Our Faith

God is not an object within creation, but the source of all life, being, and meaning. We come to know him through Revelation, Reason, and Tradition: in Scripture and Jesus Christ, through the beauty of creation and the Church’s unfolding witness. At the heart of Christian faith is this truth: God is love. He gives us freedom, and when we turn away, we feel the sorrow of that separation—yet he never leaves us. In Jesus, God enters our suffering and brings salvation through the cross and resurrection. From the beginning, he knew the cost of love and still chose to create. As Dante wrote, we are drawn ever onward by “the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.”

Jesus is not simply a moral example or wise teacher, though he was both. His parables are layered, often surprising, full of challenge and humour. But his teaching alone isn’t the heart of who he is. He claimed unity with God – “I and the Father are one” – and offered not advice, but himself: “the bread of life.” He is more than a model we cannot match; he is the Saviour we cannot do without.

Christians believe Jesus is both fully human and fully divine – born of Mary, yet the eternal Word through whom all things were made. In him, God steps into the world, taking on our flesh, bearing our wounds, dying for our sins, and rising again to restore our life with God. This mystery – that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself – is the heart of the gospel. As Thomas said on the first Easter: “My Lord and my God.”

The Holy Spirit is the living breath of God, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and poured out upon the Church to sanctify, guide, and sustain. In the Anglo-Catholic tradition, we honour the Spirit’s presence not only in sudden inspiration but in the quiet unfolding of grace through sacrament, scripture, prayer, and the life of the Church. The Spirit consecrates the bread and wine, anoints us in baptism and confirmation, calls priests to their sacred ministry, and draws the whole people of God into deeper communion with Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us holy, who leads us into all truth, and who groans within us with sighs too deep for words. Ever ancient, ever new, the Spirit is God’s gift, God’s power, and God’s abiding presence in our midst.

The Church at St Mary’s is a local expression of something far greater: the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. It is holy because Christ has called it to witness to his love; catholic because it is united across time and space with all the saints in heaven and earth; and apostolic because it is founded on the witness of the apostles, with authority handed down through bishops, priests, and deacons. The Church is not perfect – we are a community of sinners in need of grace – but we gather to hear the good news of forgiveness, to be formed in the likeness of Christ, and to receive him in the Holy Eucharist, where the Church truly becomes his Body.

The Church’s life is sustained by the Holy Spirit, the gift of God poured out at Pentecost and ever present in Word and Sacrament. The Spirit inspires our worship, shapes our mission, and leads us into all truth. Through the Spirit, the Church preserves and proclaims the faith, teaches the Scriptures, and calls new believers to baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In all things, we pray: Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire; and lighten with celestial fire.

In the Anglican tradition, especially within the catholic heritage embraced at St Mary’s, the sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace. We recognise two sacraments ordained by Christ himself in the Gospel – Baptism and the Eucharist – as essential to the life of the Church. In Baptism, we are reborn into Christ’s body; in the Eucharist, we are fed by his presence in bread and wine. These are the heart of our sacramental life, drawing us into communion with God and one another.

Alongside these, we honour five other sacramental rites that flow from the life of the Church: Confirmation, Reconciliation (Confession), Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, and Ordination. These are not required of all, but are vital means by which God’s grace is given at key moments of human life and vocation. Through the sacraments, we meet the transforming love of Christ – not just in word, but in sign, touch, and presence – and are drawn more deeply into the mystery of God’s mercy and calling.

The Bible is not a magic book or a fortune-teller’s tool, but the living Word of God – a library of poetry, prophecy, history, wisdom, and witness, written over centuries by many voices and inspired by the Holy Spirit. It tells the story of God’s relationship with humanity, from the ancient people of Israel to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the early Church that followed him.

We read the Bible not always for literal detail, but for divine truth revealed through human words. Prophecy unfolds over time, and layers of meaning deepen through reflection and faith. In its pages, we encounter God’s promise, presence, and purpose. As the Church teaches, we are to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Scriptures, that by their light and comfort, we may hold fast to the hope of everlasting life.

Prayer is not first about asking for things or finding the right words; it is about being with God. As Rowan Williams puts it, prayer is what happens when we allow Jesus to pray in us – when we place ourselves, with all our confusion and silence, into the presence of God and simply stay there. It is less about performance and more about openness: a space where our hearts can be shaped by grace, slowly and quietly.

In prayer, we learn who God is and who we are. We are not trying to reach a distant deity, but returning to the source of our being – to the God who already knows us and loves us. At St Mary’s, prayer is woven through our daily life: in the rhythm of liturgy, the stillness of silent prayer, and the private longings of the soul. Whether through ancient words or wordless presence, we come to prayer not to impress God, but to be transformed by his love.