Frome St John the Baptist

Induction of new Vicar at St John's on 6th Sept 2002

return to welcome page

Links to further information:

WORSHIP

In worship we respond to the grace and peace which God gives to us.

Our main weekly services at St John's are Communion services.
Another word used used for Communion is 'Eucharist' which means 'thanksgiving'. One of the most beautiful of prayers is known as the General Thanksgiving and it includes these words:
We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your inestimable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
The Christian journey in life is one of hope in which we trust that God's grace at work amongst us through the power of the Holy Spirit will bring into being God's purpose for all creation.

In the Communion service

we hear and reflect on words of scripture which challenge us with the message of God's purpose of justice and peace
and share bread and wine as Jesus bid his followers do.

As we do so, we recognise what the Church has described through the centuries as 'means of grace': Ways in which we make close encounter with the presence of God - and Christians recognise the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as the supreme focus of that encounter: One which we can connect with and respond to in prayer and worship.

Within the Communion we also open our hearts to God's peace: Not just a gentle sense of calm - but the peace of forgiveness and reconciliation which we are challenged to bear out into the world in our daily lives.

The fulness of worship is then not just the time spent in private prayers, or in services in Church: It is in offering our lives for the service of all God's people as we pray at the end of the Communion service:

.. we offer you our souls and bodies
to be a living sacrifice.
Send us out
in the power of your Spirit
to live and work
to your praise and glory

We are fortunate in having plenty of space within the church building which allows for movement whether in festive processions or, as illustrated below, when we encircle the nave in light at our Christingle service early in the New Year.

Our Church and School were encircled together in the symbolic act of forming a moving human white band in support of the 'Let's Make Poverty History' campaign in 2005. Such events are visible signs of the prayer and action which go hand in hand to express the fulness of worship.

We bring all manner of life's joys and sorrows into the context of worship:
In our prayers of thanksgiving and for the needs of the world and it's peoples,
In Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals
On civic and community occasions...
from Remembrance Sunday to our annual Well-dressing
and the blessing of the town at the start of the St Catherine's Medieval Fair

Outside St John's there is a memorial cross erected in memory of those who gave their lives during the First World War. On this spot there had been a shrine during the War with lists of those serving in the forces. The images below show the crowds gathered to pray on the occasion of the shrine's unveiling.

Also, in our churchyard is a unique feature, the 'Via Crucis', a processional entrance to the church lined with panels carved in stone depicting the scenes from Jesus' condemnation by Pilate through to the crucifixion.

Please be patient... this site is under construction