Sunday Vespers in Montrose attracts people from many traditions

By Charles Cesaretti

In response to a group of laypersons in Montrose seeking a Sunday evening service, Historic St. Paul’s has been hosting a monthly Office of Vespers at 5 p.m. on the second Sunday of the month. The service has slowly grown over the past months and the attendance in November was 95.

In November, 19 church school students formed the Combined Youth Choir of Montrose to sing at the monthly Vesper Service at St. Paul’s Montrose.

Following the monthly Vesper Service, a light supper prepared and served by a team from one of the participating congregations is provided in the Parish House of St. Paul’s.

“We are grateful to St. Paul’s,” opines Mary Lee Fitzgerald, who chairs the steering committee. “As a community we are able to gather for this service in a beautiful worship space.”

The Rule of St. Benedict (530-43) gave form and content to the evening hour worship. St. Benedict gave it the name vespera. A number of candles are lighted, not only to give light, but also for symbolic purposes.

“It is a great joy to join at Vespers,” reports Father Jerry Safko, pastor of Holy Name of Mary Roman Catholic Church in Montrose. “It is wonderful to have our laypeople active and excited by the opportunity to worship together on a regular basis. And, it is special for me to sit in the congregation as a worshipper.”

The psalms, the lections, the hymns, and the solemnity provide an appropriate ending to the day. “Vespers provides a wonderful way for laypeople to take liturgical leadership and to gather for worship whatever your religions tradition,” says Fitzgerald. “We open with the singing of an evening hymn and light the Vesper Candle. There is a recitation of a psalm, and the reading of a lesson from both the Old and New Testament. We then pause for a period of personal reflection and meditation. We recite the Lord’s Prayer in unison and then the lay lector leads a responsive prayer. We end the service by singing Let There Be Peace on Earth, at which time the light is passed to every member of the congregation.”

“St. Paul’s is honored to host the Vespers,” reports Rachel Warriner Bartron, senior warden of St. Paul’s. “St. Paul’s is an open, welcoming, and inclusive parish and the service brings together worshippers from many traditions affirming that posture.”