Worship

Our Sunday liturgy is a celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Holy Communion, Holy Mass). The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our life of faith.  We believe that during the service, given to us by Jesus at His last supper with his disciples, Christ becomes sacramentally present to us in the bread and the wine.  His real presence is a forgiving, healing and nurturing food for our journey.

For those from a Catholic background, the service will be very familiar.  The priest wears traditional Eucharistic vestments.  We use incense and ring bells during the mass.  We make the sign of the cross, bow, kneel, and stand at various points in the liturgy.  All this will make you feel at home.

For those from a Reformed background the music will be especially familiar.  The relaxed atmosphere and sense of community will bring a measure of comfort.

Eucharistic worship at Holy Cross+Santa Cruz is both deeply traditional and genuinely contemporary.  It is true to our apostolic roots, expressed in reformation simplicity and open to the call of the twenty-first century.

Who May Receive Holy Communion?

We do not regard the Bread of Heaven as a reward for living a good life but always as a gift given to sinners.  All who have been baptized with water and in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit are invited and welcomed to come to the table and receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood.

Are you divorced?  Gay?  Undocumented?  Lacking the means to make a weekly financial contribution to the support of the parish and its ministry?  Have felt marginalized in other churches?  Not been to church recently or even for a long time?  Not been to confession?  We all come to the Lord with personal baggage.  Here at Holy Cross you are welcomed just as you are.  Here you are invited to be a full member of Christ’s body.  In the Lord’s house, and thus among us, there are no strangers or outsiders.

What do I need to do if I wish to be baptized, married or buried?

At Holy Cross+Santa Cruz we emphasize God’s unconditional love and practice radical hospitality.  In that spirit, no one is turned away from being baptized, married in or buried from this church.  In keeping with our belief that the Sacraments are gifts and signs of God’s love, we do not charge a fee for administering the Sacraments.