What to Expect at St. Luke's Sunday Worship

In General 
+ Spirited Singing with an upbeat rhythm and a blend of the old and the new. 
+ Relevant preaching that applies Biblical teaching to every day life.
+ Celebration and Sacrament that uses the time tested liturgy of the church through the ages.
+ Reliance on the Holy Spirit to transform lives and meet needs.
+ A Laid-back family atmosphere that invites you to "come as you are."  Casual is welcome. 
+ A warm and accepting group of people seeking to "love and serve God and Others"

A Guide to Worship

The Purpose of our service is to worship God in body, mind and spirit. Here are some hints that will help you know what is happening so you can join in if you want to.  Don’t worry about fumbling with hymnals or a Book of Common Prayer. Anything you need to sing or say will be projected on the screen.

Hints, Helps and a Humorous Guide to what we do and why we do it.

• Prelude - Before the service we try to shift our thoughts from distractions (like the person who cut us off in traffic) to the reasons that we are really here. An “Acolyte” lights the candles at the altar to symbolize God’s presence. 
• Processional – The priest, along with a person known as the Lay Eucharistic Minister (who assists the priest throughout the service) comes to the altar following the cross as we all sing praise to God. Some folks will bow as the cross passes to show respect. It is one way we pray with our body. 
• Collect for purity – The priest “collects” our desire to know God in a prayer. 
• Praise Songs – Songs sung to, not about God. Don’t worry how well you sing – God is more excited to hear you sing than a proud parent at the school  recital. He loves even your “joyful noise.”  The Bible tells us that!
• Collect of the day – Another prayer, focusing on the theme of service as found in our scriptures for the day. 
• Readings – We read from the Bible, first the Old and then the New Testament. As we do, we listen for help and encouragement.
• Children’s Time – We love kids so we sometimes provide a small teaching for our smallest members. Feel free to accompany your children, if needed. Afterwards, the children are led by their teachers to “Kid’s Life,” classes just for them.
• Gospel song and reading –  We sing before the readings of the “gospel“; the good news about Jesus. As the song winds down the priest walks into the congregation to read. We turn towards the gospel.  This is to illustrate that God came into the midst of us in Jesus. You’ll note that prior to the reading some of us cross our foreheads, lips and hearts. It’s a prayer giving our minds, hearts and lips to Jesus’ words and life.
• Sermon – The priest talks - Usually about what we read in the Bible, sometimes about other things that are important. Often, when we listen, God will be talking to us too. 
• Confession of faith – Everyone recites the Nicene Creed. It sounds like it was written by a committee, because it was. In 324 – truly old school – Christian leaders sat down to summarize the essentials of what Christians believe. This is it. We say it because we believe it too. 
• Prayers – Different forms may be used, but the basics are the same: prayers for the world, for the church and for the community. There are prayers of thanksgiving too.  The prayers are an outline – you fill in the blanks. We end with a prayer of Confession.   Afterwards, the priest pronounces God’s pardon for sins and wishes the congregation God’s peace. You can offer those around you your wishes for peace, but save the discussion of the Noles game for coffee hour afterwards. 
• Announcements – We find out what is going on & how we can get busy for God and loving our neighbor. 
• Offertory – Music is provided while an offering is collected to give thanks to God, spread the gospel and keep the lights on.
• Holy Communion – much could be said about this, but what you need to know is said by the priest in this part of the service itself.  Communion is open to anyone who has been baptized and is following Jesus. 
• Recessional – A final song of praise, during which, the cross leads the way back into the world. 
• Dismissal – The priest dismisses the congregation. Don’t forget to join us for coffee, conversation and a snack afterwards.  We gather in our “family room.”  It’s a great way to get to know some of the other good folks at St. Luke’s.​

A Typical Order of Worship 

 Prelude
+Processional
+Acclamation and Collect for Purity
+Songs of Praise
+Collect of the Day
Reading of Scripture: Old Testament, New Testament
+Gospel Song
+ Gospel Reading
Sermon
+Confession of Faith
* Prayers of the People
Assurance of Pardon and Passing of the Peace
Announcements
Offertory
+Holy Communion
Closing Prayer and Benediction
+Recessional Song
+Dismissal

+standing
 *kneeling

BTW..... 

Ancient Modern Worship

Some have called our form of worship "Ancient Modern."  That means that although we use contemporary music and try not to be stuffy, much of what we do and say is ancient.  The service is based on the way Jews in Old Testament times worshiped. The prayers come from Christians throughout the centuries, all the way back to the first Christians and the entire service mostly comes (about 85%) from Bible quotations.  We believe its hard to improve on many of these . . .  so why re-invent the wheel.  It is important, though, that we make it our own with heart and mind.

Some Notes on Posture

Since we want to worship God with not only our hearts and minds but also our bodies there is a lot of movement in the service.  Don’t let the holy aerobics scare you.  Just join in the best you can -- Generally, we stand or kneel to pray; we sit to listen and learn.