As Christians we are called to continually learn about our faith and deepen our relationship with God. As we grow in love, understanding and awareness of the God who loves us, so we become ever mindful that worship and devotion are the only appropriate responses to a God whose mercies are so limitless. As our devotional-self grows so we become more able to engage in God’s work of love, justice and mercy in the world. Liturgy and learning are therefore essential if we are to become the people God calls us to be.
The Liturgy at The Parish Church of St Mary and St Nicolas, Spalding
We believe that liturgy has the power to change lives and worship can transform our community. Worship is not entertainment and it must not be superficial. The liturgy gives worship depth, found most significantly through the Eucharist. Some might be tempted to think of liturgy as simply meaning “ritual” or ceremony. However, while liturgy does include ritual, it is something much deeper than mere ritualism or ceremonial, and it is more than just a communal expression of our personal feelings of devotion. The Liturgy literally draws us into the mysterious life of God. And the Eucharist unites us with the very actions of God himself through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Neither is liturgy just a matter of taste, or churchmanship. Liturgy is central to the Christian tradition and is an integral part of the Christian family’s relationship with God. The signs, symbols and sacred actions which form public prayer and worship spring from the language and events of God’s own self-revelation. Every aspect of the Church’s liturgy has its roots in scripture and the earliest church tradition. Anglicanism’s liturgical celebrations arise directly out of the mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ. Through it we enter directly into that mystery.
The liturgy does not stop with church services, our entire lives are a part of the ‘liturgy of life’ as we worship God through our daily actions: work, rest, recreation and service. Worship is also continually happening in heaven, and we Christians, look to model our lives so that they may reflect that heavenly worship in all we do – the liturgy of life.
In order that we may stand any hope of being able to do this, we come together as a Christian community at significant moments during the week and commit just an hour or so of our time to engaging in the timeless truths unravelled through scripture and the sacraments, focussing intently upon our service and worship to God. As Christians we strive to learn more about our faith and explore our understanding and relationship with God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Liturgy and learning help form us into people enabled to travel on our journey with the God who loves us and whose mercies are limitless.
Liturgy and Worship is one of the central most important activities of the Church.
The word liturgy (from Greek: leitourgía) literally means ‘to give service’, and the word worship (from Greek: proskuneo) means ‘to fall/bow down before’. Liturgy and worship is therefore more that just praise, it is also devotion. Devotion towards the self-giving God who gives everything so that we may have all. Therefore, as Christians we regularly meet around the Holy Table and come together to celebrate God, who is of greatest worth to us, and to give service to Him and each other.
We can’t wait for you to walk the ‘liturgy of life’ with us!
Fr Rob Parker-McGee 2026
A Word on Faith from Bishop Rowan Williams
“Christian life is lived in relationship with God through Jesus Christ and, in common with other Christians, seeking to deepen that relationship and to follow the way of Jesus.
Central to that relationship is knowing we can trust God. Saint Paul reminds us that, ‘if God is for us, who can be against us?'(Rom. 8).
How do we know that ‘God is for us’? Because Jesus Christ, the one human being who is completely in tune with God – with what God wants and what God is doing – has carried the burden of our human tendency to run away from goodness. He has let himself be betrayed and rejected, and has not turned his back on us. Death did not succeed in silencing him or removing him from the world. He is alive; and that means that his love is alive, having survived the worst we can do.
Nothing – says St Paul in the same passage – can separate us from this love. But this isn’t an excuse for doing what we like, knowing we can get away with it. Once we know that God is ‘for us’, we open up to the gift that God wants to give us – which is a share in his own love and freedom and mercy. We breathe with his breath – that’s part of what it means to say that we receive God’s ‘Spirit’, which makes us live like Jesus ‘in tune’ with God. If we have really taken the message in, we shall live lives of selfless generosity, always asking how the gifts given us – material or imaginative or spiritual or whatever – can be shared in a way that brings other people more fully alive. And we shall be able to trust the generosity of others and be free to receive what they have to give us.
Generosity, gratitude, confidence that when we fail we are still loved – all of this focused on Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. That’s where we start in the lifelong job of being a Christian.”
Baron Rowan Williams of Oystermouth (Archbishop of Canterbury Emeritus).
Learn about Church Practice
The Sacraments
An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual reality.
A sacrament is an outward efficacious sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Sacraments use material objects to speak to and touch us in deep spiritual ways. Jesus Christ himself is the principle (or primordial) sacrament, as he gave his life to save mankind. He leads us directly into the life of God, where all grace is to be found. His humanity is the outward sign of his Divinity. Through his human form we are led to God. It is through his humanity that the life of the Trinity comes to us as grace through the sacraments. Jesus’ actions lead us directly into the life of God. It is Jesus Christ alone who mediates through the sacraments to allow grace to flow to humankind. By repeating Christ’s sacramental actions we receive the grace that brings us home to the heart of God. Jesus is the life that leads us finally to the vision of God in heaven, the fullness of salvation, eternal life.
The Church celebrates seven sacraments – signs of grace established by Christ and causing what they signify (or symbolically reveal).
You may have lots of questions about church-life and practice. Below is an overview. You might also find direct answers to your questions: