Grace Episcopal Church - Westwood, NJ

Worship

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8

At first glance Anglican worship might seem strange: the foundation of our life and worship together is a bath and the principle act of worship that sustains us Sunday after Sunday is a shared meal—simple, decidedly material, acts. But the belief that God became human—flesh and blood—in Jesus Christ, and that even today he who

took flesh in the womb,
was bathed in the Jordan,
healed a blind man using spit and dirt,
touched so many with simple words and with healing hands,
shared meals with friends and also with those at the margins of society,
died in the body and was raised in the body

continues to dwell among us in the life of the Church through simple, material acts, is at the very heart of Anglican Christian life and worship. And so, Anglican worship involves the whole person: heart, mind, soul and body.

In our worship

Christians join as one Body to pray and sing in forms that date from the earliest days of the Church;
every-day objects like word, water, bread and wine, oil, touch, light and time become the medium through which God in Christ gives his life to us; and,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is Christ himself in the gathered Body who offers prayer, praise and sacrifice to his Father in heaven for the life of the whole world.

The Book of Common Prayer, the gift of the English Reformation to the Church, is the standard for Anglican/Episcopal worship. It enables our worship to be less about what a priest does for a congregation, than what we do together, as Christ’s Body, and what Christ does in his Body, for the life of the world. The rhythm and content of Anglican life worship is the same as that followed by the Church through the centuries, sanctifying (making holy) time through the Daily Office and the Church year, and sanctifying life and creation through the Sacraments—the Holy Eucharist (also known as the Mass, the Holy Communion or the Lord’s supper) being "the principle act of Christian worship on the Lord's Day and other major Feasts..." (The Book of Common Prayer p.13).

It is a rhythm that may not be obvious at first, but rewards faithful participation and is supplemented and enhanced by acts of corporate and private devotion.

Come to Grace Church. Worship with us. Try it for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Sundays:
7:45 am Morning Prayer
8:00 am said Holy Eucharist with organ and hymns
10:00 am Sung Eucharist with Hymns
Child care is provided during the 10:00 am Mass

Wednesday:
9:00 am Morning Prayer
9:15 am Holy Eucharist with anointing and prayer for healing

Feast days and occasions of special observance, Mass and other liturgies as announced and posted on this site.