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SUNDAY SERVICE at 6pm (Evening Church)
ADDRESS:
7100 Granville Ave,
Richmond, B.C. V6Y 1N8
contact@stjohnsrichmond.com
SJR is a Christian church with roots in the Anglican tradition. As Anglicans, we use liturgy (structured prayer) to walk through the wonderful story of who Jesus Christ is, and what God has done for us through his life, death, resurrection and reign. The music, readings, prayers and participation are arranged to help us rehearse the good news ('gospel') of salvation: our new life in Jesus.
Our Evening Prayer and Holy Communion services follow patterns set out in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), developed in the 1500's during the English Reformation by Thomas Cranmer. About 88% of the BCP is directly taken from the Bible.
The best reason to use these classic liturgies is that they remind us of our sin, point to the grace of Jesus Christ, and invite us to respond in faith. This is the pattern of our prayers, and the pattern of the Christian life.
Want to find out more? Read "Introducing Anglican Worship" below (also available in booklet form at the Welcome Table), or email us at "contact@stjohnsrichmond.com" to ask any questions or sign up for our weekly email update.
INTRODUCING ANGLICAN WORSHIP
The word ‘worship’ simply means to honour or recognize someone’s worth or value. As Christians, we believe that no one is more worthy of honour than God who made everything we see and don’t see. Worship is a joyful response of love and gratitude only possible when we’ve heard and received the extravagant good news of God’s love for us through his Son, Jesus Christ. We gather as a community to praise God but worship also includes how we personally encounter and relate to God daily. We follow an ancient ‘order of service’ or ‘liturgy’ (The Book of Common Prayer) which helps us hear, experience, and respond to the living God. The most important parts of our Sunday liturgy are described below:
CONFESSION
Being in a healthy relationship requires honesty. In confession we’re honest with God about our sin. We bring our failures – and the shame it often causes – before our good and gracious Creator. In confession we admit our neediness and our rebellion, and we ask for God’s forgiveness, through Jesus Christ. Confession reminds us that we all need God’s mercy and grace.
A DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS OF SINS (‘ABSOLUTION’)
Though we all fail regularly, and do things we should not do (or don’t do things we should do), there is no need to wallow in guilt and shame. Instead, God invites us to open ourselves up to his grace, and receive his forgiveness through the death of his Son, Jesus Christ. Even at our worst, nothing can separate us from God’s love. Come to him, repent of your sin, and be forgiven by Jesus!
SINGING
In today’s culture, while music is pervasive, the act of singing together as a group is rare. But in the Church, we sing for joy, for worship, to encourage one another, and to express our thankfulness to God for all the great things he has done. As we sing, God’s Word and truth accesses our hearts and emotions in a way words alone cannot. At St. John’s, we sing songs we believe are theologically and emotionally helpful, and that are musically engaging, both classic and modern. Old hymns and new songs remind us we are part of the church universal, both global and historical.
BIBLE READING
Why does the Church read texts that are 2000 or more years old? Because we believe that all Scripture is God’s direct revealing of himself to us. Unless God speaks to us, we’ll have very little to say to him. God speaks to us because he loves us, and wants us to know him. Among all of the ways in which we encounter God, Scripture holds special authority: it is the living word of the living God. We encourage one another to read and be fed by God’s Word daily, but there’s a special significance to reading the Bible in community. St. John’s is a place where you will hear the Bible read, taught and explained (in the Sermon) and have opportunity to ask all your questions among friends. Many people also gather during the week to study the Bible (usually the sermon text for the coming Sunday) in small groups.
SERMON
Because we cherish God’s word, and because he nourishes us through it, we want to have an opportunity each Sunday to examine, teach, explain, and apply Scripture. The way to get to know God is by taking time to carefully hear what he has to say to us. Our speakers prayerfully work hard to help us understand the message of God (the Gospel, or Good News) with clarity and passion each time we gather. As we faithfully preach God’s word, the Church is built up and strengthened.
COLLECTS
Collects are prayers designed to gather us together. They’re dense little prayers. Typically, they (1) address God, (2) highlight his character, (3) make a request to him in light of his character, (4) express a desired result of that request, and (5) ask it all in the name of Jesus. So, for example, the Collect for Purity:
CREEDS
It’s no secret that our lives fluctuate. On any given day we can be bored, frustrated, skeptical, despairing, hopeful, ecstatic, content. In the midst of all of this flux, creeds are historic professions of faith in the faithfulness of God, and locate us within a community of faith which stretches back to the early Church. We affirm three creeds: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
LORD’S PRAYER
This is the prayer Jesus specifically taught us to pray (Mt. 6:9-13; Lk. 11:2-4), and it provides the framework for how to see our lives in relationship to God and the rest of the world. The words are a bit old-fashioned because so many Christians have been praying in this particular way that the phrases themselves have become deeply cherished and resistant to change.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS
Anglicans tend to use a lot of written prayers because they are time tested and scriptural. They connect us to the past and the rest of the church worldwide. Some prayers echo those of Biblical authors in the Old and New Testaments. Some are adapted from the Psalms. When we approach God to pray for the needs of the world, the church, and ourselves, we’re doing our best to say to him, “your kingdom come, your will be done.” We seek God’s heart in our circumstances, and plead for his justice, mercy, and grace. The Bible affirms that we can draw near with confidence before God with our needs (Hebrews 4:16).
SUMMARY OF THE LAW (In the Holy Communion service)
Rules are useful for a lot of reasons, but rules stop being useful if they aren’t connected to the goodness and kindness of God. In the Summary of the Law, Jesus reminds us that loving God and loving each other is the purpose of all the other rules which God gives us in the Bible.
HOLY COMMUNION
While Jesus was on earth, he gave his disciples two sacraments as a gift for his church. The word ‘sacrament’ means “holy.” The two sacraments are Baptism and Holy Communion. Baptism is only needed once. It happens when a person is beginning their new life in Jesus Christ. But Holy Communion (or the Lord’s Supper) is a regular family meal for all Christians. It is a symbol which reminds us that Jesus died to forgive our sins. As we eat bread and drink wine or grape juice (representing Jesus’ body and blood) by faith, Jesus feeds us spiritually to help us grow up strong in a living and active trust in God. Holy Communion expresses “communion” (community and unity) with God and also the love and friendship we share with other Christians because we’re all part of one family—the body of Christ!
CHURCH CALENDAR
We organize our busy lives around so many different calendars: work schedules, school terms, sports seasons, holidays. The Church Calendar has its roots in the early Church. Used rightly, it’s a powerful means of shaping our lives around God’s one big unfolding story as laid out in Scripture. Rather than our lives turning around our own or the world’s agenda, the seasons of the Church year orient us around Christ and what he has done for us.
DO YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?
Reach out to contact@stjohnsrichmond.com or speak to any of our leaders to continue the conversation.
