Download responses for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy week below so you can join in the online services
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PALM SUNDAY SERVICE PREMIERS AT 9am on 5 April 2020
ALL PUBLIC SERVICES HELD IN ST MARK'S ARE TEMPORARILY CANCELLED.
However, we will be posting regular Sunday services here.
Please also check out our facebook page as we post mid-week services there.
A link to the facebook page can be found at the bottom of our "front page" on this website.
Holy Week
Services begin with Palm Sunday on 5 April, when our Family Service at 10.45 am will feature “The Donkey Procession” – come and find out more! In the evening, at 6.30 pm, our theme is ‘Drop, drop slow tears’ – Journeying to the Cross, a meditative service of poetry, scripture and songs, preparing us for Golgotha with its gallows and pointing us in the direction of the dawn and an empty tomb.
Evening Services in Holy Week will begin at 7.30 pm, however you may wish to arrive from 7.15 pm for a time of silent prayer.
Monday 6 April The appetite for God
Tuesday 7 April The lesson of the fig tree
Wednesday 8 April The appeal of Christianity
Maundy Thursday 9 April The Lord’s Supper, followed by the Stripping of the Altar.
We commemorate Christ’s last meal in the Upper Room, during which Jesus told his followers to love one another. After participating in Holy Communion, and when the altar has been stripped of all decoration, we watch with Christ in Gethsemane, with silent prayer.
Good Friday 10 April The Three Hours Devotion will begin at 12 noon with periods of silence and a series of readings and reflections concluding at 3.00 pm. Worshippers may come and leave at any time during the three hours.
At 8.00 pm the Passion is read in the setting of the Tenebrae, with the service concluding in darkness as the Tenebrae candles are extinguished and we leave in silence.
Easter Sunday, 12 April 8.30 am Holy Communion 10.45 am Family Communion Service, at which the whole parish can gather to celebrate, followed by an Easter Egg Hunt and refreshments in the hall, or the grounds, weather permitting. Don’t forget to bring a flower to decorate the cross as a sign of the new life of the Resurrection.
Special services coming up this spring:
Sunday 1 March, 10.45 am Thinking Day Family Service. We will be joined by our Rainbows, Brownies and Guides and their families, to consider ‘Thinking about others and ourselves’, and our preacher will be Roger Thompson from CMS Ireland, who provides a link between ourselves and our mission partners in Nairobi. The girls will be joined by our new Voices of Narnia choir, and will serve refreshments after the service.
Sunday 22 March 10.45 am Mothering Sunday. Our Sunday school children and junior string ensemble will be assisting with our music at this service, do come and support them.
Sunday 29 March 6.30 pm ‘Christ, be our light!’ Songs of Praise, St Mark’s style, the service will be led by our Open Choir, but gives everyone the opportunity to join in their favourite hymns, discover some new ones and experience the joy of singing and worship. Sunday 26 April 10.45 am St Mark’s Day Service, in celebration of our patronal saint.
Sunday 4 May 10.45 am Family Service, on the theme of ‘Walking and Running with God’. As runners throughout our city compete in the Belfast Marathon, including a team from St Mark’s, we will consider our own race. We will have the opportunity to enjoy a ‘walking quiz’, either around the church grounds or (if you are feeling fit) around the local area, concluding with refreshments in the hall, when we can welcome back our marathon competitors. Sponsorship money raised from our efforts will be shared between local charities and our Kenyan mission partners.
Services begin with Palm Sunday on 5 April, when our Family Service at 10.45 am will feature “The Donkey Procession” – come and find out more! In the evening, at 6.30 pm, our theme is ‘Drop, drop slow tears’ – Journeying to the Cross, a meditative service of poetry, scripture and songs, preparing us for Golgotha with its gallows and pointing us in the direction of the dawn and an empty tomb.
Evening Services in Holy Week will begin at 7.30 pm, however you may wish to arrive from 7.15 pm for a time of silent prayer.
Monday 6 April The appetite for God
Tuesday 7 April The lesson of the fig tree
Wednesday 8 April The appeal of Christianity
Maundy Thursday 9 April The Lord’s Supper, followed by the Stripping of the Altar.
We commemorate Christ’s last meal in the Upper Room, during which Jesus told his followers to love one another. After participating in Holy Communion, and when the altar has been stripped of all decoration, we watch with Christ in Gethsemane, with silent prayer.
Good Friday 10 April The Three Hours Devotion will begin at 12 noon with periods of silence and a series of readings and reflections concluding at 3.00 pm. Worshippers may come and leave at any time during the three hours.
At 8.00 pm the Passion is read in the setting of the Tenebrae, with the service concluding in darkness as the Tenebrae candles are extinguished and we leave in silence.
Easter Sunday, 12 April 8.30 am Holy Communion 10.45 am Family Communion Service, at which the whole parish can gather to celebrate, followed by an Easter Egg Hunt and refreshments in the hall, or the grounds, weather permitting. Don’t forget to bring a flower to decorate the cross as a sign of the new life of the Resurrection.
Special services coming up this spring:
Sunday 1 March, 10.45 am Thinking Day Family Service. We will be joined by our Rainbows, Brownies and Guides and their families, to consider ‘Thinking about others and ourselves’, and our preacher will be Roger Thompson from CMS Ireland, who provides a link between ourselves and our mission partners in Nairobi. The girls will be joined by our new Voices of Narnia choir, and will serve refreshments after the service.
Sunday 22 March 10.45 am Mothering Sunday. Our Sunday school children and junior string ensemble will be assisting with our music at this service, do come and support them.
Sunday 29 March 6.30 pm ‘Christ, be our light!’ Songs of Praise, St Mark’s style, the service will be led by our Open Choir, but gives everyone the opportunity to join in their favourite hymns, discover some new ones and experience the joy of singing and worship. Sunday 26 April 10.45 am St Mark’s Day Service, in celebration of our patronal saint.
Sunday 4 May 10.45 am Family Service, on the theme of ‘Walking and Running with God’. As runners throughout our city compete in the Belfast Marathon, including a team from St Mark’s, we will consider our own race. We will have the opportunity to enjoy a ‘walking quiz’, either around the church grounds or (if you are feeling fit) around the local area, concluding with refreshments in the hall, when we can welcome back our marathon competitors. Sponsorship money raised from our efforts will be shared between local charities and our Kenyan mission partners.
Sunday Service times:
8.30am Holy Communion(every Sunday)
9.30am Informal Service with Contemporary praise. In the Church (except 1st Sunday of the month only, when we all attend the 10.30 family Service)
10.45am Family Service (1st Sunday)
Parish Communion (3rd Sunday)
Morning Prayer (2nd, 4th Sun)
Evening worship 6.30pm
Holy Communion and Ministry of Healing (1st Sunday)
Compline (2nd, Sunday)
Sung Evening Prayer (3rd Sunday)
Youth Service Every 4th Sunday
Midweek Service times:
11am Holy Communion(Wednesday)
7.30pm Healer Prayer Service (Wednesday)
We offer a range of services that can be arranged, following consultation and agreement, with the clergy.
They include:
Holy Baptism
Holy Matrimony
Visitation of the sick at home or in hospital
Communion for the sick
Christian Burial
If you require any of the above please contact us
Spiritual Direction
Personal advice is available on methods to deepen your own relationship with God
Personal advice is available on methods to deepen your own relationship with God
Forthcoming Services