About Worship…

 

We are a “liturgical church.”  What does that mean?

 Many Christians in healthy and positive church worship enter the sanctuary, sit down and - aside from singing a song or two - never “physically act” as part of worship.  There is nothing at all wrong with that. 

 But Lutherans do things differently; we stand, sit, stand again, kneel, bow, cross ourselves, etc. during worship. Why?  Because we see worship as a model for how we live life in the world as God’s people.

 The historic roots of the word liturgy can be defined as “the work of the people.” Lutheran worship is work  - the work of “breathing in “ and “breathing out.”

 In worship we “breath in” God’s gifts (His Word, His forgiveness, His blessing, etc.).  Then – in response to these things taken in – we “breath out”  (we praise in song, we pray in gratitude, we give our offerings, etc).

 This taking in and then responding to God’s blessings is a model for how we are called to live our lives.

 Christians “breath in” daily blessings (Luther says, “God richly and daily provides me with all that I need to daily support this body and life”) and then we respond to these blessings by “breathing out;“ that is by caring for and serving the people of the world in how we act toward others and live out our vocations.

 Worship is more than just an experience for Sunday morning – its training for the rest of the week.

 

   

The Gospels say that Jesus took “the cup” after supper. If scripture shows the disciples drinking from a common cup why do we have a chalice and individual cups…

 The reference to a common cup is stated in three of the Gospels (and Paul’s letter to the Corinthians). But we always need to look at scripture and decide if we are seeing something PRESCRIBED (must do) or DESCRIBED (its what they did.) Scripture does not explicitly command the use of a common cup.

 However in the late 1800’s people became increasingly aware that germs caused disease. They worried that the common cup could transmit them. In response to this some American churches began using individual cups.

 But this really an unwarranted concern; The common chalice has some health benefits. The silver has antimicrobial properties (silver is often used in medical equipment) and the alcohol in the wine helps eliminate bacteria. Additionally the chalice is turned and wiped after each use.

 The use of individual cups is a perfectly acceptable practice and like many Lutheran congregations, Faith offers both options.     

Regardless of the various Communion practices—our participation together connects us to the fellowship of other believers in the church and through the blood of Christ, we have forgiveness, life, and salvation.



 

 Why is the sanctuary referred to as the “nave?”

The area that a congregation meets in is formally called the nave from the Latin navis, which means ship. From early in church history the ark has been used to symbolize how we (like Noah’s family) are saved on a journey with God.  Over the years churches have been designed with wood beams representing an upside-down ship.  Can you see this history in our building?

The wise architects of Faith gifted us with a tieback to these early roots – and a connection to a reminder of our place in God’s story.  Every time we step through the door we are reminded that our place is in His ark, in His care and to His destination.