As Anglicans, the community of St. George’s is “…united around historic forms of liturgical worship and prayer that help shape our faith.”
Our common “liturgical form of worship… unites us through our creeds, worship, and prayer. Common doesn’t mean something that is ordinary; rather, it means something that is shared in common together with others. Common is the root of the word “community” and refers to something we do or share together. When attending our worship services “…you will recognize a liturgy that uses common words and symbols such as the Lord’s Prayer, confession of sin, Scripture readings, and the Lord’s Supper. ” Winfield Bevins, on Seedbed October 16, 2016.
What we do
At St. George’s we gather on Wednesdays at 12:15 and Sundays at 9:00 am and 10:30 am to celebrate the Eucharist, a Greek word that means “thanksgiving.” During our time together we experience our faith in Word and Sacrament. Passages from the Bible are read and reflected on in the sermon. We then pray, offering our cares and concerns to God and ask that our lives may be transformed through God’s will. Through prayer we discover how we have fallen short of all that God intends us to be, so we confess and seek God’s mercy and grace to inspire change in us. We then celebrate the Eucharist, the ritual sharing of bread and wine.
Jesus’ life lived for and on behalf of others inspires us to see our own lives as a gift to be shared; and the resurrection affirms the counter-intuitive wisdom that it is in letting go of what we are afraid to lose that we are transformed and made new. After sharing Eucharist, our service concludes in song and we gather in the parish hall to share fellowship and refreshments, to welcome those who are new and to share our lives with our members who we know and love. As with the Eucharist, it is a sacred time and place where all are welcome.
The Eucharist (Communion)
We believe that this gesture is sacramental, “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” For us, this means that Jesus is somehow present to us in this ritual act, not by “magic,” but through the mystery of God’s revealing himself in a unique way when we partake of this sacred meal of bread and wine. Anglicans believe that this act of receiving is central to our life in faith. Our worship reaches its climax in communion itself, when we come forward to share the bread and wine. This is the enactment of a two thousand year old ritual, instituted by Jesus, through which we are reminded of what is at the centre of our spiritual tradition: a table to which all people are invited and welcomed. This, we believe, reminds us to be more open ourselves.
This is one of our Sunday Service Bulletins to help you understand why we worship the way we do.