Divine Service

We use the Common Service of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is a blending of Lutheran traditions from the 16th Century onwward.  At one time, nearly all the Lutherans in America, regardless of synod or denomination, used this service.

The Lutherans purged the Western liturgy of prayers to the saints and anything that was against the Gospel of the free forgiveness of sins received through faith.

We use two hymnals, “Lutheran Service Book” and “The Lutheran Hymnal.”  We enjoy beautiful and rich hymns that have depth and meat in them.  If you visit us during the school year, you will witness young men and women raising their voices to fill the sanctuary with the praises of God, “teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” (Col. 3:16)

If you are accustomed to what is sometimes called “contemporary worship,” please do not dismiss our worship as vain repetition or something to be ignored or looked down upon.  It is a beautiful service, filled with God’s Word and with comfort we all need.

A beautiful explanation of the main parts of the liturgy can be found in this article entitled “Why Go to Church?”

We hope to have recordings of our congregation singing the parts of the liturgy some time.  In the mean time, if you’re in the area, please join us!

 

The Lord’s Supper

Our Communion Statement is as follows:

In addition to receiving Christ’s gift of forgiveness and His true Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar, all those who commune at our altar also make a confession of the faith as we believe and teach as a congregation of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, thereby witnessing to our doctrinal unity in the Christian faith. For this reason, and in the interest of faithful pastoral care for all in attendance, if you are not a member of this congregation, have not communed here previously, and have not yet spoken to our pastor, please refrain from coming forward to the altar. Speaking to our pastor prior to communing even if you are a member of another LCMS congregation, is greatly appreciated. Thank you for honoring our practice. If you desire to learn more about these beliefs, or if you are interested in learning how to become a member of this church, we invite you to arrange for a time to visit with our pastor. Please also take a copy of the pamphlet “This is the Feast” which is found in the pew pad folios and in the narthex.

Communion Frequency

The Sacrament of the Altar is joyfully and thankfully offered here every Sunday, on all major festivals, and at various other minor festivals when we are able to gather during the week. In line with the New Testament Church and our Lutheran forefathers, we believe that the Sacrament was a regular and major feature of congregational worship, and not an occasional extra (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:20,33). In Reformation times our churches celebrated the Sacrament ‘every Sunday and on other festivals.'(Apology XXIV 1).” They did so because of their great awareness of just what the Sacrament is, and the fact that this had been the common practice instituted by Christ who said, “Do this often….” Unless there is some serious spiritual reason preventing our communing, we believe that we should receive the Sacrament whenever it is offered to us, primarily because we understand our need for the forgiveness it bestows.

   The Use of the Chalice

If there is one place where we who confess the same truths should be as one it is at the altar. We are one body- the Communion of Saints, just as we share and confess one faith. Concerns raised regarding the common cup are normally two-fold. First, there may be practical questions of how to receive and hold it. Here the pastor and deacons are trained to help guide someone so that it quickly becomes familiar. Some also have concerns about potentially receiving germs. Rest assured that the scientific community has clearly and repeatedly demonstrated that such fears are completely unfounded.

The following piece entitled “the Common Cup and Disease” is quoted in an appendix to the Altar Guild Manual (CPH, 1996, authorized by the LCMS Commission on Worship): Can I get sick from using the common cup? No! The use of the common cup was traditional in all Christian churches until this century and was eliminated because of fears about sanitary matters concerning the transmission of disease…. A thorough study on the use of the common cup was done by professors Burroughs and Hemmers in 1965 and was reported in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Their conclusion was: Experiments on the transmission of organisms from one person to another by common use of the chalice showed that 0.001% of the organisms transferred even under the most favorable conditions and when conditions approximated those of actual use, no transmission could be detected. Recent concerns about the transmission of AIDS confirm this study. Dr. David Ho in the New England Journal of Medicine (December 1985) provided documentation that verified that there was no spread of the AIDS virus in saliva through common eating or drinking utensils…. Lutherans should remember that Martin Luther restored the cup when Roman Catholics had all but eliminated it from the peoples’ Communion. He did it because his loyalty was to the command of Christ in the Bible. The use of the common cup was normative until the late nineteenth century and was eliminated in those churches in which Communion was not understood as being the Body and Blood of Christ. Some Lutherans allow other methods of distribution, believing that the method of distribution does not matter. However, the use of the common chalice retains that which Our Lord indicated was His desire. And its effect, where used, is to transmit not only salvation but also the oneness that comes from sharing the Blood of Christ from the Chalice in common with one’s sisters and brothers.

In the end, we believe that the Chalice:

is Scriptural. It is the exact method used by Christ and is what He was referring to when He said, “Drink of it all of you.”
emphasizes Biblical unity contrary to individualism;
is in line with the practice of Christ, His disciples, the early church, the church catholic and our Lutheran forefathers,
is a confession of faith that Christ would not give us anything that would contain that which would harm us;
is preferable for the very reasons it has gone into disuse and is quite simple and practical to administer; and
is more in line with the doctrine of the Real Presence and those churches that confess it.

Even though this is our practice, we do not want to burden anyone’s conscience. If someone is still sincerely concerned about receiving the chalice, the pastor will make every opportunity to provide them with an individual cup. However, we do ask that those who have concerns arrange a time to meet with the pastor privately beforehand. Again, he is more than happy to speak with you.