At the Cathedral of Hope we start with announcements, then there is a processional hymn where the clergy enter. Next is a musical piece, followed by a choral gradual. There is a reading from the Gospels which is followed by the Gloria. Next is a sermon, which is at least 20 minutes and includes clips from movies. Holy Communion follows. There is usually prayer and song before and after Holy Communion. We stand and hold hands up high at the end of Holy Communion. There is a last hymn at Benediction. The service is online should anyone wish to watch.
What order of worship does your church follow? Is it available online?
I’m Catholic. This is the formula for all Catholic churches throughout the world. Today, all parishes heard the same 3 readings, said basically the same responses, with language differences. Before Vatican II, the responses were mostly Latin, so it was even more uniform. It looks confusing, but isn’t really.
Entrance Hymn (Stand)
Opening Prayers
1st Reading (Old Testament usuallly) (Sit)
Responsorial Psalm
2nd Reading (New Testament)
Alleluia (Stand)
Gospel Reading
Homily (Sermon) (Sit)
Profession of Faith
Intercessory Prayers
Collection - Song
Sign of Peace (Say hi to your neighbor)
Lamb of God
Eucharistic Prayer [Kneel)
Lord’s Prayer (Stand)
Communion - Song (Kneel)
Closing Prayer (Sit)
Announcements
Recessional Hymn
Well, it’s the formula for those churches (the vast majority) where the Novus Ordo missal is used. In those parishes where the Tridentine rite is offered, the mass is all in Latin. See here for the text. Various parts of the mass (the Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Alleluia, Gospel, Offertory, Secret, Communio and Postcommunion) change from day to day according to the Sunday, feast etc.
We generally use the following order of service for the morning:
Hymn Number 1
Hymn Number 2
Announcements
Prayer (sometime with congregational requests before)
Hymn Number 3
Offering
Hymn Number 4
Scripture Reading
Special Music
Sermon
Invitation
Closing Prayer
Sometimes we switch the second Hymn to after the Prayer, and sometimes we have the Scripture Reading before the fourth Hymn.
Choir sings/worship
Announcements, if any
Prayer
(If there’s gonna be a message in tongues or a prophecy, it’ll probably happen here)
Offering
Choir sings again
Sermon
Altar Call
A typical Sunday morning service goes from about 11am-12:30ish pm
Episcopalian. Our services are laid out in the Book of Common Prayer. Our service is more or less the same as the same order of service outlined above by StGermain in the Catholic Church. All churches in the Anglican community and all Catholic churches hear the same Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel on any given Sunday. I believe the Lutheren Church does the same.
Generally, Episcopalians stand to sing, sit to listen, and kneel to pray. The Prayers of the People are said standing.
The general order is:
Procession with hymn
The Collect of the Day
The Lessons:
1st Reading - usually, but not always from the OT
Psalm - read responsively
2nd Reading - usually, but not always from Paul’s Epistle
Anthem by choir
Gospel - all stand, read by priest
Sermon
The Nicene Creed -said standing
The Prayers of the People - here go any special requests for prayer
The Peace
Announcements
Offertory with hymn
General Confession
Absolution of Sins
Communion
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord’s Prayer
The Breaking of the Bread
The Blessing
Recession with hymn
Finally, drink coffee and yak it up in the parish hall.
The service takes about an hour. At my church we tend to dress for church - men in jackets, women wearing their pearl earrings. Very few people in blue jeans, although it is entirely up to parishioners what to wear.
My husband grew up in the Catholic Church. The only difference between the Episcopal Service and the Catholic Service that took some time for him to get used to was the Coffee Hour after the service. He was used to heading straight for the parking lot.
All the masses I’ve been to, the only time we’ve knelt is after communion (during the song), and that’s if we’re in the pews (last church I went to we sat in loose chairs in the back, couldn’t really kneel… it’s a smallish church but lots of people go there). This was a Catholic church also.
Opening hymn
Prayer by member of the congregation
Announcements/business
Hymn for the Sacrament (Communion)
Sacrament blessed and passed around
A youth speaker, 5 minutes
Two or more speakers from the congregation, on assigned topics (for example coming to Christ through repentance, etc.)
