Photos and Sermon from Our First Mass

After Mass.

 Last night's first Mass went off quite well and we are very grateful to the folks at St. Martin's for their hospitality. 

There are more photos on our Facebook page. 

The audio of the sermon is below.  The tracking got a little off in the upload, so it starts about 12 seconds in.  Stay tuned for news of out next Mass.

Worship as Prayer and Instruction

Today is a good day for the first Mass of a group stressing worship and prayer.  The texts assigned in the Missal speak beautifully of calling on God from the depths of our being, of praising God, and of instructing one another in worship.

Introit

 (Jer 29:11; 29:12; 29:14; ) The Lord says: I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction. You shall call upon Me, and I will hear you; and I will bring back your captivity from all places. (Ps 84:2) You have favored, O Lord, Your land; You have restored the well-being of Jacob. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Lesson

(Colossians 3:12-17) Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Gradual

(Ps 43:8-9) You saved us, O Lord, from our foes: and those who hated us, you put to shame. In God we gloried day by day; Your name we praised always.

Offertory   
(Ps 129:1-2) Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer! Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord.

Communion Verse

(Mark 11:24) Amen I say to you, all things, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you shall receive, and it shall be done to you.

Mass for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

7:00 p.m., Sunday November 11

St. Martin's Chapel

814 W. Maple Street

Fayetteville, AR 

saintrafes.com.

Materials for Sunday Evening's Mass

The draft Mass booklet, service sheet, and music leaflet for Sunday’s Mass are available online at the  

St. Rafe’s Resources Page.

This week will be a sung Mass in traditional English with Gregorian chant in Latin.

During the course of the Mass, there are portions when the people and the celebrant engage in a dialogue of versicles and responses, portions when the cantor sings alone, portions when we all sing together, portions when we pray in silence, and portions when our various postures of standing and kneeling call our bodies to worship.  Far more important than wondering whether you’re on the right page or what to do next is to simply let the service wash over you—to be caught up in the moment so that mind and soul are free to worship, to respond to God’s love made known to us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  The forms are traditional, but the secret is to let yourself go.

Join us!

Mass for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

7:00 p.m., Sunday November 11

St. Martin's Chapel

814 W. Maple Street

Fayetteville, AR 

saintrafes.com.

First Mass for the Oratory of St. Raphael

On the Feast of St. Raphael, I am happy to announce the first public Mass for the Oratory of St. Raphael, which I have discussed over the last few months with some of you Fayetteville folks. For the present, we're planning one public Mass a month and seeing where things go from there.

The first Mass will be at 7:00 p.m., Sunday November 11 at St. Martin's Chapel, 814 W. Maple St. in Fayetteville.  Google Maps will show you the way.

You'll find more info on the new St. Rafe's Facebook page that I've created 

I have also hit the publish button on the new St. Rafe's website.

Here's a little more information to tell you about what we're trying to do:

Saint Rafe’s:  The Oratory of St. Raphael

Sacramental – Intentional - Receiving Strength for Service

St. Rafe’s is a new worshipping community in Fayetteville.  “Oratory” is a Latin word meaning a place to pray and, above all else, we seek to be a place of prayer in a beautiful but hectic world.

We emphasize the sacraments and prayer as the places where we meet the Risen Lord and grow in his likeness.

We believe in the truth of historic Christianity and the spiritual riches to be found there.

We commit ourselves to growing together through the Mass, prayer, sacred reading, and the other devotional practices of the Western Church.

We welcome everyone. The Good Shepherd loves and seeks us all. Period.

We contend that Christian discipleship transcends political and cultural divisions when we walk in love as Christ has loved us.

We acknowledge our individual brokenness, but believe we can be made whole by the One who came that we might have life more abundantly.

What to Expect

Our worship is traditional, not from nostalgia or fear of change, but from what one scholar has called “modern people making a consciously post-modern choice.”  The Mass is our principle act of worship, offered with reverence in traditional English as a sacrifice of prayer whose texts offer us infinite opportunities to encounter the living God.  Our primary participation in worship is in our shared offering of prayer and praise and the joy and we we show for the real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament.  The service lasts about one hour with a time for fellowship afterwards. All baptized Christians are welcome to receive Holy Communion. 

You are welcome to participate to the level at which you feel comfortable.  No one will be holding up score cards at the end of the service to rate your participation, what you are wearing, or who you came with.

What We Believe

The Oratory of St. Raphael ministers to all who seek God or a deeper knowledge of God, welcoming all people into the full sacramental life of the Church.

Our beliefs may be characterized in the words of one of our sister bodies as “creedally orthodox, joyfully sacramental, radically inclusive, and deeply prayerful.”  While professing the historic creeds as the definitive statements of the Christian faith, we believe “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity” and seek to work with all people of good will.

Following the tradition of the Independent Sacramental Movement, we maintain the seven sacraments of the church and the historic orders of ministry and believe that all Christians are called to active ministry with an intentionality that is consistent with the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.

We are one small part of Christ’s Church, working with other communities in the hope that we may all be one.  The gifts we have to share are freely given in service to Christ and his church.  We have no institutional ties to any individual or group beyond Our Savior’s commandment to love one another and St. Paul’s admonition to all Christians to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.