The minute you walk through the door of St. Margaret’s you know that you are in a sacred place. A place set apart. There is in this place, a physical and spiritual sense of the other- of the real presence. Hence, the tabernacle on the High Altar, and attendant light.
This place oozes and conveys a sense of the other.
The minute we walk through this door we do strange things, at least according to the world outside.
But this is not so strange to us because it is part of the fabric of our very being.
We cross ourselves at the beginning of the Mass, at the Absolution, at the end of the Gloria and the Creed, when the departed are mentioned in prayers, at the Elevation of the Host, on receiving Communion, and at the Blessing. When the Gospel is proclaimed, we sign ourselves with the sign of the cross on the forehead, the lips and on the breast because it contains the words of Christ.
The occupants of the pulpit like nothing better than challenging their listeners. There is nothing more exciting than picking up the thread of an argument, or theme running through Scripture- The new Ecumenical Lectionary provides far better scope in our study of Scripture. Furthermore we are into exegesis (reading out from Scripture) rather than eisegesis (which is reading in).
Everything we do here, we believe, has a meaning. Ours is a tradition preserved through the centuries. This is a sacred place but we also believe we are a sacred people.