The Prayer Book (1979)  instructs us that the Holy Eucharist is to be "the principal act of worship on the Lord's Day and other major Feasts."  At Saint Mark's, Mass has been said daily since 1884.  It is the practice that most clearly defines who we are as a Christian community.

High Mass.JPG

In the Mass we are first and foremost worshiping God - entering into his holy Presence, since our Lord promised that wherever two or three are gathered together in his Name he would be in the midst of us - and offering our prayers and praises.  The Mass is always an act of thanksgiving (this is what the word "eucharist" means), and we rejoice to define our lives by this daily act of thanksgiving.  In the Mass we also have the opportunity to hear Holy Scripture, to pray for the needs of the church, the world, ourselves, and those we love, to experience God's forgiveness and healing, and to enjoy communion with the living Lord as we receive the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

We believe that the risen and glorified Christ is really present with us in the sacramental forms of Bread and Wine, which are mysteriously transformed into his Body and Blood.  The significance of the mystery is that Jesus makes his self-giving love known to us and to the world - and has for centuries - by being among us in this way.

We are a community of faith that aspires to be open to the mysteries of God.  We find that God reveals himself to his people - but does so shrouded in mystery.  Our worship acknowledges that God remains mysterious to us even in his love for us.  At the heart of the Mass is the mystery of how and why Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection have brought God's people into a new, restored relationship with him, and have given us hope for grace and blessings in this life, and in the life that is to come beyond the grave.

All baptized Christians are welcome to receive communion at any celebration of the Mass at Saint Mark's, and persons of any faith or no faith at all are always welcome to participate with us, and to come to the altar rail for a blessing as they feel God urge them on their way.

 

A Prayer before Worship

O Almighty God, who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.