Special Worship Offerings

Advent and Christmas

The Word in Music
Our Chancel Choir performs a Christmas Cantata or other musical piece that allows us to worship through music. This is a highlight of every Advent/Christmas season, as the choir's already glorious sound is often accompanied by orchestra or other musical ensemble.

Blue Christmas
"Some of us walk into Advent tethered to our unresolved yesterdays, the pain still stabbing; the hurt still throbbing. It's not that we don't know better; it's just that we can't stand up anymore by ourselves. On the way to Bethlehem, will you give us a hand?" --Ann Weems

The holidays aren't merry for everyone. This service provides a space for folks to come and receive the comfort of God who welcomes every part of us--our grief and suffering as well as our joy and hope.

Christmas Eve
Our Christmas Eve worship incorporates prayers for peace, lessons and carols, and candlelight Communion. Holding candles and singing Silent Night is the image we carry as we go into the crisp December air warmed from within. Christ the Savior is born!

Holy Week

During Holy Week, we journey with Jesus into Jerusalem, to the garden, to the cross, to the tomb, and ultimately to resurrection! This is a journey we take together in worship and prayer. Special services of worship are planned to help us move through this time in meaningful ways.

Palm/Passion Sunday
This special worship service embodies the sharp contrasts of Holy Week. In the Entrance with the Palms, we experience the joyous demonstration of loyalty to Jesus as he enters Jerusalem. As we experience God’s Word through dramatic word and symbol, we confront and respond to the story of Jesus’ passion. The passion narratives in scripture are highly unified and dramatic, and it is powerful to experience the story in its wholeness before we reflect at greater length on its various parts during Holy Week

Maundy Thursday
This service of worship is designed to be a dramatic and contemplative retelling of the story of Jesus’s Last Supper with his disciples and of the betrayal that followed. It includes a modified “footwashing” ritual—we are invited to wash each others’ hands. This is in response to Jesus’s commandment in John 13; after washing his disciples’ feet he tells them to “do as I have done to you.” We also participate in the sacrament of Holy Communion. Finally, the sanctuary is stripped and lights extinguished as we move into the emptiness and darkness of Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Good Friday - Seven Last Words of Christ
We share in this traditional service with our sister church, Ebenezer UMC (4th and D Street, SE). The service is led by laypersons from Ebenezer and Capitol Hill UMCs. We pray, hear the words of scripture that capture Jesus’ last words, and reflect upon these words through the lay speakers’ sharing.

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil
An ecumenical Easter Vigil service is offered at one of the local Capitol Hill congregations (through partnership among Capitol Hill Group Ministry members). This ancient ritual will include powerful music, preaching, symbols, and prayer.

Easter Celebration—Christ is risen indeed!
Alleluia! Easter flowers, special music, words of hope and promise, and general merriment fill our worship on Easter Sunday! We always welcome new disciples into the Body of Christ on the day of resurrection! Our worship celebration is followed by refreshments, conversation, and an Easter Extravaganza for all!

Also --

Bless the Pets
This annual worship experience--usually in early October--gathers our furry, feathered, scaly, friends and their humans for a ritual of blessing in the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. We gather in Seward Square Park to read from scripture, pray, remember our beloved pets who have died (by lighting a memorial candle), and then share in a blessing for each pet. Those pets who can't make the trip to Capitol Hill are blessed in spirit.

Refreshments for people and pets are served and a donation is collected to benefit the Washington Humane Society.

Summer Hymn-Sings
It's become a common practice on many Sundays throughout July and August to begin our Sunday worship with an informal time of singing favorite hymns and spiritual songs.  The congregation is invited to call out favorites, our Music Director accompanies on fantastic grand piano, and we sing with gusto in praise to God! 

Special Sundays for the UMC
There are six Special Sundays authorized by the United Methodist General Conference to highlight particular ministries and to collect funds for denomination-wide emphasis; receipts are used for specific, approved programs or benevolent causes.  Church-wide Special Sundays with offerings enable United Methodists to offer refuge in times of disaster, promote peace and justice, provide scholarships and student loans, reach out to the community, teach skills to encourage self-sufficiency and share the love of Jesus Christ with God's people everywhere.  The six Special Sundays with offerings are:


Human Relations Day – The Sunday before the observance of MLK Jr.’s birthday

One Great Hour of Sharing – The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Native American Ministries Sunday – The Third Sunday of Easter

Peace with Justice Sunday – The First Sunday after Pentecost

 

World Communion Sunday – First Sunday of October

United Methodist Student Day – Last Sunday in November