We Welcome You to St. Mark's
It can sometimes be intimidating to enter a church you are not familiar with. People usually take their religion seriously, and you might feel self-conscious when everybody but you seems to know what they're doing. St. Mark's, however, is relatively informal in its approach to worship, and nobody will be singled out or made to feel uncomfortable.
You are our respected and welcome guest, and we hope you will feel as comfortable in our house as you would in that of a valued friend. Please don't hesitate to ask our ushers at the door if you have any questions, or need somebody to help you manage the Prayer Book and Hymnals during the service.
We hope, as well, that the information below will give you a better understanding of the way we worship and help you feel more at home when you join us.
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Our Place of Worship:
The sign over the Sanctuary, "This is none other than the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven" has been a consistent reminder for our parishoners for almost 140 years that this truly is God's House.
As you enter the church, you will notice an atmosphere of quiet reverence in the few minutes prior to the beginning of worship. Most of our parishoners cherish that quiet moment to make a transition from their daily world into the spirit of God's house.
The architecture of St. Mark's church, as of all Episcopal Churches, carries your eye to the altar and then to the cross, taking our thoughts at once to Christ whom we hope to encounter, and to God, whose house this is.
On the altar are candles to remind us that Christ is the "Light of the World." [John 8:11] They are lighted prior to the service symbolizing the presence of Jesus Christ.
Except during the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent, there are flowers at the altar to beautify God's house and to recall the resurrection of Jesus.
To the left of the altar is the lecturn, which is used for by a designated lay reader for the reading of scripture from the Bible. To the right of the altar is the pulpit, from where the preacher - most often our rector, but sometimes a seminarian or a lay person - preaches the sermon.
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The Act of Worship
Episcopal worship services are congregational. In the pews, you will find the Book of Common Prayer which enables the congregation to share fully in every service. In addition, you will also find in the pews a copy of the Episcopal Hymnal, and a supplemental hymnal, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Worship leaders make every effort to announce page numbers and hymn numbers so you do not have to rely on looking things up in the Sunday Bulletin as service progresses.
You may wonder when to stand, sit or kneel. You may also notice that there are times in the service when some of the members of the congregation are standing while others are kneeling. The general rule is to stand to sing. We also stand during the consecration while others kneel. Either is appropriate. We sit during readings from the Bible, the sermon, the announcements and the choir anthems. We generally kneel, thought some stand, during prayers to show our gratefulness to God for accepting us as his children, or as an act of humility before God.
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The Prayer Book
All worship at St. Mark's is drawn from the Book of Common Prayer. Sometimes, people wonder at the wisdom of this approach - it seems like rote repetition to them. Yet the reality is that it is very freeing. Because we are thoroughly familiar with the words, we are free to spiritually go wherever the words take us - whether it is to a place for penitence for our sins, of deep searching for God in prayer, or of joy in the incredibly generous gift of Christ's life for us. Like icons and sacrements, the Prayer Book is a window into another world - God's world - through which we see our own world and lives differently. This book is used by all Episcopalians in this country (as well as all Anglicans across the world) as we are using it in our church each week. Granted, it takes a little getting used to...but once the Prayer Book becomes familiar it is a springboard, not a brick wall. Current and historical versions of the Book of Common Prayer are available online.
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The Regular Services
The central service of worship at St. Mark's is the Holy Eucharist, the rememberance of Christ's death and resurrection made concrete in the bread and wine. As you participate in the Eucharist, over time the logic of this service will grow clearer. In a nutshell, we begin by listening to scripture and reflecting on its meaning for life, and then move through prayer, confession and forgiveness to becoming the family of God gathered around the table of God, living ever so briefly in the life of heaven before we return again to the world, hopefully transformed and renewed to live life differently.
There are variations on the Eucharist service you will encounter if you come to worship at different times. The form of Eucharist we celebrate at the 10:15 am service utilizes contemporary language and includes music from our organist and choir. The 8:00 am service, usually also the Eucharist service, is celebrated without music and is a more comtemplative service. On occasion, we also celebrate the Morning Prayer service, harking back to our Protestant roots.
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Vestments
To add to the beauty and festivity of the services and to signify special ministries, the clergy and other ministers wear vestments. Choir vestments consist of a blue undergown, called a cassock, and a white, gathered overgown called a surplice. Laity who have roles as worship leaders wear a similar vestment, except that their cassoc is black. Acolytes, young people and adults who assist with worship, wear a muslin alb.
The priest wears an alb as well - a white tunic with sleeves that covers the body from neck to ankles. Over it, the priest wears a stole, a narrow band of colored fabric in the color of the season of the church year. Click here to see an explanation of the Episcopal Church colors.
At the Holy Eucharist, the second part of the Sunday service, the priest wears a chasuble (a circular garment that envelops the body) over the alb. Like the stole, this garment is the color of season of the church year.
The wearing of vestments call to mind that what is happening in a church service is unusual and godly, something different from the world of ordinary experience. However, there are other service participants, including those who read scripture and lead prayers, who wear ordinary clothes and sit in the pews with the rest of the congregation. These people remind us that everything we do must simultaneously be connected with theworld we live in on a daily basis. While the consciousness of heaven is meant to lift us out of this world, it is not escapism, but renewal for the life God has given us to lead.
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The Church Year
The Episcopal Church observes the traditional Christian calendar in which we move through the life of Christ in the course of a year. The season of Advent, during which we prepare for the birth of Christ at Christmas, begins on the Sunday closest to November 30. Christmas itself lasts 12 days, after which we celebrate the Epiphany (January 6) in which the light of Christ breaks out into the world.
Lent, the fourty days of penetential preparation for Easter, begins on Ash Wednesday. The most deeply spriitual services of the year take place during the week before Easter in which we commemorate the last days of Christ culminating in his resurrection on Easter Sunday. During Easter season, we focus particularly on the experiences of the risen Christ in the early Church, culminating in Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, when the disciples are filled by the Holy Spirit and sent into the world.
During all of these seasons, the Bible readings are selected for their relevance to the events being commemorated. During the rest of the year in the long season after Pentecost, the New Testament is read sequentially from Sunday to Sunday so the congregation can experience the total teaching and experience of Christ and of the apostle Paul and other authors of New Testament letters. Old Testament lessons are selected to correspond with the theme of the day's Gospel reading.
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Where do I go from here?
To church, we hope! As you experience worship at St. Mark's, please feel free to ask any questions that come to mind. Our priest will be happy to schedule time to visit with you. Or you can contact us at this Website. We trust and pray that, as worship becomes more familiar to you, the experience of being with God and your family in Christ at St. Mark's will open the doors of the kingdom of God to you.
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