“Necessity Was the Mother of Invention” in the summer of 2010 when, struggling to worship comfortably with the sudden loss of air conditioning in the Nave, the leadership of Grace Episcopal Church, 20 Belvoir Ave., decided to offer a single service in the Undercroft for the duration of the outage. We all missed the beauty and solemnity of our traditional worship space but we appreciated the opportunity to worship together as a united and robust body at a time of year when worship attendance tends to decline.
The following summer, encouraged by the mostly positive reviews this single Sunday service generated, the Worship Team, which serves as a counsel of advice to the Rector on matters related to worship, supported her inclination to offer a single Sunday service again that year and beyond.
This summer one Sunday service continues, gathering at 10:00 am as in previous years, for the months of July and August.
In addition, Grace will offer a first-ever opportunity to celebrate the Holy Eucharist at 5:00 pm on Saturday evenings during this same period of time. This is being offered as a kind of “Holy Experiment” to see who this time slot might serve and their preferred style of worship. At the offset, the service will be a spoken (no music) version of Rite II of Holy Eucharist, similar to the weekly Wednesday morning service which has been, characteristically, informal and contemplative.
Depending on the felt needs and desires of those who choose to attend this Saturday evening service, it may evolve to better support those folks in their spiritual formation. If the service is well-received, it may be offered regularly or periodically throughout the program year.