The liturgy at Trinity Church is formal and flexible, traditional and modern. At 8 AM on Sunday mornings, when these services resume, we follow Rite I of the Book of Common Prayer, which uses more traditional language. At 10 AM on Sunday, we celebrate with Rite II with supplemental liturgical materials and give praise to God through our Music.
The liturgy of the church is the prayer of the people of God. It encompasses daily, weekly, and yearly celebrations of God’s love for us and our response of praise and thanksgiving for the abundance of God’s blessings. In union with Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we gather to hear the saving acts of God in scripture; we offer the needs and concerns of our lives, and of our world to God’s healing embrace; we bless, break and share the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the action of the Holy Eucharist, which brings us into union with our Redeemer and Savior; and we are a people sent out to love and serve the Lord. The Book of Common Prayer is the source of our worship along with other liturgical materials authorized by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
The principle liturgies of the Episcopal Church are Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. Baptism is the sacrament whereby a person is united with Jesus Christ into his death and resurrection through water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism our sins are washed away and we are reborn to new life as a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of God. The Holy Eucharist is the principle celebration of Sunday, the day of resurrection. Our union with God, established in Baptism, is nourished and sustained in the eating and drinking of the bread and wine of the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Christ.
Every day Christians are called to the prayer of the Church through the services of Morning and Evening Prayer, Noonday Prayer and Compline. Holy Scripture provides the principle texts of the daily prayer through the prayer of the Psalms. Scripture is read following a lectionary that appoints a portion of Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament for each day. Canticles, selections of scripture that have become hymns throughout the centuries for the people of God, are used to respond to the readings. The texts of the Daily Office can also be found at www.missionstclare.com.
Pastoral liturgies mark the changing movements of our lives. Confirmation allows individuals to make a mature public affirmation of Baptismal faith with prayer and the laying on of hands by a Bishop. The blessing of couples who are committed to a Christian relationship is found in Marriage. The birth or adoption of a child is a time of thanksgiving and celebration. For those who seek personal counsel and forgiveness for sins that weigh upon them, the sacrament of Reconciliation of a Penitent is provided. Anointing with oil, and prayer with the laying on of hands is available for those who are sick. At the end of our lives, prayers for those who are nearing death, as well as the liturgies for the Burial of the Dead, lead us into new life in the hope of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.