Our Philosophy of Worship
OUR PHILOSOPHY OF WORSHIP
worship: our chief calling as the church
As the people of God, our church assembles on the Lord's Day (Sunday) in order to offer God public praise (i.e. worship), which is at the same time our public witness to the world. This public worship is Trinitarian, directed to God the Father, in the name of God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and through the power of God the Holy Spirit.
The activities (or elements) through which our worship is expressed are prayer (including prayers of praise, thanksgiving, confession, illumination, petition, and benediction), sung praise (both psalms and hymns), the reading and preaching of Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and the administration of the sacraments. Our worship is ordinary: we pray the Word, sing the Word, read the Word, preach the Word, and receive the "visible Word" in the sacraments.
Explanation OF Our Worship
The Pattern of Our Worship
The design of our worship is driven by a “gospel logic.”
A cycle of praise: call to worship / prayer of praise / hymn.
A cycle of confession: confession of sin / assurance of pardon / historic creed.
A cycle employing the means of grace: scripture reading / intercessory prayers / exposition of the Word / sacraments.
A cycle of thanksgiving and blessing: hymn / collection / benediction.
This is essentially the pattern of Isaiah 6, the Lord’s Prayer, and the gospel itself. In knowing the true God (in praise), we know ourselves (as sinners), our need (for grace), and give thanks for His gifts in Christ.
The Elements of Our Worship
Our worship consists of the biblical elements that God has commands in His Word. We practice worship by these means:
Read and preach the Word – Usually a chapter of the Psalms is read responsively in each service in addition to the passage which the sermon is based. Normally our sermons are sequential, verse-by-verse expositions of whole books of the Bible.
Pray the Word – Our prayers are filled with the praises, the confessions, and the promises of Scripture.
Sing the Word – We sing biblically rich hymns that resound with sound doctrine. We also incorporate at least one Psalm in each service.
Receive the Visible Word – The sacraments of baptism and of the Lord’s Supper are the Word of God made visible and perceivable by our senses. We celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly and baptism as the Lord enlarges our congregation.