Perhaps a rest hymn or musical piece by a member of the congregation between talks
Closing hymn
Prayer
It’s a three-hour meeting block, and that’s the main meeting with everyone together. In the rest of the time, there are classes for children, teens, and adults–one hour of Sunday School by age group and one of inspirational-type classes by gender (for example I teach some of the teenage girls, and today it was about family stuff).
10:30am
Greeting
Confession
20-30 minutes contempory praise and worship
(which may include tongues, prophetic words, the gifts of the Holy Spirit generally)
Led Prayers
Time of Testimony
Notices
Reading (not usually from the church calendar - we are working through John at the moment)
Sermon - up to 30 minutes
Youth and children return from their respective ministries
Final Blessing and Notices
Final Praise songs and Offering
12:15ish
Of course, this is only one of the services our church offers on a Sunday morning, and is held in a School Hall (so add at least an hour at each end for setup/pack down).
There is also a Book of Common Prayer service, and another Family Worship service, more formal than the above.
And we are are a fairly charismatic CofE church.
I go to one of those shorts and sandals wearing joints, very relaxed.
Rock-n-Roll worship set. 30 minutes.
Announcements (often includes some funny video clip of our pastor making a fool of himself–like the time he belly flopped into the local pool–all 250lbs of him, then had the water pumped out of his mouth with the classic pushing in of the legs, a la Bugs Bunny).
Message–About 45 minutes.
Break between services. The 1st service people meet up with the 2nd servicers and hang out in the lobby munching on dognuts, bagels, and drinking the coffee, OJ, or milk.
Opening announcements
Lighting of the candle
Song while everyone takes their kids to RE
Then its freeform. Sometimes there are readings and a sermon. Sometimes we have guest speakers. The readings are seldom from the bible - poetry, essays, snippets of prose. Sometimes the choir just sings. Sometimes the kids do something. The minister only does about 2 services a month - none in the summer - the rest are congregation lead.
Southern Baptist. We’re televised so this is timed to the second. Big countdown clock in the balcony for the pastor.
Announcements
Prelude - organ, choir and pastor enter from sides
Call to Worship - choir
Opening Hymn - congregation
Worship Welcome - pastor
Howdy, Neighbor - congregation
Choir Anthem - Song of Praise
2nd Hymn - congregation
Special Music - solo or orchestra
Offeratory Hymn - congregation
Offeratory - with special music/solo
Message - pastor
Invitation - congregation
Benediction - Doxology
Eastern Orthodox, so the pattern of worship is quite fixed:
Great Litany
Antiphons
Little Entrance with the Gospel
Trisagion hymn
Prokeimenon (similar to a Gradual) and Epistle
Alleluia and Gospel
Augmented Litany, Litany of the Catechumens, and two Litanies of the Faithful
Cherubic Hymn
Great Entrance with the bread and wine
Litany
Creed
Anaphora (Eucharistic prayer, said silently), including singing the Sanctus and Benedictus, Tebe Poyem, and a hymn to the Mother of God
Litany
Lord’s Prayer
Communion of the Clergy
Communion of the Faithful
Final litanies and closing
The liturgy is much less regimented than a service of the traditional Latin rite (i.e. Tridentine or Anglo-Catholic). There’s no pews, so people are free to move around, chase after kids, light candles, etc. during the service (everyone stands). The whole thing lasts around 1.5 to 2 hours.
ECLA Lutheran, so we go by the Lutheran Book of Worship.
Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness
Opening Hymn
Kyrie
Hymn of Praise
Prayer of the Day
Old Testament lesson - sometimes we skip this, or the next
Epistle - see above
Gospel
Sermon
Hymn of the Day
Offering
Prayer of the Church (congregation offers its own petitions)
Passing the Peace
Words of Institution and Eucharist
Closing Prayers
Announcements and Benediction
Closing Hymn
About an hour and change.
We have a Contemporary Worship as well, but I don’t care for it.
