The Sermon

At a Sung Eucharist the Gospel is followed by the sermon which teaches us about the Christian Faith and life.

The Creed

We sing or say the Nicene Creed, so called because much of it was drawn up by a great Council of bishops which met in a town named Nicaea in what is now Turkey.  The Creed is an act of faith and praise which sums up what we are taught in the course of the Church’s Year.  The first paragraph speaks of God the Father, the second of God the Son and the third of God the Holy Spirit.

We stand for the Creed to show we are ready to stand up for our Christian Faith.  We bow at the Name of Jesus.  There is also another one place half-way through when we bow.  This is during the words, “And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man”.  The word ‘incarnate’ means ‘in the flesh’, ‘in human form’.  So these words tell us how Jesus, “for us men, and for our salvation came down from Heaven”, leaving behind the glory which had been his from all eternity, came down to our level and was made a Human Being for our sakes.  As we recite these words we bow in reverence and love and wonder that God should have done all this for people like ourselves. 

At the end of the Creed we make the sign of the Cross to show that we believe all that the Creed says and are not ashamed of being Christians.

Prayers of Intercession

The Intercessions are the final part of the Liturgy of the Word.  They are led by the priest or, more often, by one or more members of the congregation.  We pray for the Church, the world, our country and our local community including people who are ill or distressed and people who have died.