Why Liturgy?

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

These are the words of a traditional Anglican prayer called the Collect for Purity. At St Thomas Mission, along with churches around the world, we include this prayer in our worship by saying it together near the beginning of a communion service.

If you’ve been to any of our services at St Thomas Mission, you know that we use a "liturgical" form of worship in our gatherings. We kneel, stand, read, confess and pray together. We realize that for many people much of this is unfamiliar. For that very reason, we decided to put together a series of short videos to help explain some of the history, symbolism, and theology behind our liturgical worship. It is our hope that the information shared in these videos will be both informative and life-giving.

You might be sceptical about liturgical worship.  You might just be curious. Perhaps you have had a bad experience with liturgy or maybe you don’t even know what we mean when we use the word “liturgy.” Maybe liturgical worship is absolutely your favourite thing in the world. Whatever comes to mind when you hear the word “liturgy,” these videos are for you. 

If you have further questions about our worship or liturgy, email Fr. Paul or Fr. Geoff