Understanding Our Worship

          The weekend worship services are one of the most important things we do here at Eastside.  They are the time when more people gather together than at any other event during the week and for good reason-they want to worship the Lord in a united, public way.  We always welcome family, friends, neighbors, guests, and perfect strangers to our worship services.  If you’ve never joined us before, we hope this brief introduction helps you feel comfortable as you praise God with us.  Don’t worry if you don’t get everything “right” the first time around.  Just relax and hear about the wonderful plans God has for your life and for your eternity.

Worship Tools:

Hymnal:  At Eastside, we currently use a red hymnal called “Christian Worship.”  It is divided into two parts:  The front section contains different liturgies, or traditional orders of worship.  This section is marked with small numbers on the bottom of the page.  The most common services we use are the “Service of Word and Sacrament” on p.26 and the “Service of the Word” on p.38.  In addition, there are a number of great resources in the front part of the hymnal:   Starting on p.134 you can find personal prayers for any number of situations in life.  Page 156 has a great review of what communion is all about, a fantastic refresher before taking the Lord’s Supper.  If you arrive early, take a few moments to browse the worship helps in this front section.

 

The second part of our hymnal contains the hymns, or spiritual songs, we use in worship.  These are marked with larger numbers on the top of the page.  Over 600 hymns are included in our hymnal, divided into themes such as Christian love, praise, faith, trust, and prayer.  Our worship committee hand picks these hymns as they seek to tie the service into a unified whole.

 

 Worship Folder/Bulletin-Recently, Eastside began to regularly use a worship folder (bulletin).  This folder contains the entire service, including printed Scripture readings and songs.  We still encourage our members to use the Bibles found in the pews as well as grab a hymnal to sing harmony (if they can!) during the songs.  We hope this addition makes it easier for first-time guests to feel comfortable in worship.

 

Basic Outline of Worship

 Opening Hymn-After a brief welcome from the pastor, we begin our worship with a song.  Its words are meant to draw us away from the busyness of our lives and into a place where we can focus our thoughts and praise to our gracious God.

Greeting:  The minister offers a greeting in the name of the Triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Our minds remember the miracle of baptism where the name of God was placed upon us with his promised blessing.

Confession of Sins:  We approach God in honest confession.  Here there are no excuses, no cover-ups, and no blame.  We admit the times we have failed to live as God has called us to live.  Aware of what we deserve from a holy God, we rejoice at hearing his incredible promise:  We are forgiven because of what Jesus has done for the entire world.

Prayer of the Day:  This prayer ties into the service theme, reminding us of the ancient tradition of annually recounting Jesus’ life and the history of the early church.

Scripture Readings:  One of the essential parts of Christian worship is hearing the Word of God.  Traditionally, three readings are used-an Old Testament reading, an epistle reading (taken from the letters of the New Testament), and a Gospel reading (a selection from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John).  The lessons are tied together in a unified theme that helps us to understand God and how he directs our lives.

Psalm of the Day:  The Psalm is sung in between the first two lessons.  If not printed in the bulletin, these can be found in the front part of the hymnal.

Hymn of the Day:  More than any other hymn, this song is tied directly to the message of the service and sermon.

Sermon:  An explanation of one of the Scripture readings for the day.  After an in-depth study of the lesson in its original language (Old Testament-Hebrew; New Testament-Greek), the pastor clearly and concisely lays out the message God is speaking to his people.  While personal stories or related events are often tied in to the sermon, its focus is always upon the work of God in our lives.

Creed:  A communal confession of faith uniting us to Christians throughout the centuries.  On communion Sundays we join in the Nicene Creed, a confession written in the 4^th century defending the true identity of Jesus Christ.  On non-communion Sundays we use the words of the Apostles’ Creed, written by Christians around 125 A.D.  This creed summarizes the teaching of the Apostles as they learned it from Jesus himself.

Offering:  While many people cringe at the idea of seeing the offering plate, we consider it an important and joyful part of worship.  Here God’s people give freely of what God has so graciously given to them, praying that their offerings might touch more people with the life-changing words of Jesus.  We always remind our guests that we do not expect them to bring an offering when they worship with us.  We consider it a pleasure to share the Word of God with them and ask that they give only when God has moved their hearts to bring forth a willing offering.

Prayer of the Church:  Here the church brings forth its concerns, wishes, requests, and special prayers.  Often we include a moment of silence where each worshipper can privately address God with those things on his/her heart.

Lord’s Prayer:  Jesus taught his disciples to pray this simple, yet powerful prayer.  We join in those well-known words in Jesus’ name.

Blessing:  The minister speaks God’s promise to his people:  The Lord will be with us and strengthen us as we live for him during the upcoming week.

Closing Hymn:  We leave our service glorifying God for the encouragement we found in his Word and in the sacraments.