Worship                                    

We are a Liturgical Church:

Many present-day Christians do not understand why the services or liturgies of the Episcopal Church are so different and so structured. A common assumption is that in the New Testament, worship was spontaneous. However, worship in the early Christian Church, like Judaism, followed a specific order or form. This "order" has its very roots in the Scriptures. In fact, all of Christianity worshipped this way for 1500 years; the Eastern Orthodox Church , and Western Roman Church have been worshiping this way — more or less unchanged — for nearly 2000 years, so also the Churches of the Anglican Communion. [see Liturgica.com]

Greek was the language of the early Christians. And in that language "Liturgy" means "public works for the public good," "public utility company" would be an apt translation. Liturgy does not mean doing something done for personal edification; utility workers do not work to make themselves "feel good."Indeed, as one Rector has put it, "The Church is not a self-help group." We do not "go to church" to "get somethng out of it" but to  put or offer something there to God, for the sake of others. So there is no wonder that when someone is not present that all wonder for whom or what part of God's creation that person was to be praying!

In a Liturgical Church no one is there to "get anything out of the service;" everyone is present to work, each doing his or her "service" in the "public works" of "The People of God,"  on behalf of the whole world. Each is present "to do the work that [God] has given us to do: to love and serve [God] as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord," as the final prayer of The Liturgy prays.

In such a Liturgy therefore,  The People of God, the laos or Laity, do not "worship Jesus" as is so often the case of folk Christianity, but "worship the Father, "through, by, with, and in the Son, through the dynamism or power of the life-giving Spirit, the very life-breath of the Resurrected Christ; we area living organism; we are the flesh and blood, the very Body of Christ in thw world. We are One-together with all human beings in flesh and blood, and One-together with Christ in God. There is no "Jesus" to worship; he is "with us, alwalys, even to the end of the ages."

So, what should you expect when you visit St. Mark's?

We worship not only in word but also in deed-- through words and actions.

You will be greeted at the door as if you were Christ himself, will be given a service leaflet to guide you through the liturgy, and help you to your place in the sanctuary. Don't let the word "sanctury" scare you. It comes from the word sanctus or holy. Indeed, the whole world is holy-- God made it and loves it, but this little space is set aside solely for the purpose of being a space for the conscious meeting-place of God and God's People, hence the name "Communion."

At this time, many offer to God their own personal cares and concerns and thanksgivings, for themselves or on behald of others, family, friends and neighbors.

The altar party will usually process from the back of the sanctuary to the altar area and take their places. During this time a hymn is sung by all.  

Then begins the first half of the Liturgy--
The Liturgy of the WORD   (The Pro-Anaphora) - Word

Two passages of The Scriptures will be read, one from the Hebrew Bible and one from the writings of what  is now called The New Testament.

The Psalm

Between the two above reading, a Psalm is sung or read outloud antiphonally by the Cantor or Reader and the People.

Following the second Reading, all stand and sing another hymn as the Book of the Gospels is processed into the midst of the People.

Then,  speaking in the Name of Christ himself,  the Priest or Deacon proclaims the Good News to the world. Hence, all respond, "Praise to you Lord Christ!"

Then all sit and listen to the WORD of God as interpreted for us at this preent moment.

Then usually follows the Creed, a statement of the Faith of the whole Church, sung or said by all. This is not a personal confession of  what you or I believe, but a participation in the Faith of the Church as a whole [catholic], past, present and future.

Still standing, as a priestly People, sharing together as Christ himself before his Father in heaven, we offer up the World to God. This is the high point of the Liturgy of the WORD. For this we were born, to be present before God on behalf of and for the sake of the world.  Here we are at last One in Christ and One with the Universe, "giving voice to every creature under heaven."

Being One in Christ, receiving from the mouth of the Priest the words of CHrist, "The Peace of the Lord be always with you!" we each turn and pass on that Peace to our neighbor on either side, in front and behind. This is not a time for friendly or personal "chit-chat." It is a sharing of the Word given to us by Christ and leaving its rest to God. It is the liturgical  "forgiving, or dropping of any sin or hindrance that would separate us, one from another, because Christ in his Peace has just done that for us."

And then at last, One in Christ and therefore One with one another, standing before the throne of his Father, we make the Sign, the "outward and visible sign" of our co-unity in God, Father Son and Holy Spirit

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