All baptized Christians who desire to receive communion are welcome at the Lord's Table. At St. John the Divine, people come forward to stand or kneel along the Altar rail. You may receive both bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ or you may receive just one. If you desire to receive a blessing instead of communion, you may indicate that by crossing your arms. These directions are included in our worship bulletins.
The Episcopal Church Seeker Center is designed to answer many questions about what we as Christians in the Epsicopal tradition believe and how we practice our fatih. You may also email the church with any questions you have.
Yes. To get to the handicapped accessible entrance, come into the parking lot that you enter either from Chandler Blvd or Edward St. At the right end of the building (east end) is a sidewalk and stairs. There is an entrance to the left before the stairs. Enter and follow that hallway to the end and go left. There is an elevator that goes to the main level. Our bathrooms on that level are accessible as well.
There is an online dictionairy at the Epsicopal Church Center website. Click
here to get to that site.
Episcopal refers to the fact that our church has bishops. We are a part of a worldwide communion known as the Anglican Church. Prior to the Revolutionary War we were part of the Anglican Church of England. After the war, the Church was organized and named "Episcopal" to distance it from its English roots and association with the English crown. The full name of the church is the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The Book of Common Prayer (the red book) is the worship resource that guides all worship within the Episcopal Church. At Ascension, we follow the prayer book service closely, yet we have found it helpful to reproduce the service in a "service booklet." This booklet is distributed by the ushers at our 10:15 a.m. service and provides service music in addition to our prayers.
Some priests perfer to be addressed as Mother or Father. Our clergy prefer to be called by their first names, however, if you desire or if you want your children to call by a title, we suggest using the title given at ordination. So Nancy would be Deacon Nancy and Joanne would be Priest Joanne. Loretta would prefer Pastor in light of her ministry as a chaplain and with the Hispanic community.