Worship and Music

Music in the Episcopal Church

Lay people in the Episcopal Church

In most churches, music is an integral part of the worship service, but in the Episcopal Church we frequently sing parts of the service, which are generally spoken in other Christian traditions. The "ordinaries", the parts of the service that have the same text in each service,  like the Gloria, Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei (fraction anthem),  are usually sung at Holy Trinity. There are also four hymns sung by the congregation. In addition to The Hymnal, we use Lift Every Voice and Sing. Most of the music would be familiar to non Episcopalians. A Eucharistic service which has sung ordinaries is called a Choral Eucharist. We, like most other Episcopal congregations, have an early service which is spoken. Our church musician is Carl Berg, who is the organist/choirmaster. Mr Berg has many years of experience in this position. In his day job, he is a computer programmer.

Most paritioners have some position within the church. Lay people might be on the Vestry or Altar Guild, be an acolyte, a choir member, an usher, a lay reader, or a chalice bearer. In a smaller parish, like Holy Trinity, people usually have more than one duty. For the convenience of our parish family, the various schedules will be posted here, (though, not quite yet). anglicansonline.org has lots of information about the church, and the roll of the laity. Here are a few links to useful Episcopal  websites. Book of Common Prayer from various countries. The Gutenberg Bible The Episcopal Kalendar The Episcopal Church One of our sister parishes, Church of Our Saviour, Gallatin, TN, has a comprehensive list of church related links which can be found here. List of links Holy Trinity hosted our first ordination in 50 years. Fr John Bender was ordained to the priesthood on Dec 20th, 2008. The nave was packed with people from many different parishes: the one he came from, St. Philip's, the one where he was a deacon, Holy Trinity, and the one where he has been assigned as priest in charge, Church of Our Saviour. There were two choirs, two bishops, many priests, Bender's children, and many friends. It was a wonderful celebration.