Worship

Worship
Ministries

Lay Reader Training, Fall 2008

We are proud of our rich liturgical tradition that includes the use of vestments, music, candles, bells, and incense. While we fall on the "high church" end liturgically, neither the facilities nor the people are formal. For example, one is more apt to see casual clothes at Sunday services than suits and ties. The depth of our spiritual experience cannot be measured by the unconventionality of our appearance, and the joy we feel in our worship is evident even at the most solemn occasions. Listed above are a few of the many ways you can become further involved in the worship experience. Click here to view the Calendar of Major Observances for the Calendar Year 2008/2009 or here to view the The Lectionary Page a liturgical calendar that gives the prayers and readings from Scripture for Sundays and the other feasts and fasts. You may also check the current Lay Reader or the Verger schedules through these links.

Morning Prayer
Complete Parish Cycle of Prayer	Diocesan Cycles of Prayer
St. Bartholomew's Prayer Chain	Community Taize Service


Twenty-Eighth Week After Pentecost Nov. 16-22 please pray for these parishioners:
Joe and Carrie Wisniewski, Bart	Melvin Withee
Angela Wittenauer & Gary Price, Dylan	Devin Wood & Ellen Yankee, Ariel
Carmen Woodson & Lee Kostner

Here at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, we are a community that prays. The Parish Cycle of Prayer is offered as a way to pray for one another in a deliberate way throughout the year. Names of members are divided up by the weeks of the Church Year and are to be prayed for during the entire week.

As a faith community, we find our center in worship. Our principal service is called the Eucharist, in which we believe Jesus is truly present with us, as he assured us he would be. Here we share bread and wine in the way he told us, as Christians have ever since. In the Eucharist, when we pray together, we find a connection with God, and with a community both present, and yet beyond ourselves.

An important part of our worship tradition is the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 37-146). The Daily Office marks the day in prayer: Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline. The Daily Office can be said by communities or by individuals. There is also the need for personal devotions and the Book of Common Prayer (p. 136-143) provides a basic structure of Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families. But there isn’t just one right way to pray - what works well for one person may not for another.

The Catechism defines prayer as "responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words" (BCP, p. 856). Prayer is an ongoing response to God about our relationship with God, about ourselves and others. We give thanks to God for our many blessings and for the gift of life. We also bring before God our own needs and the needs of others. We are a community that prays for one another. Many of you are already involved in praying for one another either through the ministry of the Prayer Chain or through simply remembering those listed in the bulletin requesting prayer.

Part of my prayer practice has been to pray for the entire parish through the course of a year. This Parish Cycle of Prayer is offered as a way for us to do this a community.

You may want to add to your prayers the concerns from the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer and/or the Anglican Cycle of Prayer. For the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, go to www.atlanta.anglican.org, click on "Contents" and then on "Diocesan Cycle of Prayer." For the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, go to www.forwardmovement.org/acp .

You may have questions about prayer; all of us do, and we all spend our lives continuing to deepen our understanding of it. Please feel free to speak with one of our priests with your questions; we will be happy to talk with you.

Let us pray for one another.

Your servant in Christ,
The Rev. Wm McCord Thigpen+

MORNING PRAYER

The service of Morning Prayer is offered Monday - Friday in the Shalom Chapel off the Nave, September - May. It is offered on Monday mornings only June - August. The service begins at 8:00 a.m. with silence and concludes by 8:45. You can get more information about the Morning Prayer Services from Nancy Baxter nbaxter@emory.edu or Christina Dondero christinadondero@bellsouth.net.

St. Bartholomew's provides two opportunities to request prayers from Church Members.

You may call the church office 404.634.3336 and ask for your name or the name of a loved one to be added to the church Prayer List. These names are listed in the Sunday Service Bulletins and prayed for during Sunday Services.

You may also contact Robin Schreiber at 770-938-2167 or rschreiber@law.emory.edu for immediate intercessory prayers by members of the Prayer Chain.

Taize Service

St. Bartholomew's began hosting a monthly Taize service in August 2003. With hopes of keeping some stillness and quiet in life are challenged, think about attending our monthly Taize services. They are held on the second Mondays of each month, from 8 p.m. till 9 p.m. in the Meeting Room. Singing the chant songs of the Taize community in France to live music, listening to small pieces of scripture, and sitting in silence are all part of this renewing service. If you would like to help through setting up for the service or playing a musical instrument , please contact Beverley Elliott. You can also obtain more information about the Taize community in Atlanta at their new web site www.atlantataize.org.

Images of Worship

Click the thumbnails below to view the full image.

The Altar in the Nave prepared for a Taize Service