Sunday Morning Service

In our weekly 10:55 a.m. worship service we gather to offer God our praise and thanksgiving and to listen for his Word for our lives.  We worship in a style that is often called “traditional” in Baptist life, though we incorporate emphases and practices from the larger church tradition.  Among these are the observance of the church year seasons and the donning of robes by clergy leaders during certain of these seasons.

There is much meaning behind our traditional form of worship.  We gather on Sundays because Sunday is the day on which our Lord was raised from the dead.  Every week for us, first and foremost, is a celebration of the resurrection.  We gather in the name of him who was raised from the dead, even Jesus our Lord, who promised his presence where two or more are so gathered (Matthew 18:20).  Thus, we gather with the expectation that Jesus will meet us in our worship.

We expect Jesus to meet us in various ways, but especially through the reading and preaching of the Bible.  The service is a service of the Word primarily – a service in which the living Word is made manifest to us through the written Word.  But it is not just a “preaching service.”  The sermon is complemented by hymns, anthems, instrumental offerings, responsive readings, prayers and rites of stewardship.  The whole of the service is planned to form a single expression of worship, offered by all in attendance.