Worship Experience

Sunday Eucharist

If one had to name three things that make the St. Mark’s worship experience stand out, it would probably be the fact that we worship in the round, that we share an open communion, and the degree of lay participation.

Worship in the Round

Worshiping in the round adds a powerful dynamic to our weekly worship experience, by allowing those gathered to face one another during the celebration of the Eucharist. Open communion reminds us and our visitors that St. Mark's is an open community and that all are invited to the Lord's table, "wherever you are on your faith's journey, wherever you have come from and wherever you are going to, whatever you believe, whatever you do not believe, all are welcome to partake of the Lord's meal. This is God’s meal not ours.”

Breaking Bread


Sharing the Cup

The level of lay participation in our approach to worship demonstrates the extent to which the service is intentionally ‘owned’ by all members of the community. Lay participation extends to all parts of the service, from the ‘Worship Task Forces’, who actually plan the layout of the service and provide input into the sermon, through the large number acolytes and lay servers, who offer the cup during communion, not to mention the cast of greeters, readers, and altar guild members. None of these tasks require or assume a significant amount of training or prior experience. At the same time, this opportunity to be directly involved lets many members find that their worship experience is deepened.

Setting the Altar

St. Mark's also recognizes that art can be an important aspect of the worship experience. The crosses hanging over the altar are changed in harmony with the season and are crafted by artists from the St. Mark's community, and on any given Sunday, a dance or a scene from an upcoming play by the St. Mark's Players may be woven into the fabric of our ritual.

Liturgical Dance

For the greater part of the year, St. Mark's offers two services, both of which typically follow Rite II.

In addition to the Sunday morning celebration of the Eucharist, St. Mark’s also offers a variety of other services, including the weekly mid-day celebration of the Eucharist (Thursdays at 12:00 PM. in the church basement). From time to time, we also offer alternative services such as the intimate celebration of lay led “Agape” services in the homes of parishioners.

Agape Service

The 9:00 AM. service is intentionally kept short to allow maximum participation of our congregation’s many children. The service includes the Eucharist but no sermon and lasts about 45 minutes.

While the children participate in Sunday school, the homilist gives the sermon and the congregation is invited to share their thoughts and comments. Many find this "Sermon Seminar" an enriching experience, demonstrating that insight into scripture is not limited to the clergy alone. Sermon Seminar lasts until 10:40.

Sermon Seminar

The 11:15 AM. service is a straightforward traditional Episcopal service with an integrated sermon and usually concludes by about 12:30.

Time for Prayer

Photos by Christoph Berendes, David Deutsch and Thia Hamilton