What should you expect if you visit on Sunday?
Sundays at Trinity might feel a little different. There are many different Christian churches, and each has a different feel in the worship service. Our worship is based on ancient and modern patterns of prayer, and might feel unfamiliar at first. This page should help set you at ease when you visit us.
Sunday is traditionally when Christians gather for worship. Our principal weekly worship service is the Holy Eucharist, also known as: the Lord’s Supper, the Divine Liturgy, Holy Communion, or Mass. Eucharist is simply the Greek word for ‘thanksgiving.’
Worship Styles
Episcopalians worship in many different styles. You may find very structured, ancient, and multi-sensory rites with lots of singing, music, even incense on occasion. Other times, the liturgy is quite informal.
Yet all worship in the Episcopal Church is based in the Book of Common Prayer, which gives our time together in worship a familiar feel, once you’ve tried it out a few times.
Liturgy & Ritual
Our worship is said to be liturgical, meaning that the structure of our worship and the prayers that we pray doesn’t change greatly from week to week. This sameness from week to week gives worship a rhythm that can become comforting and familiar to the worshipers. Our liturgy often follows patterns that have been used in Christian worship for centuries, and in countless places. This gives rise to the understanding that we are one with Christians around the world and throughout the ages.
The first time you join us, you may find church with us to be a blessing, but at times a bit confusing. We sit, we stand, we kneel, we sing, we listen and we pray together. We go forward to the altar to receive Communion or a blessing. It can take a little while to “settle in” to these rhythms and patterns of worship, so give yourself permission simply to be present. God is with you.
Sunday Services
Holy Communion, Rite I
8am
The 8am service is held in the Nave, which is the main part of the church. It’s early in the morning, and that just suits some people, especially if you’re an early riser, if you prefer a small, quiet service, if you’re a student with papers to write, or if perhaps you're hitting the road later in the day. It also uses the Prayer Book form called “Rite I” that contains traditional language and prayers that are very close to (or identical to) the English and Scottish Prayer Books of the 16th & 17th centuries.
This service includes congregational hymns but no choir, and lasts around 50 minutes.
Holy Communion, Rite II
10:30am
(Half hour earlier at 10am during the summer, from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend)
This is our main worship service of the week and takes place in the Nave (main space of the church). Ushers at the back of the church will hand you a booklet that contains everything you will need to follow along with the service. Feel free to sit where you like and ask your neighbors if you have questions.
Trinity is nationally known for our superlative music program. Hymns and service music are accompanied by the organ, and the choir leads the congregation in song. The congregation takes part in the service: singing, listening to the lessons and the sermon, praying and responding to prayers. There is a lot of sitting and standing, and even a little kneeling. There is no right or wrong, we promise. At first, just follow the lead of those around you.
For the first part of the service, we listen to God’s word in different ways. Sermons in our tradition are short, 8-12 minutes long. About halfway through the service, we exchange the peace of Christ. People greet each other with a handshake or a hug, or with a wave or fist bump in this time of Covid safety. This is not the end of the service! It is an important part of worship, as we greet each other in peace and recognize the presence of God in each other. An offering is taken, but as a newcomer or a visitor, don't feel obligated to contribute. The priest leads the Eucharistic Prayer over the bread and wine, and we receive communion. Finally, the dismissal sends us out into the world to be the body of Christ in the world.
Weekday Liturgies
Holy Communion
Tuesdays at 12 noon &
Wednesdays at 5:30pm
(Not held in the the summer, from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend)
Both the 12pm service on Tuesday and 5:30pm service on Wednesday are held in the Lady chapel, to the left back corner of the church. These services are intimate, yet always sacred. Come into the chapel, and you’ll join a handful of worshippers, some regulars and some from the University on their lunch break. You can sit wherever you like. We pray with the Book of Common Prayer, found in the pew.
You are always welcome to join in, praying aloud at times with the congregation, or you can sit quietly and let the service of prayer and Scripture surround you with peace.
The service lasts about 30 minutes.
Daily Office
Monday through Friday
7:45am & 5pm in the Michael Chapel
and on Zoom
(Only Morning Prayer, only on Zoom in the summer, from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend)
The short services of Morning & Evening Prayer, also known as the Daily Office, are one of the great contributions of the Anglican tradition to worldwide Christianity. In making these forms daily prayer accessible to all people rather than just monks and nuns, Thomas Cranmer made deep spiritual growth possible for anyone. Both Morning & Evening Prayer share the same format: gathering prayers, a Psalm, reading of Scripture, and prayers for ourselves and for the world. The Daily Office is led by parishioners and students at Princeton Theological Seminary in the Michael Chapel and on Zoom, and our congregation includes folks from as far away as Missouri and South Carolina.
BY PHONE: 1 646 558 8656 MEETING ID: 285 981 9016 PASSWORD: 1979
Many thanks to Christopher Corbin of Trinity, Oshkosh, WI for the structure of this page.