Our Worship Service
We welcome you to worship with us in the tradition of the ancient church.
The Anglican Province of Christ the King is a body of apostolic churches celebrating historic Christianity in the Anglican tradition. Our beliefs are based on the Bible and the ancient creeds of the Church. We uphold family values and New Testament morality and use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for our liturgies. We worship God with all our hearts, our souls, our minds, and our bodies, in the beauty and ordered dignity of Christ-centered service.
Standing at the entrance to the nave, our eyes are drawn to the altar and the tabernacle, for here the Real Presence of Christ is reserved, signified by a lit candle or sanctuary lamp. Just as God humbled himself to enter our world as a helpless infant, He re-enters today as consecrated bread and wine become His body and blood in the Eucharist.
Our altar recalls the first Christian altars when, in the early years of persecution, Christians worshiped in dark catacombs under the city of Rome. On stone slabs over martyrs' tombs, they celebrated the Eucharist, candles providing the only light. Our candles today remind us of that time, and that the light of Christ could not and will not be extinguished by the darkness.
Many churches have holy water fonts. In making the Sign of the Cross with water from the font we are reminded of our baptism into Christ. As we walk down the central aisle we recall our journey through life, from the baptismal font (our beginnings) to the tabernacle (our union with Christ).
When entering the pew, we genuflect in the aisle before the Blessed Sacrament, then kneel and offer thanksgiving for the people of the parish, the clergy, and the freedom to worship. This is a time of silent preparation before Mass.
The congregation participates in the Divine Liturgy by following the service in the Book of Common Prayer found in the pews and referring to the Sunday bulletin for the proper lessons for the day. The poetic language of our liturgy dates to the sixteenth century, but the Eucharist itself, instituted by Christ, follows the form of even earlier services. Many prayers and Psalms go back thousands of years.