Worship At AST

Our shared worship life is designed to nurture a rich sense of identity rooted in Christian community. These ecumenical services are in keeping with AST’s identity as expressed in our Mission Statement. During the Summer Term, chapel services normally begin at 8:15 a.m., with classes starting at 9:00 a.m. During Fall and Winter Terms, worship is scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday at noon. The Tuesday service is in-person in the chapel and Thursday, is a hybrid Chapel/zoom service.

On Community Day (Thursday), the service normally includes a sermon. Preachers include senior students, faculty and guests.
Teams preparing worship services are encouraged to integrate liturgical elements appropriate for ecumenical worship from a variety of Christian sources.
A Chapel photocopy card is available for students to use when making copies for chapel services. Please inquire at the circulation desk in the library.
AST also provides the service of an ecumenical chaplain. Students, staff or faculty may call, email or meet with the chaplain in order to discuss concerns/issues that impact their work/studies at AST. These conversations are strictly confidential. The chaplains play no role in evaluating the academic progress of students; they are impartial conversation partners.

Planning Guidelines for Daily Worship

All students, full time and part time, are encouraged to share in leadership
Meet with your team in advance for effective and organized planning
Groups are encouraged to make use of the many books and resources in the Chapel and Library as well as their own resources for Christian worship
See important Copyright and AST Chapel Worship information and incorporate it into your worship materials
Review the Scripture readings for the week - See Lectionary
Consult closely with the Thursday preacher
Consider other elements: music, prayers, movement, ritual and visual aspects

Consult closely with the university musician at least the week before your team’s leadership.
Contact the Sacristan if you need any help with items from the Sacristy or other assistance with the worship space.
Photocopying of worship bulletins may be done in the library.
Seek to build a team that reflects the Christian Ecumenical traditions at AST.
Worship begins promptly at 11:45 a.m. and should last about 20 minutes (except Thursday, when chapel can last up to 40 minutes).
Use a variety of sources in your services – we are an ecumenical community!
Pass on your evaluations, reflections, comments and concerns to the Worship Committee.

Last updated March 2, 2016

Weekday Lectionary For AST Worship

Lectionary Resources for Worship in St. Columba Chapel

Together with the ecumenical community, Atlantic School of Theology follows the Revised Common Lectionary.

Options for daily readings may be found here. Another useful lectionary can be found in the Book of Alternative Services (located in the chapel) on pages 499ff.

Weekly (Sunday) readings, following the Revised Common Lectionary, may be found here.

Updated January 26, 2026

What, in essence, is copyright?

In publishing a work, the author establishes the terms for public availability (e.g., without charge, for sale or rent, the fees, how many copies are available, what kind of uses are permitted, etc.). The public does not have a right to distribute what belongs to someone else on terms other than those set by that person.

Does copyright law apply to churches?

Yes. Some particular needs of churches and other organizations such as schools and libraries are recognized explicitly in law, but in general the same rules apply to churches as to anyone else. Churches need to get permission, as do others, to photocopy, reproduce in bulletins, make transparencies, project from a computer onto a screen, or show a video clip.

What is not "in copyright" and what is "in the public domain"?

Copyright subsists in a work during the lifetime of the author, through the end of the calendar year in which the author dies and for a period of 50 years following that year. If there are multiple authors, the same terms of copyright apply to the last surviving author. In cases where authorship is unknown or where it belongs to a corporate body, the rules are slightly different.

Copyright may not apply for a number of reasons: the place of citizenship of the author or the country of origin of the work may not be signatory to a treaty to which Canada is also a signatory; the term of copyright may have expired; or the owner of the copyright may have assigned the copyright to the public. In these cases, the work is said to be "in the public domain." Extreme caution in the reproduction of public domain material is required because editors, composers, and others, when publishing such material, sometimes introduce their own alterations that are in copyright. For example, part of a text or harmonization may be in copyright while the melody and most of the words are not.

Hymns, music, and printed worship resources

Congregations cannot legally photocopy, reproduce in bulletins, or use on overheads or a projection system, material that is in copyright unless they get permission. In most cases, buying a book does not give the purchaser the right to make reprints in whole or in part. For example, most hymnals have explicit statements on the copyright page about conditions under which certain of the contents may be reproduced.

EXAMPLE
Preceding Material by Don Anderson “Copyright Guide for Congregations—A Guide to Copyright Issues Facing Congregations Today”, 2014 Edition. United Church of Canada.

Responsibility of AST worship planning teams

Anytime worship planning teams reproduce music or lyrics for a leaflet or bulletin or electronic display in chapel worship, the reproduction must include a citation that notes the copyright holder and the license that provides authorization to reproduce the material. In an electronic display, a title slide may be used to contain this information. In print formats, the citation may be printed in small font. For VU/MV sourced materials, the citation and appropriate licensing agency can be found in the index resources noted below. For other sources, search the Licensing Agency websites to determine which agencies cover the songs you plan to reproduce.

