A Word About Us and Our Worship Services
Each Christian denomination has its own style of worship. Ours is more formal than some. It is known as liturgical worship. This means that we use a formal mode of worship which has come down to us from the ancient church. As you look at different parts of the worship service, you will discover that it is made up of portions of psalms and other scripture verses. Obviously there have been modifications in the form of worship over the centuries, but the basics remain the same.
Some of the elements of our worship structure include the Church Year, the Propers (specific prayers and readings used on the appropriate Sunday of the Church Year), paraments (colored altar hangings), and the liturgy itself.
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THE CHURCH YEAR
Long ago, the Christian Church developed a church year with a specific emphasis for each Sunday and season. The church year begins four weeks before Christmas with the Advent Season, then moves on through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and the Trinity Season.
The first half of the church year emphasizes what God has done for mankind through Jesus Christ. The second half (Trinity Season) emphasizes Christ's teachings for Christian living. Every Sunday there is a specific Old Testament and New Testament reading which emphasizes the theme of the particular Sunday. This was done to make sure that a congregation receives the full counsel of God during the course of the year. It also protects against over-emphasis or under-emphasis by pastors. In other words, during the course of the church year, every major teaching of the Christian faith is included in the various Scripture readings. Most of our pastors develop a sermon based on one of the readings of the day. Every attempt is made to serve up a "balanced diet" for the people of God.
WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US
- Advent
- Christmas
- Epiphany
- Lent
- Easter
- Pentecost
CHRISTIAN LIVING
- The Trinity Season
THE LITURGICAL COLORS
The paraments (altar and pulpit hangings) change with the season of the year to serve as a visual reminder of the emphasis of the current season. Purple is the color of preparation and repentance. White is the color of high festival celebration. Red is to remind us of the blood of martyrs and is used for lesser festivals. Green is the color of living things and reminds us that God's Word is to be applied to the living.
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THE LITURGY
The Word and Sacrament are both emphasized in our worship services. Even the architecture of our churches is calculated to draw attention to the altar as the focal point of our attention. It is not as though we can confine God to a particular location, but he has promised to attend us in a special way when we gather in his name. "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." Our people are informed in the basic teachings of the Christian faith, so that it is with one mind and one voice that we gather to praise the God who has redeemed us from sin and death through the victorious life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It follows, therefore, that our liturgy becomes a familiar vehicle for our expression of worship. In a real way it unites us in a common bond reminding each of us what we share in Jesus. Even the positioning of the worship leader reminds us of the distinct sacramental and sacrificial aspects of worship. The sacramental portions of the service are those in which God offers us his blessings through absolution, scripture readings, invitation to pray, proclamation, and benediction. In these portions, the leader faces the congregation. The sacrificial portions of the service are those in which the congregation unites in praise through song and verse, confession, prayers, and thanksgiving. Here the leader faces the altar and joins with the congregation in directing those responses to the Lord.
Pastor Faces Congregation
- Sacramental
God offers us his blessings
- Absolution
- Bible readings
- Invitation to pray
- Proclamation
- Benediction
Pastor Faces Altar
- Sacrificial
We unite in response to the Lord
- Confession
- Songs and verses
- Prayers
- Thanksgiving
We are not bound to the liturgy. This is to say that you will find many instances of departure from the standard forms of worship in our hymnal. But in the main, we will be found to utilize one of the many established liturgical forms for the day. You will find this to be a consistent practice in our congregations throughout the world.
Yes, it can be confusing at first. Each of us remembers a day when we had to learn how to follow along through the form of the service. Please be patient and give yourself a few Sundays to become familiar with it. You may even wish to introduce yourself to a member and ask for assistance.
We believe and teach the following:
- There is only one God, who has revealed himself as a Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- God's Word, the Bible, is without error or contradiction. It reveals the will of God to the world.
- All people are conceived and born in sin.
- God alone has the solution for sin.
- Jesus Christ, God's Son, by His perfect life and innocent death, has won forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all people.
- People receive forgiveness and eternal life only through faith and trust in Christ as their Savior, not by good works.
- The Holy Spirit alone is able to bring people to faith in Christ and keep them in that faith through the Gospel.
- Hearing and reading God's Word regularly and receiving Holy Communion frequently are necessary for remaining strong in the Christian faith.
- All Christians have the responsibility and the privilege of sharing the Gospel with others.
- Jesus Christ will return visibly on the Last Day to resurrect the bodies of all who have died, judge all people and destroy this world as we know it. Those who trusted in Christ as their Savior will spend eternity in heaven. Those who rejected Christ or were indifferent to Him will spend eternity in hell.
What About Jesus has information to learn more about why we are saved through Jesus and how it applies to our daily life.
A creed is a statement of what a person--or group of people--believes and teaches. We believe and use the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
