Worship

Meeting together for worship and fellowship is, for many of us, the highlight of our week. We take our worship seriously, yet we are not precious about it. In the flow of worship, the ancient mingles with the contemporary, the formal with the informal. We gather to worship God but never forget that we encounter Christ in each other. It is the worship of the whole church and so the congregation actively participates in many different ways. We especially value music, song and psalmody, drawing on a rich variety of music and hymns and songs.

When we worship together, we have a good mix of ages, a balanced ratio of men and women and many who have come from very different traditions. We value our diversity and see it as a strength.

Sunday Eucharist

Our life as a congregation is centred around the Sunday Eucharist. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek meaning “thanksgiving” and this service is also known as The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion or the Mass. It is the central act of worship for the majority of Christians in the world. Whilst much has been written about it, if you are unfamiliar with it, we suggest you simply come and experience it and then, perhaps, seek out someone with whom you can talk about your experience.

Children are very important to the ethos of our worship. In term time they have their own “Upperchurch” group but in every service they share in communion together with the rest of the family. Once a month, usually on the first Sunday, we have an “all-age” communion service. This is not a “children’s service” but a time when we seek to worship, learn and pray in ways that people of any age can access and be involved in.

Music is important to us; we enjoy singing and using different musical settings of the mass throughout the year. We have a fine organ (and a piano) and a team of four players from within our ranks. We have other instrumentalists among us and like to enrich our services from time to time with their musical gifts.

There are refreshments and fellowship in the hall after the Sunday Eucharist. We see this time as a natural extension of the hospitality of Christ offered in the sacrament of communion. In this time of fellowship we celebrate birthdays and other important occasions in the life of our “family” community. The atmosphere is relaxed, friendly, and our children help to create a spirit of “holy chaos” at times! We like that.

Children...

Our Sunday morning programme for children is known as “Overchurch” as it usually takes place in the “Upper Room” in our tower. Sometimes though it happens in our garden or out and about round the church. A small group of dedicated teachers and teaching assistants lead in story-telling, crafts, singing, and age-appropriate conversation about all manner of things! Children return to church in time for communion with the whole St. Columba’s community gathered. Upperchurch doesn’t meet during school holidays but we try to have simple resources available in church for our young people, and involve them in the services.

We see ourselves like a family in many ways, a small clan-sized group, so we hold one service that all can attend on Sunday mornings. On the last Sunday evening of each month we also have our “St C’s@6”, which takes a variety of forms – from Taize worship to a prayer walk, from worship in our garden to reflecting on works of art, from a beautiful evensong to contemplative prayer. We follow it with a simple supper together.

Every Thursday we have short, informal communion service, followed by lunch together in a local pub.