‘Liturgy’, from λειτουργία (leitourgia), which means ‘work or service for the people’, is the term we use to describe the formal rituals we carry out during a service.
Eucharist
The Eucharist, from εὐχαριστία (eucharista), which means ’thanksgiving’, also known as ‘high mass’, is the most extensive liturgy. We typically celebrate it on Sunday mornings and on high feast days like Christmas. The service consists of two main parts: the service of the word and the service of the eucharist or communion.
The service of the word consists of:
- Introit (entry song)
- Prayers at the foot of the altar
- Confession and absolution
- Kyrie (prayer for God’s mercy)
- (except during advent and lent) the Gloria.
- First reading, taken from the Old Testament
- Gradual (a piece from a psalm)
- Second reading, from the New Testament except the Gospels
- Alleluia (or tract during lent)
- Gospel reading
- Acclamation
- Sermon, reflecting on the passages read
- Creed
- Intercessions (prayers on behalf of the people)
We mark the transition to the communion by the passing of the peace. The priest and assistants then prepare the table, after which we say the eucharistic prayer, which includes the sanctus (holy), the Lord’s prayer, and the agnus dei (Lamb of God). During the prayer, the gifts of wine and bread are consecrated. At the end of the prayer, we move forward to receive communion.
The service ends with a closing prayer of thanksgiving, the blessing, and a closing song.
Service of reading and prayer
If no priest is present, we do not celebrate the eucharist, but instead hold a service of reading and prayer, in effect an extended morning prayer. It contains elements similar to the service of the word in a service with eucharist.
Choral evensong
The evensong is a sung service, which combines the monastic services of vespers and compline (the last two services of the day in the traditional monastic cycle), or, in the simplified modern setting, the service of evening prayer. The liturgy of evensong also has a fixed structure:
- Introit
- Preparation
- Confession and absolution
- Preces
- Psalm
- First lesson (usually taken from the Old Testament)
- Magnificat (the song of Mary)
- Second lesson (usually taken from the New Testament)
- Nunc dimittis (song of Simeon)
- Creed
- Lesser litany and responses
- Collects
- Anthem
- Prayers of intercession
- Final hymn
- Blessing
Evening prayer
Spoken services of evening prayer can take various forms. For the current season, we use a form based on the Book of Alternative Services of the Church of Canada:
- Welcome and call to prayer
- Prayer of thanksgiving
- Prayer for God’s presence
- First reading, from the Old Testament
- Psalm
- Second reading, from the New Testament
- Magnificat
- ‘Storytelling sermon’ of one of the Old Testament stories
- Creed
- Prayers of intercession
- Collect of the day
- The Lord’s prayer
- Blessing