What We Believe
As an Episcopal parish community, our central belief is that coming together to pray the prayers of the Christian church and receive Christ in the Eucharist transforms us so that we can be the people God longs for us to be. God, who is the source of love and life, invites us to partake of who He is so that we can truly love ourselves, our neighbors, and our world.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He saved the world. Our collective confession of faith is best represented in the words of the Nicene Creed, proclaimed most Sundays during our Eucharistic service, and the Apostles Creed, which forms the foundation of the faith we profess at Baptism. Our collective life of prayer centers upon the Book of Common Prayer, a book that has evolved guided by the expressed intention of bringing people from diverse theological convictions together as we seek Christ.
Episcopalians believe that we form our Christian conscience by relying on Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. We encourage people to read and study the Bible; our services regularly feature readings drawn from the Old and New Testament, with the Psalms and the Gospels playing a particularly prominent role in our liturgy. Our Tradition represents over 2,000 years of people following Jesus where we celebrate the resulting diversity as the Good News of Christ has manifested in different languages, musical styles, architectural forms, and sacred art. We believe that every person is empowered by the Holy Spirit to integrate Scripture and Tradition into their lives.
As a parish in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, we hold the Eucharist in an especially high regard. We affirm and confess the Doctrine of Real Presence: that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of the Risen Christ in a profound and holy mystery that stretches far beyond human understanding. Therefore, we treat the Eucharist with reverence that would be appropriate to Christ Himself. Christ in the Eucharist is the closest physical presence of our Lord that we can know this side of the grave.
The values that we strive to live out within our community are perhaps best encapsulated in our five baptismal promises. We will, with God’s help:
Continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers;
Preserve in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord;
Proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ;
Seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves; and
Strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.