Our Liturgy

Prayer and worship are the heart of our life at St Michael and All Saints. We are a family, a community of people, from across the city and beyond, who seek God in private prayer day by day and who through prayer seek to recognise God in the communities where we live and work, as Jesus did. We gather together as a community on Sundays, and at other times during the week, to worship God, the creator sustainer and spirit, and our individual prayers nourish our corporate worship and our worship nourishes, gives us new strength, to face the challenges of our lives, but much more than that, we are able to recognise God’s presence and image in our daily lives.

Welcoming and Inclusive

We are a welcoming and inclusive congregation. Jesus in the gospels responded to those who came to Him regardless of gender, sexuality, colour or class. We seek to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ in welcoming all those who seek to encounter God in our worship and through our tradition.

Tradition

We use a very robust definition of the word “tradition” and that is: tradition is the living faith of the dead. At St Michael and All Saints our faith lives and is nourished by prayer, while we are very aware of the fact that through our liturgy we worship God through words and in forms that would be recognised by many of the early Christians who met in the catacombs.

This is especially obvious in the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday mornings at 11 o’clock. At the heart of the Eucharist, the Mass, are Jesus’ own words “Do this in remembrance of me”. Jesus used the Hebrew word “remembrance”. This means indeed a past remembrance, but in the sacramental signs of bread and wine Jesus makes himself known. He is our present reality, and through His Holy Spirit he becomes our future Hope. No wonder that the Sunday Mass is the prayerful highlight of our community week.

Worship

We are inclusive in our worship in that music and ritual, all our senses, are used to express the beauty of Holiness. These connect us with all those women and men who down the centuries have sought God through worship, and we now are privileged to make real God’s presence in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers. Holy Week and Easter are an example of our “tradition”. From the Palm Sunday procession, remembering Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, through the Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, with its feet washing and stripping of the Altars. The desolation of the Good Friday liturgy to the expectant hope of the Vigil on Holy Saturday night. The liturgy makes real the fact that even in the darkness and despair of the tomb God is with us to bring new light, life and hope in the glory of Easter resurrection. And so we go out from worship renewed in the Hope that the Holy Spirit will guide us to recognise God’s image in all whom we meet and with whom we spend time.

After worship on Sunday mornings, and often during the week, there is coffee and time to meet people. Please introduce yourself to one of the clergy, who will gladly arrange a time to meet and explore more deeply the sacramental and prayer life of our congregation.

We look forward to meeting you soon.