Invitation to Worship

We invite you to come to church expecting to hear, see, or know something fresh from God, to experience God’s love in some personal way. Here are some things that can help that happen:

• Arrive a few minutes early if you can so you can breathe as you enter God’s house.
• Pick up your name tag and a bulletin. If you are a visitor or a first time worshiper, please let an usher know. We encourage our folks to welcome newcomers and visitors on God’s behalf by introducing themselves and offering to answer any questions.
• In the sanctuary, we foster an atmosphere of reverence. Greet others warmly but quietly, with a smile, eye contact, or a few quiet words. Longer conversations are best saved for the coffee hour following worship.
• Passing the Peace following the Confession and Absolution is a particularly sacred moment. It’s your opportunity to powerfully, lovingly bless those around you by looking each of them in the eye and saying “Peace” or “the Peace of Christ be with you.”
• After the Peace comes the Offering, which includes news and invitations of the community, as well as celebrations. We intentionally keep these brief to maintain the flow of worship. We then present the bread and wine and monetary gifts, symbols of the reality that all we have and are belong to God.
• Throughout the service, music is part of our dialog with God. You are invited to participate with heart, mind, and voice. Sometimes an instrumental or choral offering finds us responding with silence, sometimes with applause. Let the Spirit lead.
• Worship concludes with the Dismissal and the Postlude music, during which some folks are still in prayer while others are beginning to rise and depart. If you speak in the sanctuary during the Postlude, please keep your voices low.

This Sunday – and every time we gather – may we encounter our loving, liberating, life-giving God – and may we be revived!