Holy Communion,
also known as the Mass
“On the night he was betrayed Jesus took bread; and when he had given You thanks he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take, eat. This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
There are two churches in the parish, with slightly different approaches to worship. The regular 8am Sunday service at St Swithun’s is a ‘low Mass’ – everything is said, with little or no singing, and some times of shared silence. Some of us respond to that, finding something of God in that gentle togetherness.
At St Barnabas at 9.30am each Sunday you’ll find a more exuberant, contemporary form of worship. We sing hymns with gusto, led by our musician and singing group. Again, there’s no one right way to be the church – some of us find something of God in raising our voices in praise, and that’s a wonderful thing.
We provide a livestream of Sunday 9.30am services via our Facebook page – go to the page and the stream will appear five to ten minutes before the service starts.
The midweek service, held on each Wednesday at 9am at St Barnabas, is particularly accessible to those who may have trouble standing, hearing, or who have other shapes of diversity of ability. You won’t be asked to stand, or sit, or kneel.
From time to time the parish comes together for an all-parish service, usually at a time when we have a Bishop visiting the parish to lead worship, or some other special occasion. That’ll be advertised well in advance in the parish newsletter, and will also be noted in the events section of the home page.
If you have questions about worship in the parish, use the form below to ask them and we’ll get back to you soon. You might also find the “new here” page helpful.