For details of how to find the building, see the Getting Here page on this website.

Most people first come to the 10.30 am service which is held every Sunday morning or to Evensong which takes place through the year at 6.30 pm.

If you come to one of these services, the first person you are likely to meet is likely to be one of those responsible for leading the service. Members of the clergy usually greet people at the door of the church. Once you come inside, someone who will welcome you and give you a service sheet. Everything that you need is in this leaflet – hymns, music and prayers are all gathered together. Find a seat anywhere in the main body of the church – no seats are reserved. If you want a Bible during the service, there are copies at the ends of the pews. We use the New Revised Standard Version.

There is flat access into the church for those in wheelchairs. There is also an accessible toilet on the same level, which is located through the door on the left behind the organ console near the front of the church.

On most Sunday mornings there is a meeting of the Young Church in the Synod Hall in parallel with the first part of the service in church. We all come together for communion. Children are welcome to choose whether to go to Young Church or remain with everyone else. We are relaxed about babies (and there are quite a few very young members of the congregation at the moment). Whoever meets you at the door will give more details of what is available for young people if you want to know about this.

You will know that the service is about to begin as the side door near the back of the church will open and a procession of people will come through – the congregation stands up to greet them. These people are the altar servers (who help the service to run smoothly), the choir (if they are singing in the service) and the clergy. Note that the choir sings most weeks, but usually has a week off on one Sunday after Christmas and Easter and for six weeks in the summer. The person who is going to be conducting the service comes in at the back of the procession.

You may see someone at the front of the procession bringing an offering of incense in a thurible. We use incense in our worship on feast days and special occasions – a symbol of our prayers rising to heaven and a sign of the sacredness of the worship in this place.

Whoever is presiding at the service will greet everyone and the service is then underway – most of the hymns are not announced – all the details are in the service sheet that will tell you what is going o­n all the way through. Although there is considerable variety during the year, most of the services have the same basic shape week by week which people get used to after coming a few times.

You are unlikely to get lost in the liturgy, but if you do, just ask someone who is near you to show you where we are – they will be delighted to help.

Most people stand to sing and we generally sit or kneel to pray.

The morning services on a Sunday are always communion services. Everyone is welcome to receive communion at St Mary’s. If you don’t feel you want to receive the bread and wine, you are encouraged to come to the altar along with everyone else for a blessing.

The evening services are not communion services. Most of the year, this is the special service of Choral Evensong. In this service, the choir take a major part in leading our prayers. During this stunning service, most of the prayers are sung by the clergy and the choir. The congregation joins in with the singing of the hymns. There is not usually a sermon in the evening though at certain times of the year, for example during Lent (the time of preparation for Easter) there may be a short devotional address.

During the summer, whilst the choir are on holiday a simpler form of service takes place on Sunday evenings: Sung Evensong. In these services the congregation sings more of the service and there is organ music for meditation in place of a choir anthem.

After the 1030 morning service there is usually tea and coffee in the Synod Hall and at the back of the church. You don’t have to stay, but it is a good chance to meet people.

If you are finding a way into the congregation, please fill in a Welcome Card. These are available at the back of the church and in the pews.

Open

The congregation here is a gathered community, each person attracted by different things. Some are attracted by the excellence in music, some by the practical spirituality that is taught, and some by the open community of folk who meet week by week for varied services. The hope is that St Mary’s is becoming an ever more open group of people. A distinctive feature of the life of the congregation is an openness to new ideas and an enjoyment of being challenged spiritually in fresh ways.

Inclusive

We are young, we are old. We are straight, we are gay. Some are single, some are married, some are partnered, some are single again. We are men and we are women. Some live alone, some live with others. We have different abilities. We have different understandings of the truth. We have all kinds of different reasons for choosing to make this our spiritual home.

Welcoming

This church is a vibrant and diverse group of people who have found a welcome in this place. All the rich resources of the Christian tradition are shared here by modern people who enjoy being together.

St Mary’s Cathedral has become a welcoming place for many, whether it is being caught up in the richness of worshipping with hundreds of others or meeting God in a quiet corner of a peaceful church.

Its millions of members express their beliefs through a wide variety of “denominations” and styles of worship. But they all follow Jesus of Nazareth who was born about 2000 years ago in the region that is now called Israel. Christians believe he is the Son of God.

Jesus started travelling around the region when he was about 30, and attracted a sizeable following with his preaching and miracles. The faith based on his life and teaching is a faith of love, peace, forgiveness and truth.

He took the Old Testament commandments of God, written down by Moses and followed by the Jews then and now, and interpreted them very simply in two basic commandments:

About three years after he started preaching, he was arrested and executed by the Roman authorities who controlled the region at the time. Christians believe that, on the third day, he came back to life and, after spending some time with his followers, went back to join God, his Father.

Those facts hide a lot of detail – and Christians have worked hard to understand their meaning in the 20 centuries since.

Nobody pretends we are perfect. But we believe that God gave us our lives and faith – and we try to respond with our love and worship and service.

We believe in expressing that love through action and Christians have played a central role in confronting injustice through history.

In recent times Christian thinking inspired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which helped bring the warring factions of South Africa together in a new democracy. Churches were also behind the Jubilee 2000 campaign to cancel the debt of the world’s poorest countries.

People sometimes ask particular questions about the way in which we practise the Christian faith including those below:

Q:Do you believe in the ordination of women?

A: St Mary’s included a lot of people who worked towards the ordination of women and we now have a mixed clergy team of women and men. The aim is to treat men and women alike.

Q: What about gay clergy?

A: Well, what about them? Our clergy team includes straight and gay members.

Q: Do you believe in blessing gay couples?

A: Clergy in the Scottish Episcopal Church are able to give a blessing to couples entering a Civil Partnership as part of the pastoral care that the church offers to everyone. Speak to a member of the clergy for further details.

Q: Are you a biblical church?

A: Yes, we are fascinated by the bible and read it a lot.

Q: Do you believe in the Creeds?

A: Yes, we use the Nicene Creed during communion services on a Sunday. We say it in its traditional form at the early service and in a modern language translation at 1030. In common with the practise of the Scottish Episcopal Church we use a form which omits the filioque clause in modern language liturgies. We use the Apostles’ Creed at baptisms and during Evensong.