Welcome to St. Mary's. We hope our site will introduce you to our inclusive community. The symbolic center of our life together is the celebration of Communion, and we invite everyone without exception to receive Communion at Christ’s table. At St. Mary’s Episcopal Church we welcome each person from child to adult into a community of compassion, learning, support, and service. The life-giving and justice-seeking love of God is at the center of all we are and all we do.
We hope our community can be useful to you on your journey.
Whether you are a seeker, a skeptic, a new believer or deep into your journey there is a place and a blessing for you here. When we say “All Welcome” we mean “ALL” without exception. Just as God’s love is unconditional so our community strives to be also. St. Mary’s is an inclusive community. All races, classes, ability levels, sexual orientations and family types make up our membership.
The clergy and others in the parish welcome the opportunity to visit with you and to answer any questions you may have. In the meantime, our website should give you a general idea of our ministry and character.
The 8 Points listed below serve as a fairly accurate description of how this church practices the faith. This is not a creed or a statement endorsed by the congregation. It is really just a fair description of how the faith is taught, preached and practiced at St. Mary’s.
We…
- Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus;
- Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us;
- Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus’ name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples;
- Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):
- believers, agnostics,
- conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
- women and men,
- those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
- those of all races and cultures,
- those of all classes and abilities,
- those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope; - Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe;
- Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty and more value in questioning than in absolutes;
- Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: Striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God’s creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers; and
- Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.
From the Center for Progressive Christianity http://www.tcpc.org
