Harrowing Of Hell

Choral Evensong

Evensong Livestreams

You can participate and refresh your soul every Sunday at 5:30 pm in the main church building and via livestream on YouTube. We encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive alerts of upcoming broadcasts.

 

Click here for the full playlist on YouTube.

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An opportunity for rest
in the midst of a busy week

Sung at the close of day in Cathedrals and churches throughout the world, Choral Evensong is a service of Evening Prayer, derived from the ancient offices of Vespers and Compline. The choir sings the traditional evening prayers of the church that have been offered for centuries, while the congregation listens, joins in the hymns, and adds their own prayers to those of the choir. It is an opportunity for peaceful meditation in the midst of a busy week.

Evensong is part of the worship which is offered to God by people in every part of the world throughout the day and night. When you come to Evensong at Epiphany, it is as if you were dropping in on a conversation already in progress—a conversation between God and his people, which began long before you were born and will continue long after you are dead.

Evensong is drawn almost entirely from the Bible. Its primary purpose is to proclaim the wonderful works of God in history and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its second purpose is to evoke from the worshipper a response of praise, penitence, prayer, and obedience. Much of the English of the service is the language spoken and written by our ancestors more than four hundred years ago; it may sound old-fashioned but its meaning is not out of date. It is our hope that your prayers may join with ours in our evening offering of worship.

Evensong at Epiphany: A Sacred Music Podcast

Our Sunday Evensong services are currently available as an audio podcast on these platforms:

Excerpts of Evensong

Evensong is a timeless service built around an ancient practice of evening prayer first developed in the patterned life of monastic communities. The liturgy we now know as Evensong was crafted and refined over centuries in cathedrals, which was once the center of life for many. This balance between rigor and creativity has bequeathed us with a treasure of sacred music that affords us the opportunity to pray the same words the faithful have prayed for hundreds of years, while hearing them in ever-fresh and varied ways through the many musical settings in our repertoire.

 


Join our Evensong team

Many people contribute to Epiphany’s cycle of daily prayer, and it takes a team to make this happen each week. While the choir may sing most of the service, we rely on the help of volunteers to continue this offering. Contact Zach Hemenway, our Director of Music, at zhemenway@epiphanyseattle.org if you would like to help grow Evensong at Epiphany.