please can somebody explain these church services to me?

[emily05]

My local church have two services.

The 8am one is holy communion - using the book of common prayer

the 9.30am is a eucharist service using recent common worship form??

and then it says somthng about evensong?

can anybody give me an update about what this all means before I pick a service??

Thanks

Holy Communion = Eucharist. Just different terms.

Book of Common Prayer services use the service/language from the BCP c. 1659 (I think) , so 'old-fashioned' language. Common Worship uses today's language.

Evensong is a rather contemplative evening service (no Eucharist) which is often very beautiful.

Hi, Emily!

The 8 am one will use the BCP - basically Shakespearean English - and at that time of the morning will probably have no singing.

The Eucharist and Holy Communion means the same thing. The 9.30 one will have contemporary language and be the more family-friendly of the two. It will also have hymns. If you don't want to go up for Communion you can just stay in your pew/seat. You can also go up and have a blessing instead of Communion, although it's best to let the priest know beforehand so there isn't any confusion.

Evensong uses the Book of Common Prayer again. In our village it is attended by six people all over 70. It can be very beautiful or it can be dreadful.

hth

thanks guys - this really helps x