1 Church, 1 Message, 4 Experiences

As you know, we now have 4 services on a Sunday at St. Paul's -- each with the same teaching/message, but different styles.

Here is the "cliff notes" of the differences:

- 9:00 AM Matins Service ("Traditions")
This service is about 75 minutes long (as opposed to 90 minutes for all of our other services) and musically is predominantly hymns and piano-based. There is also more liturgy at this service than any others. In many respects this service follows a classic worship order that you will find in many churches. This is (ironically) our newest service and I think it is going great. The music is top-notch.

- 11:15 AM Lauds Service ("Jazz")
The music at this service is pure and authentic Jazz with lot of original arrangements and compositions. The standard musical set-up includes keys, sax, percussion, and bass. Led by acclaimed Jazz musicians Earl MacDonald (director of the Jazz program at UCONN) and Kris Allen, we have a number of guest musicians each week. While we celebrate communion weekly (at all our services), there is no formal liturgy at this service--it has more of a comfortable, improvisational feel to it. If you have never worshiped with Jazz music, you need to check it out. You can feel free to sing along or just sit back and listen/reflect/pray. This is also the service where we offer all of our children's programming including nursery, Pre-K, and elementary.

- 4:00 PM Evensong Service ("Contemporary/Rock")
This service has been the service that we started with 3 1/2 years ago. Full band, contemporary worship, combined with weekly communion, liturgy, and ancient worship practices. This service tends to be loud (we offer earplugs!) and high energy. Musical influences include Hllsong, Crowder, Tomlin, etc.

- 6:00 PM Vespers Service ("Contemporary Unplugged")
This service has the same music as Evensong, but it is more acoustic and unplugged. This service also features an in-chapel coffee bar, opportunities for discussion and interaction after the message, and a more free-flowing (non-liturgical) approach to communion than the 4PM service. The message at this service comes via video from earlier in the day.

So there you have it... I encourage you to check them all out at some point! While you may have your favorite, it is always good to be stretched in term of worship and to be reminded that it is not about you (or your likes and dislikes), but all about God.

See you Sunday!