SUNDAYS

8:00AM | Holy Eucharist, Rite II
10:00AM | Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Childcare is provided from 9:40 to 11:30am in the Parish Hall Nursery by our devoted childcare providers, Sally Burr and Abbey Vergara. 

WEEKDAYS | Tuesdays & Thursdays

9:30AM | Morning Prayer (T, Th)
5:30PM | Evening Prayer (T, Th)

Confessions are heard by appointment with the Rector.

ON RITUAL & CEREMONY

St Stephen’s liturgies are built on the time-tested lyrical power of the Book of Common Prayer, a treasure of unsurpassable language, one we enjoy in common with sister churches from Algeria to Fiji, England to Kenya, the Seychelles to Japan. Liturgies are like picture frames: plain or baroque, they’re meant to call attention to what they contain, something worthy of our attention. St Stephen’s is a diverse group of attenders. You can tell by the various ways that we participate in ritual and ceremony.

ASH WEDNESDAY, 14th FEBRUARY

Noon | Ash Wednesday Liturgy

7:00PM | Holy Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes

From the Book of Common Prayer:

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and
it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning
of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

Silence is then kept for a time, all kneeling.

The Celebrant says the following prayer

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

The ashes are imposed with the following words

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

HOLY WEEK and EASTER

Liturgy is theater; it’s more than theater—we’re saying our prayers—but not less. This is never more evident than during Holy Week services whereby we reenact the events of Jesus’ Passion. These comments are here to help you enter into these liturgies ready for them, so you can ‘break a leg’ as they say in the language of the theater. It might be a good idea to read through the description of each service before you come to Church. You will then be familiar with what is going to take place in these unique liturgies and will be better able to enter into the action and drama of the liturgy.   — The Rector

The Collect for Holy Week
Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PALM SUNDAY
On this day the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem is commemorated at the beginning of the service, and accordingly the Procession is altered and elaborated to re-enact this event and to mark our own entrance into the sacred time of Holy Week. Acolytes and Clergy enter the short way and stop at the bottom of the Chancel. The collect above is sung to mark the beginning of Holy Week. Then the story of Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem is intoned, and the palms which we have been given are blessed. After this we process out of the Church the short way, going through the Garden to the main doors, singing All Glory, Laud, and Honor which recalls Christ’s triumphant reception into the city. The liturgical color for this first part of the Palm Sunday liturgy is red, a sign of that triumph. As we re-enter the church, however, there is an abrupt change in the mood of the service.