Worship
The sacrament of Holy Eucharist is the central act of worship in the Episcopal Church. It is celebrated every Sunday and on other major feasts. It uses concrete, visible signs and leads to inner, spiritual grace. It is a celebration of Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
The Worship Service consists of two parts. The first section includes an introduction, collect of the day, lessons from the Bible (Old Testament lesson, Epistle, and Gospel reading), the sermon, Nicene creed, prayers of the people, confession, and the peace. The second part of the service is the celebration of Holy Communion. This includes the offertory, the Great Thanksgiving(consecration of the bread ahd wine), the Lord's Prayer, and the Breaking of the Bread and distribution of the Sacrament.
At Resurrection we use Rite II from the Book of Common Prayer. The language of this service uses more contemporary language than that found in Rite I.
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The Episcopal Church Seal
The red, white, and blue seal was adopted by the General Convention in 1940. The red cross that divides the field into four rectangles is the cross of St. George, the patron saint of England. The blue field contains a composite cross made of nine crosslets, representing the cross of St. Andrew of Scotland and the nine dioceses which met in Philadelphia in 1789 to form the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. |
LITURGICAL COLORS (adapted from The Church Calendar, Ashby Company 2006)
The Church uses symbolic colors in its worship. There is a structured change of colors through out the year. The sequence of colors has a principal role in Christian visual education, in teaching the Gospel through the eye.
White - symbolizing joy, purity, and truth is used on Sundays and open days of Christmastide and Paschaltide; on all Solemnities except Pentecost and Holy Cross Day; Feasts, Memorials and Masses of the Blessed Virgin, the angels, and saints not martyred;Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Confession of St. Peter, Conversion of St. Paul, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving; Masses for Baptism and Holy Matrimony, and optionally for Confirmation.
Red - the color of fire and blood, is used on Pentecost, optionally on Palm Sunday and Good Friday; feasts of the Passion of our Lord and of the birthday feasts of Apostles and Evangelists; feasts of Martyrs; Ritual Masses of Ordination and optionally for Confirmation.
Green - the color of living things and of God's creation is used on the Sundays in seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost.
Violet - symbolic of penitence and expectation is used in the seasons of Advent and Lent and may also be used for Masses for the dead and on Ember and Rogation days.
Black - representative of deep sorrow may be used for Good Friday and for offices and Masses of the dead.
Rose - penitence permeated with joy, may be used for the Third Sunday of Advent and the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Blue - lighter shades sometimes are used on feasts of the Blessed Virgin and darker shades my be used during Advent.
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