The Christ Church Choir, under the direction of Betty Burton, is made up of many very gifted parish members. They provide a wide variety of choral music throughout the year.

Christ Church is home to the annual Gala Rhododendron Festival Concert, held on the last Saturday night of April as part of the City of Eureka’s Rhododendron Festival. This concert draws people from the entire North Coast area of California, because it offers a wide variety of music which includes pipe organ solos, choral selections, and other instrumental and vocal combinations ranging from a solo harpsichord to a symphony orchestra. The musicians are Humboldt County residents, making this concert an integral part of the local musical scene.

Lectors (Readers)

The Episcopal Church defines a “lector” in the following way:

A lay person trained in reading scripture who is appointed by the clergy person in charge of the congregation to read lessons or lead the prayers of the people. The term is from the Latin, “to read.” There is no license required for this lay ministry. A lector may also be known as a reader. Lay persons served as readers in the early church. However, by the third century this ministry was performed by those ordained to the minor order of lector (reader). The minor orders became steps leading to ordination to the priesthood. The reading of the gospel at the Eucharist was the responsibility of the deacon by the fourth century. The lector read from the ambo (lectern) in the basilicas of the fourth and fifth century. Minor orders were not continued in Anglicanism.

Fr. Ron emphasizes the Servant Leadership role of the Lectors at Christ Church. Being a Lector is a “ministry, and gift to our faith community’s worship, not a ‘job.” Being a Lector affords an opportunity to be the hands and face of Christ to the strangers in our midst, as well as to our regular congregants. For many visitors to our parish, the Lectors are the first voices that the visitor hears — a ministry dynamic.

A “Lectionary” is a table of readings from Scripture appointed to be read at public worship. Several years ago Christ Church transitioned from the Lectionary readings laid out in the Book of Common Prayer to the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) — an ecumenical project of several American and Canadian denominations, developed out of a concern for the unity of the Church and a desire for a common experience of Scripture.

The Lectionary is used by 14 major denominations, including the Church of England, in large part because it incorporates a pattern of readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament that are chosen in relation to the Gospel. It is a three-year cycle of Sunday Eucharistic readings in which Matthew, Mark and Luke are read in successive years, with some material from John read in each year. It also includes texts that feature women and their role in salvation history, offering texts about women never heard on Sunday with the former Lectionary.

If you would like to be a part of this Servant Ministry — helping the congregation hear the Bible as the word of God, and the Prayers of the People — please contact Judy Warren at owlandcompass (at) sbcglobal (dot) net.

* View the current Lectionary Readings