Worship & What to expect if you're new
The basics at the 10am Service
The Beginning
Most people arrive at about 9.55am. Please use the side door on St Andrew’s Road and go into the Hall. Someone will greet you and hand you a hymn book, a mass card and a sheet with the readings on for the day. You can sit wherever you like. We normally play quiet musice before the service an at 10am the priest will welcome everyone.
The service begins with a couple of short prayers, (the Penitential Rite) then the children and helpers leave for Sunday School during the first hymn.
The middle
We sit for the readings, but stand for the Gospel reading, because these are the words of Jesus. After the Sermon, we pray for the world, for our community, for people who are sick, and for the Church. Some people sit, some kneel, some stand. Do what you feel most comfortable with. After that the priest will invite you to stand and share the Peace. Then we sing the Offertory hymn. During this hymn a collection is made for the upkeep and work of St Andrew’s. Please be generous.
The Communion
The priest begins the long Eucharistic Prayer. People stand for the first half, but sit or kneel after the ‘Holy, holy, holy’ when the bells ring. At Communion time people walk to the altar and kneel at the communion rail. Some people take the consecrated Bread and Wine and some ask for a blessing instead. If you kneel you will be offered the consecrated bread dipped into the consecrated wine. If you stand you will be offered just the consecrated bread and if you remain in your place you will be offered the consecrated wine as well.
All baptised Christians who desire to receive Holy Communion are welcome to take the consecrated Bread and Wine here. What matters is a sincere heart and desire.
The End
The service ends with a few announcements and the last hymn. Then the priest moves to the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and we say the Angelus together.
When the service is over, do join us for coffee, or tea and a biscuit or even a slice of toast. And do please introduce yourself to one of the clergy. See you on Sunday!
The details
St Andrew’s is a Church of England church which is sometimes called High Church, or Anglo-Catholic. This means that we place a very special value on the 2000 year old traditions of the Church. Like most Christians around the world and for the past 2000 years we use vestments, bells, incense and the same texts. We know that some of these are unfamiliar for English people, but we feel that it is important to belong to something bigger than ourselves and our own cultures.
Incense has been used in worship by almost all worldwide religions for thousands of years. It imentioned in both the Old and the New Testament. Even though incense is quite unusual nowadays in Church of England churches, most churches around the world still use incense during their services. For most Christians it is very normal. Just as sight, hearing, taste and touch are used in worship, so also is our sense of smell.
Holy Communion is our most important service : the Lord’s service at the Lord’s table on the Lord’s day. Different Christians hold different views about what happens to the bread and the wine at Communion. In the Church of England people make up their own mind, but all Christians agree that it is a moment of intense Communion with Jesus. It is something Jesus told us to do to remember him, and it is the action of doing rather than talking about it which unites us.
The Angelus is based on the words the angel Gabriel spoke to the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary has always been seen as an example of faithfulness and determination in the faith. She is Jesus’s mother, and we believe that she is now with him in heaven.
The basics at the other Sunday Services
The 8.30am Service
Most people arrive by 8.25am. Please use the church door, pick up a service sheet and a black Book of Common Prayer, and join us in the choir stalls.
The 1st Sunday Short Service, 11.30am
This is very informal for small children and their adults. Join us for coffee or tea in the hall before the service and we will call you to come into the church for the service. Children, and some adults, sit on the floor.
The 6pm Service
This is a quiet atmospheric service with candlelight and incense. Most people arrive by 5.55pm. Please use the church door, pick up a service sheet, and join us in the choir stalls.