What to Expect
Get to know a bit more about worship at Church of the Resurrection! If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact the church during office hours 925-685-2288 or email the office: office@resurrectionph.org.
Our Sunday Services are at 8:00 am (sermon and communion without music) and 10:15 am (sermon and communion with music and church school). The 10:15 service is also livestreamed on our Facebook page. We also have an intimate Eucharist on Wednesdays at 11, where whoever comes that day shares in the readings, leading the prayers, and in conversation in place of the sermon.
For dress, wear what is comfortable for you, whether it be t-shirt and flip flops, hoodie and jeans, suit and tie or dress — most of our congregation lands somewhere in the middle.
Holy Eucharist, commonly called communion, is celebrated at both the 8:00 am and 10:15 am Sunday services each week. Everyone is welcome at our altar — all who seek God are welcome to receive communion. At communion, we offer wheat and gluten-free bread and serve both wine and non-alcoholic grape juice. Everyone is welcome to participate in all parts of our worship service.
Church of the Resurrection is an Episcopal Church and our services draw on the Book of Common Prayer, as well as other worship resources from around the Anglican Communion. We are a liturgical church, meaning our worship follows a similar pattern each week and through the seasons of the church year. If you’ve been to a worship service in a Roman Catholic or Lutheran Church, plenty of our service will likely feel familiar. We believe ritual is something that helps us enter into worship with our whole body — not just our minds, but using all our senses to encounter the Holy. We provide a service leaflet containing everything you need for the service. The parts spoken by the congregation are printed in bold. You can get a sense of our worship style by taking a look at our livestream on Facebook.
Our sanctuary and parish hall are both accessible for people using wheelchairs or with other mobility needs. Our sanctuary has chairs rather than pews, and they do not have arms. We can easily rearrange chairs to help you be more comfortable in the space, and are happy to do so; please let an usher know what you need. Most of our bathrooms are set up to be used by one person at a time. Our sanctuary has a hearing loop to support people with a hearing impairment during worship.
The 8:00 am service lasts about 50 minutes with a coffee hour afterwards in the Parish Hall kitchen. The 10:15 am service lasts around an hour and fifteen minutes and it is also followed by a coffee hour on our patio. This is a wonderful opportunity for fellowship.
During the school year, many of our younger children are in church school during the first half of the 10:15 am service and join their families with the congregation during the Peace for communion and the rest of the service. That said, children are absolutely welcome to stay in the sanctuary for the entirety of the service, and some families choose to spend the whole service together this way. We are always delighted to have wiggly kids as part of as our worship!
There is a sermon at both Sunday services. The sermons generally last between 10 and 15 minutes, and the preachers try to engage (and wrestle with!) our scripture and explore how these sacred stories connect to our daily lives and current issues. You can get a sense for what sermons are like by listening here.
Please take a few minutes to explore our website for more information. You can also check out our Facebook Group, Church of the Resurrection – Pleasant Hill, CA or Facebook Page, Episcopal Church of the Resurrection – Pleasant Hill, CA.