Anglican Worship

Holy Communion, sometimes called the Eucharist or the Mass, has been the Church's principal service for nearly 2,000 years. The first part of the liturgy is based upon the synagogue service which the earliest Christians continued to attend after Christ's resurrection. It consists of prayers, scripture readings, and sermon. The second part involves an act of self-sacrifice. Bread and wine, representing the lives of the people, are placed upon the altar. There they are joined to Christ's absolute act of self-sacrifice and offered up to God. Our lives are then returned to us, imbued with Christ's own life force. His very Body and blood. In so doing the congregation literally fulfills the word of Romans 12:1:

“I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”