Welcome to Worship at Christ Our Savior

Anytime we do something different for the first time, it seems a bit awkward or uncomfortable. That can be true with church. That’s why we would like to take a moment and share some things about our worship style. We pray that this will help you as you consider coming to worship with us.

All we do at our church is meant to emphasize the forgiving love of God. This is true in our worship. We follow a liturgical form of worship intended to involve everyone in a meaningful way. Christ is at the center of liturgical worship. Some parts of the liturgy stay the same each Sunday. This is to make sure that Christ is proclaimed and praised during every service. Some parts of the liturgy change every week. These changes are based on the appointed calendar of the church. This calendar makes sure that we cover the important events and teachings of Christ every year.

Worship is an Old English word that originally meant value or worth. At Christ Our Savior, we consider our worship of God something that is worth our time.

• It is a time for laying our burden of sin at the cross of Christ.
• It is a time for being assured that God still loves us and forgives us all our sins in Jesus Christ.
• It is a time to praise and thank God for his bountiful blessings.
• And it is a time for being with fellow Christians who confess all of God’s Word as truth.

As you join us for worship, please feel free to ask questions of those around you and to participate, as you feel comfortable. We have a worship folder which outlines the worship service and offers helpful advice so that you can participate.

What follows is a brief explanation of how we worship and why:

The Invocation - We begin our worship by calling on the name of our Savior God as we praise him.

Confession and Absolution – We acknowledge that we have not done what God asks. Yet, we are assured of forgiveness because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Bible Readings – We hear selections from God’s Old Testament prophets, Jesus’ apostles and from Jesus himself in the Gospels.

Sermon –The pastor preaches a message based on one of the lessons or the gospel for the day. The sermon teaches how God’s word applies to our Christian life

Confession of Faith - We proclaim what we believe—what the Christian Church has always believed. To do that we use the words of the Nicene and Apostles Creeds—both of which have been used in the Christian Church for almost two millennia.

Response to the Word – We respond with offerings and prayers. We pray to God about specific joys and troubles in our church and in the Church around the world. There is time for silent prayer. This is followed by the Lord’s Prayer.

Lord’s Supper - The Lord’s Supper is offered on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. We, united with our brothers and sisters in the faith, approach God’s altar to receive the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith.

Final prayer for peace and blessing – We hear one last assurance of God’s care.

Spread throughout the different parts of the service are hymns and short songs to praise God. Since worship is an extension of our beliefs, you will find that our worship is Bible-based in that all we say, sing, or do is a reflection of God’s love revealed in his holy Word.