, Holy Eucharist is celebrated on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month, with Morning Prayer on the other Sundays)

5:30 p.m.--Celtic Evensong and Holy Eucharist in the Main Church*

*Nursery available 8:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and 5:15-6:45 p.m.)

Summer Schedule, May 25 through August 31

8 a.m.--Holy Eucharist, Rite I, in Good Shepherd Chapel

10 a.m.--Holy Eucharist, Rite II in the Main Church*

5:30 p.m.--Celtic Evensong and Holy Eucharist in the Main Church*

*Nursery Available 9:45-11:30 a.m. and 5:15-6:45 p.m.)

Weekdays (Year-round):

8:10 a.m.--Morning Prayer in Holy Spirit Chapel; coffee and fellowship following (when the office is closed for a holiday, there is no Morning Prayer)

12:10 p.m.--Holy Eucharist in Holy Spirit Chapel (when the office is closed for a holiday, there is no Holy Eucharist)

Saturdays (Year-round):

Second Saturday of each month: Centering Prayer from 9 a.m.-11 a.m., in Palmer Hall Chapel