Praise be to God

Each year, our Worship and Music Team seeks to provide a rich diversity in the experiences of worship. We seek at all times to make worship engaging and at times exciting. We invite you to celebrate these special occasions with us.

Some of the special services we have incorporated into our annual schedule are:

Christmas Eve – We begin our church year where it all began, in the manger with a small boy, who would become the king of our lives and the Savior of our souls: Jesus. We hold three services this evening. The first is a Family service in the early evening; 5:30 p.m. This is an abbreviated worship experience aimed at focusing both on the children's need to hear the Christmas story in their own words and at providing the parents with a meaningful worship experience sensitive to the over-stimulated nature of children at Christmas. The second and third worship services this evening are our Traditional Candlelight services, normally held at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; the later service will be ending at midnight. Holy Communion will be celebrated at these later services. Through beautiful Christmas carols and candlelight worship, we seek to bring the gift of the child, Jesus, alive in our lives.

Renewal of Baptism – On the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, which normally falls a couple weeks after Christmas, St. Philip's celebrates a Renewal or Remembrance of Baptism service. During the course of the normal worship service, we come forward to receive a token reminding us always of the promises made by God in our baptism: that we are forgiven, that we are renewed, and that we are given eternal life in him. We also remember on this day all the people who were baptized in our congregation in the past year.

Maundy Thursday – On the Thursday preceding Easter Sunday, our congregation recalls the first celebration of the Lord's Supper (often referred to as the Last Supper), shared by Jesus and his disciples just prior to Jesus' death. In this worship service we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion as an "upper room" experience. Our congregation 12 persons at a time come to a candlelit upper room to re-create the experience of breaking bread and sharing wine as the body and blood of our savior. The first persons to be served that evening are the young people (and their families) in our congregation, who traditionally receive their First Communion at this worship service. At the end of this moving service, we recall that on that same night that we received the Eucharistic gift of bread and wine, Jesus was also arrested: recalling this, our altar and chancel is stripped of its paraments and our congregation departs in silence.

Good Friday Tenebrae – On the Friday before Easter Sunday, our congregation celebrates the Good Friday Tenebrae: A Service of Darkness. On Good Friday Jesus was crucified and died, and at that moment the light of the world left this world. Recalling this dark day, the lights are dimmed slowly as we proceed through this service with a moving reading of the final day of Jesus' life. Those words are punctuated with music and hymns sung by soloists, our chancel choir, and the congregation. We end the service in darkness and leave in silence.

Easter Sunday – This is our most important celebration of the year: The Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Three special services on this Sunday Morning commemorate and celebrate the day that Jesus disciples discovered and witnessed to the fact that their Lord had risen from the dead. Glorious music and a message of new life for all fill this service with the Resurrection spirit we all share.