Detailed Explanation of our Worship

Worship is a verb; a set of actions. Actions that God does—calls, declares, speaks, corrects, forgives, restores. Actions that we do—praise, confess, thank, listen, lament, intercede, eat and drink. Worship is a dialogue of actions that embody the good news that God loves us in Jesus. Therefore, our services are interactive and dynamic, retelling the drama of the gospel in five-acts: Approach, Renewal, (re)Commitment, Communion, and Commissioning. From the oldest to the youngest, we all have the privilege of participating in this drama.

 

Approach

 

God calls us to meet him:

God takes the initiative and calls us to worship him. Thus worship begins with God.

We praise God through song and ask him for help:

We respond to God's call by worshipping him as a community. Because we are sinners, we acknowledge that we can only approach God because of Jesus. Realizing that none of us are inclined to worship, we ask for God to be with us by his Spirit and give us the power to respond to him.

Our response is often through music. Music holds the capacity to bring God’s truth to us, while allowing us the opportunity to express ourselves to God at the same time—a distinctively powerful form of communication.

We hear God speak and reflect on his character:

At some point, we read from a portion of the Bible. The Bible consists of various books containing various genres, all telling the single story about God’s redeeming love for the world. These books constitute God’s word – his powerful, authoritative self-expression and revelation. If you don’t have a Bible of your own, you can get one from the Welcome Table. The passages are also printed in your worship guides.

We finish each reading by reminding ourselves that the Bible is no ordinary book and demands our careful attention (“This is the Word of the Lord”). We respond with gratitude (“Thanks be to God!”/ "Praise to you Lord Christ!), acknowledging that our only hope for understanding God, ourselves, and the world is for God to reveal himself.

 

Renewal

 

We confess our faults:

Because of grace, we can be radically honest with God about our moral faults. As we recognize the ways we’ve failed to love God and others perfectly, we confess our sins both individually (in silent prayer) and corporately (reading the printed prayer in unison), recognizing how our sins affect both our personal relationship with God and also our relationships with one another.

God offers us good news and assures us that we are forgiven:

Our authenticity before God about our failings is followed by an unfathomable promise: in Christ our sins are forgiven and by the Holy Spirit we are being renewed. The announcement of this truth is one of the most beautiful and powerful moments in our service. This word of pardon isn’t simply for us to hear; it is for us to believe, receive, and rest our lives upon.

We sing with joy and thanksgiving:

Having been assured that our sins are forgiven, we revel in God's great mercy.

 

Commitment

 

We re-commit our allegiance to God:

We will often respond to God’s grace by confessing our faith in him. This is more than a rehearsal of the truths to which we subscribe; this is a pledge of allegiance to our Lord and Savior; a renewal of our covenant vows. Often these confessions also remind us that we are connected to many generations of Christians from all over the world who have embraced the same message.

We commit our resources to his service:

We give our material possessions as an act of faith and a symbol of lives that are dedicated to God. This offering is a response of gratitude for the invaluable gift we’ve been given in Christ.

We commit our concerns:

When we pray expectantly for things, we exercise our belief that God cares about our needs and is powerful enough to help. Thus we make intercessory prayer—humbly asking God for things—a part of worship. In general, one person leads in prayer, but together we ask God to move in our community, our city, and our world.

God brings us Good News:

One of the most important points in our service is when someone who is especially trained and gifted opens God's word and explains the way it reveals the grace of Jesus Christ and what implication it carries for us and our world. We believe that when we receive the message, the gospel, we encounter God and are changed.

 

Communion

 

We Give Thanks:

and when he had given thanks…

Before Jesus distributed the bread and the wine to his disciples, he gave thanks (Lk 22; Mk14). The church throughout history has done the same. The Great Thanksgiving is a prayer that is at the heart of what the Lord's Supper is all about. At the table, we return thanks to God for the meal we share and rejoice in all that it means.

The prayer of Great Thanksgiving usually follows a pattern. It begins with an exhortation based on an ancient dialogue between the leader and the congregation. This dialogue contains the sursum corda (hearts on high), which also appeared in Calvin's invitation to the Lord's Supper ("let us raise our hearts and minds on high, where Jesus Christ is, in the glory of his Father, and from whence we look for him at our redemption," as in the 1542 order). The dialogue itself was used at least as early as A.D. 215.

The prayer itself praises God and recounts his goodness in creation and redemption. This initial praise with thanksgiving often takes into account the liturgical season or an occasion in the life of the church. It evokes God's steadfast love and providential goodness, which was ultimately revealed in the gift of Christ. 

God invites us to a meal:

The signature feast of Christians has many names: the Love Feast, the Freedom Meal, the Breaking of Bread, the Lord’s Supper, Communion (from "sharing"), the Eucharist (from "thank you"), and the Mass (from "Go, you are sent out"). This celebratory meal has always been a common, shared, joyous family meal for those who follow Jesus, looking back to his once-for-all sacrificial death and looking forward to his return. When we celebrate the feast we commune with the risen Lord Jesus who stands as our host to offer forgiveness, healing, and life. Indeed, Jesus promises to be present with us in this spiritual meal, “feeding” our souls with himself. As one hymn writer put it:

We eat this bread, we drink this wine,
come give yourself to us.
We know you’re here, that’s why we’ve come,
to feast on thee with love.

Here we also commune with one another, participating together in the reconciling grace of God.

We invite all who follow Jesus to partake of the Lord’s Supper – Baptized Christians who place their faith in Jesus, are at peace with God and others, and seek strength to live more faithfully for Christ. If you are not yet a Christian, or if you are a Christian who is not prepared to share in this meal, we encourage your prayerful observation in the hopes that you may consider your relationship with Jesus and with his church.

 

Commission

 

God sends us out in His power:

Our worship service concludes with a “benediction,” God's promise that he will go with us as we take the grace we’ve just experienced and extend it to our city and world. This is a blessing, not a prayer, so we encourage you to receive it with your heads up and your eyes open, looking at the minister. Just as we began with God’s gracious invitation, so we end with his gracious promise to be with us and empower us for his mission.