The Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison, Vicar, St. Peter’s Episcopal Chapel, Leland Boaters on the Leland River, and residents, tourists, and pedestrians in Leland itself, are familiar with hearing every summer Saturday beginning at 4:30pm the sound of a bagpiper from the Grand Traverse Pipe and Drum Corps playing on the banks of the Leland River prior to celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the lawn of the Leland Library by St. Peter’s Episcopal Chapel at 5:00pm.
Episcopalians began worshiping together in Leelanau County, first in East Leland, in 1908, and in 1964 St. Peter’s was organized as a summer chapel of the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes. Like St. Christopher’s, Northport, the diocese’s year-round parish in the county now in its 53rd year, St. Peter’s welcomes everyone – people of faith, of no faith, and in search of faith.
The liturgical rite for the Saturday Eucharist (or Mass or Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper) is that of the Book of Common Prayer, while the liturgical ceremonial comes from the Celtic contemplative tradition of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany – peoples known for their love of music, oral expression, and art marked by a stylized view of nature.
