The addition of a worship service at a Parish can be an uncertain move, especially in the midst of a frustrating global pandemic. There are always questions about whether anyone will attend something new, and if a new service will be successful. While these questions may be in the back of my head, there is still a lot of life-giving excitement to be felt from the creation of something new. What I can say is that our new evening worship service “Rooted” has been a tremendous success. Since its start at the end of September, several new people have been attending our Parish, and this service has proved to be a quite moving and spiritually feeding experience for those who experience it.
If I were to describe what Rooted is I would describe it in this way:
A simple 40-minute midweek evening prayer service of silence, candlelight, reflection, contemplation and art. Rooted draws from both ancient prayers & scripture as well as modern poetry to help root and reroot people in the presence of God always around them.
It is important for some to be able to worship and fellowship after a busy workday during the week, and I know that Rooted is filling in this gap for people. Rooted is also a very “low stakes” sort of worship experience. People don’t need to know anything about the Episcopal Church, liturgy or even God to be able to participate fully in this worship style. As a result of this, Rooted is a highly innovative and invitational type of prayer service. Through its prayers, the physical space and its pacing, Rooted is structured to honor where any one person is on their spiritual walk.
Rooted takes place every Wednesday evening at 6:00pm in the main church at Saint Gabriel’s located at 124 Front Street in Marion. Saint Gabriel’s is an open and affirming parish and proudly welcomes all within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. Anyone is welcome to attend our church just as they are.