Special Worship Services

The public celebration of thanksgiving to God dates to the Jewish practices in the Bible. European colonists had various public celebrations of thanksgiving, one of which involved the pilgrims. Local thanksgiving practices varied by region. Several of the early Presidents declared celebrations of thanksgiving, most of them assigned to late November. Abraham Lincoln restarted the tradition. In 1941 Congress declared that the fourth Thursday of November would be a national holiday. The holiday has been connected to Plymouth, with numerous legendary features. The parish celebration is a said eucharist at 10:00 am. While low key, it is well attended and includes the Litany of Thanksgiving.  

The day after All Saints Day is set aside to remember those who have died. At Morning Prayer, names of the deceased are read aloud, and there is prayer for all who have died. Parishioners are invited to submit names to be read during the liturgy.

Christmas (Cristes maesse in old English) is the celebration of the Incarnation and Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. On December 24, we celebrate the feast. The children's liturgy includes our children dressed to commemorate the birth which is read from Luke. Christmas is not a single day but a twelve-day season, ending on January 5, the Eve of Epiphany. 

Ash Wednesday is the day of fasting, penitence, almsgiving, prayer and study that marks the beginning of Lent, the season of preparation for Easter. On Ash Wednesday, the celebrant makes the sign of the cross in ashes on the foreheads of the faithful. The ashes come from the burning of palms from the previous Palm Sunday. The practice has its roots in the Hebrew Bible in which sackcloth and ashes are a sign of mourning and repentance. In the early church, public sinners who had been excommunicated from the church began a forty-day period of penitential discipline on this day so that they could be readmitted to communion on Easter Day. At St. Andrews, each week of Lent, the Litany of Penitence replaces of the opening hymn to refocus our Lenten practice. There is also a special offering for outreach each week (including Easter).

One week before Easter, Palm Sunday begins the ritual activity of Holy Week. The name Palm Sunday derives from the commemoration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his acclamation by the townspeople with waving palms branches and a chant of praise. Based on a practice begun in Jerusalem in the fourth century, the day is observed with a blessing of palms and a triumphal procession of the entire congregation around the church, followed by a reading of the gospel narrative of Jesus’ suffering and death and a Eucharist that is penitential in tone. 

The triduum (Three Days) celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus begins on Maundy Thursday. From the Latin (mandatum novum) which means new commandment, it commemorates Jesus washing the feet of His disciples (and commanding them to love one another) and blessing bread and wine and declaring it is His body and blood. In the Synoptic tradition the Last Supper is a passover meal. Our rich Eucharistic theology flows out of this celebration and the lectionary readings. After the evening service  and the church is stripped of decorative furnishings in preparation for Good Friday.

The Good Friday commemorates the Crucifixion. The fourth century liturgy expanded to include Maundy Thursday and Good Friday from the celebration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection on one day. The observance spread from the Christian East to the West. Every Good Friday Liturgy reads the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. Afterward, parishioners come forward to venerate the cross (another fourth century practice from Jerusalem at what was thought to be site of the crucifixion). The service concludes with our petitioning the Lord Jesus Christ to give mercy and grace to the living, pardon and rest to the dead, peace and concord to the Church, and to us sinners everlasting life and glory. There is no communion to emphasize the absence of Jesus in His death.

The Easter Vigil is the most ancient, beautiful, and important worship service of the Christian Faith. Like the Resurrection of Christ, which it celebrates, the Easter Vigil begins in the darkness of the night of Holy Saturday. A new fire is kindled outside and from it the great Paschal Candle and then our own candles are lit. The light shines in the darkness as we await our Master’s return. The Exultet is sung in praise with thanks, the story of salvation history is recounted through scripture, psalm, canticle, and prayer, and the Resurrection of Christ is proclaimed and the Gloria sung. Baptisms are celebrated here (or the renewal of baptismal vows) concluding with Eucharist. 

The high point of the liturgical year continues on Easter Sunday. The earliest service is simpler, followed by a more family friendly service (concluding with an Easter egg hunt) and concluding with the last service. Like Christmas, Easter is also the Christian answer to pagan practices, this time connected to Spring. Baptizing pagans is the Christian way, whether it be people or practices. Like Christmas, Easter is also not just a day, but a season, extending fifty days to the Jewish festival of Pentecost.   The Anglo-Saxon theologian, historian, and chronologist Saint Bede the Venerable (672/673 A.D -735 A.D.) describes the conversion to Christianity of the Anglo-Saxon tribes in his “Ecclesiastical History of the English People.” According to Bede, the word Easter derives from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. C season between winter and summer when plants and trees begin to grow, and a Christian symbol of the new life of the Resurrection.

Forty days after Easter our Lord Jesus ascended to His Father in heaven. The Holy Feast Day is celebrated in our sanctuary at 9:00 am, at our regular Thursday Morning Prayer/Holy Eucharist time. Here we are reminded of the absence of Christ as we await His return to judge the living and the dead.