What to expect when you visit
We Will Welcome You!
If you join us as our guest, we will welcome you with the love and hospitality of Jesus. All are welcome at St. Andrew’s.
The Worship Space
As you enter our worship space, you’ll notice a sacred atmosphere that draws your eyes to the altar, the cross, and, through the glass window, toward the beauty of St. Andrew’s Bay.
On and around the altar you will see candles that remind us that Jesus is “The Light of the World” (John 8:12), and flowers that beautify the nave and remind of the beauty of Christ’s resurrection.
On the left side of the sanctuary as you look towards the altar there is a lectern-pulpit in the shape of a boat’s prow, for the proclamation of the Word; here the Scriptures are read and the sermon is preached.
The sanctuary is adorned with various colored altar hangings and banners that add beauty and signify the times of the church year.
A Sunday Service
Our services are congregational, meaning everyone has the opportunity to participate not simply observe. We sing and pray together. Members read the lessons, and the congregation can respond to prayers and proclamations during the service.
We provide a bulletin that has the full service, including hymns, inside to make it easy for anyone to follow along!
Stand, kneel, sit… isn’t it all exhausting?
Yes! Over half of our congregation did not grow up in The Episcopal Church, so it seemed like a learning curve for most of us. However, these days there’s an easy way to understand how to follow the service…
1) We stand to pray, proclaim, and sing, 2) We sit to listen.
If in doubt, follow everyone else!
The Shape of the service… so what happens on a Sunday?
First and foremost, it’s important that the entire service rotates around a theme, normally focusing on an aspect of Jesus’s teaching or life. All the songs, readings, sermon, and prayers seek to incorporate the weekly theme.
Worship is in two parts: The service of the Word, and The Service of the Table:
The service of the Word begins with an entrance hymn, which is followed by the Gloria and a collect (collective prayer) that summarizes the entirety of the service. Then we hear the Scriptures read and proclaimed. After the Gospel we stand to affirm our faith, offer prayers, confess our sins, and “Pass the Peace” where we greet one another in the love of Jesus.
The Service of the Table is just that when the service shift from hearing and responding to the Scriptures to focusing out attention to God as present in the Eucharist. At the conclusion of communion, the priest blesses the people, and we go out into the world taking the weekly themes with us.
Of course, we love good coffee, so we follow service with “Coffee Hour” where we meet in the parish hall to catch up with old friends and make new ones.