For support, please speak to our University Musician.

AST Worship Committee is responsible to report to the licensing agencies when lyrics or music is being displayed or reprinted. Worship planning teams are asked to send an email to the University Musician, listing titles and source info (the number in VU, MV, CP, CBW3, etc.) for selections they intend to reproduce.

AST has two licenses to accommodate our use of copyright material in worship

OneLicense A-726973

Each reprinted hymn or song must include the symbol ©, the year of copyright, and the name of the person or entity claiming copyright. In addition, the words “All rights reserved” and your license number must appear with each piece, or once near the beginning or end of your booklet or bulletin with the other acknowledgements contained therein. Since all OneLicense users are required to add: “Reprinted under OneLicense.net <Your OneLicense.net Number>” to the copyright notice, it is not necessary to add words such as “Used/Reprinted with permission.”

Don’t Be Afraid: Words and music copyright © 1995, 2007 by WGRG, Iona Community, Scotland, admin. GIA Publications, Inc., excl. N. American agent. All rights reserved. Reprinted under OneLicense.net #A-726973

CCL #2979937

The information required to be viewed with each song is: The Song Title, Author(s), The Copyright Notice, the CCL License Number

All Who Are Thirsty: Words and music Benton Brown and Glenn Robertson, © 1998 Vineyard Songs (UK/Eire) (admin. In North America by Music Services, o/b/o Vineyard Music Global, Inc.) CCL#2979937

Resources specifically related to copyright

Please note in the MV/VU license agency indices that since the copyright agency “LicenSing” was merged with OneLicense in 2017, all items previously only covered by LicenSing are now covered by OneLicense.

Online Worship Planning Resources

(Atlantic School of Theology does not necessarily support or endorse the views
expressed on these external websites.)

New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible

World Council of Churches Daily Cycle of Prayer

The Text This Week

The Presbyterian Church in Canada

The Society of Friends (Quakers)

Other

Iona Community
Taize Community
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Library Resources for Chapel Planning

Photocopying for Chapel Services:

A chapel photocopy card is available for students to use when making copies for chapel services. Please inquire at the circulation desk in the library.

The AST Library has an extensive collection of material to assist in the planning of worship services. Below is a small sample of these resources. For further assistance locating the following, or other worship planning resources in the library, please inquire at the circulation desk.

At the circulation desk:

The following periodicals are available at the circulation desk:

Awaken: The art of imaginative preaching
Behold: Arts for the church year
Biblical Preaching Journal
Call to Worship (Presbyterian USA)
Celebration (an Ecumenical Worship Resource)
Gathering (United Church of Canada)
Lectionary Homiletics
Lectern Resource

In the Reference Section:

A number of liturgical texts and resources can be found in the reference section between the call numbers BX 1950 – BX 9881. Here, you will find a variety of denominational texts:

Celebrate God’s Presence (United Church of Canada)
Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs (Presbyterian Church, USA)
The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church, USA
A collection of bulletins from past AST special services

In the General Collection:

Try subject keyword searches in the Novanet catalogue:

"Worship Programs;"
"Liturgy" and "texts"
"Liturgy" and "handbooks"

Some available resources include:

Book of Occasional Services (Presbyterian Church, USA, 1999)
Iona Abbey Worship Book (Iona, 2001)
The Methodist Worship Book (UK, 1999)
Take, Bless, Break, Share: agapes, table blessings, and other small group liturgies
Worship and Daily Life: a resource for worship planners (1999).
Worshipping Ecumenically: orders of services from global meetings (WCC, 1995)

In the Periodical Collection:

The following periodicals can be found in the periodical section of the library:

Pastoral Music
Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland
Liturgy Canada (ACC)
Liturgical Ministry
Liturgy
National Bulletin on the Liturgy (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Ministry and Liturgy
Homiletic
Pulpit Resource (Discontinued in 2013; back copies available downstairs in the periodical collection)

Photocopying for chapel services:

A chapel photocopy card is available for students to use when making copies for chapel services. Please inquire at the circulation desk in the library.

Top

AST Special Services

Throughout the year, special services are planned and led by the worship committee.

Matriculation Service

Two Matriculation services are held during each school year. The first is held early on in the summer term (normally mid-June to the end of July). The second is held early in September. The Matriculation service is one's formal welcome into the AST community. New students, staff and faculty members (and any existing members of the community not previously matriculated) will be invited to come forward, announce their names to the community, and sign the Matriculation book.

Advent

Each year, AST marks the beginning of the Advent season with a service of hope and preparation.

Epiphany

The beginning of the Winter term coincides with the celebration of Epiphany. Recently this service has included a blessing of the residence building.

End of year Agape

The end of the Winter term and our year together as a community is celebrated with an agape (love) feast. Prayers, scripture, and worship are shared as we break bread together and reflect on the year of learning.