What does our Sunday worship look like? Here's an outline:

GATHERING

• Voluntary: an opening piece of music sung or led by the choir. It is called a "voluntary"; because it is 'freely given'. It is often a praise chorus or some other song easy to sing.
• Greeting: Usually a responsive prayer led by the liturgist (worship leader) and responded to by the congregation, e.g.

  One: The House of God is open to all-
  All: we all dwell in the presence of the Lord.

• Hymn: Usually a hymn of praise to open worship. The hymns should all tie in with the theme of the Scripture lessons being read and preached on that Sunday.
• Opening Prayer: A unison congregational prayer. Our prayers are often selected from worship resources, but many of them are written by members of our Worship Committee. One example:

O Loving God, creator of all nations and all peoples, we praise you for your love of all. We come as children in need of compassion and acceptance. We ask that your ever present spirit inspire us to live out love for you and for all, in this community of faith. Amen.

• Concerns of the Congregation: Announcements and other information for the community are shared.
• Call to Prayer: Often a short, contemplative piece of music will be sung as a way of centering the congregation for prayer.
• Prayer of Confession: part of understanding the power of God's love and forgiveness is coming to terms with our own brokenness and sinfulness. Our prayers of confession are collective as we recognize that as a church we bear one another's burdens even as we support one another on our Christian walk. One example, written by our Worship Committee:

  We confess that you are not always the first thought on our minds. Sometimes we forget to ask your help in deciding on the right path to follow. We confess to being selfish and not putting others before ourselves. At times our passions override our judgment and the guilt is more than we can bear. Free us of our guilt, remind us of your abiding grace, that you accept us for who we are, as we are. Amen.

• Words of Assurance: We proclaim a God of mercy, and so confession is always followed by a word conveying the assurance of God's pardon:

This is the message we have heard from God and proclaim to you, that God is light and in God there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus the Son cleanses us from all sin.

• Passing of the Peace: "As a forgiven and a reconciled people" we share with one another the Peace of Christ. This is a chance to greet one another in Christian fellowship.
• Sharing of Joys and Concerns: As a community, we share those things that are worrying us or troubling us and those things that are bringing us joy. We do this to invite the community to pray with us in our times of need and celebrate with us in our times of joy.
• Pastoral Prayer and the Lord's Prayer: Either the chaplain, or our pastoral intern, or another one of our affiliated Protestant chaplains will then lead the congregation in a time of prayer, usually incorporating into that prayer those things shared in the Joys and Concerns. This time of prayer will usually conclude with the Lord's Prayer, unless it is a communion Sunday, in which case the Lord's prayer comes as part of the Communion.

PROCLAIMING THE WORD

• Hymn: Our second hymn. Usually sets the tone for the Scripture lessons to be read.
• Old Testament Lesson: most Sundays, we use the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, an ecumenical cycle of readings shared by the Roman Catholic and many Protestant Churches. Each day has four 'lections' or 'readings', one from the Hebrew Scriptures (except the Psalms), one from the Psalms, one from the writings of Paul or one of the other Apostles, and one from the Gospels. In our worship, we usually do not read the Psalms, but sometimes incorporate the Psalter reading into one of the prayers at the beginning of worship.
• Epistle Lesson
• Gospel Lesson
• Sermon: the Sermon, along with the Scripture lessons, is the centerpiece of Protestant worship (in Catholic services, it is the Eucharist). The sermon is meant to be exegetical, that is, drawing out meaning from and expounding on the Biblical texts. Sometimes the sermons will be thematic, and the preacher will select texts that help to illustrate his or her point.

RESPONDING TO THE WORD

• Offertory: we understand that everything we have is a gift of God and that as the people of God we give back, as we are able, to support the ministry of the community and the ministries of the church at large.
• Doxology: literally "a word of praise"; it is a song sung after the offering, giving thanks to God.
• Sacrament of Holy Communion: on the first Sunday of the month, we will celebrate the Lord's Supper at this time. It is our tradition that everyone who wishes to receive the communion may do so.
• Hymn: a final hymn, concluding the service
• Benediction: "Benediction"; means "blessing"; and so it is the blessing that the pastor gives to the congregation at the end of worship, sending them out into the world, in light of the message they have received, to serve all whom they meet.
• Postlude: music provided by the choir or the accompanist as the congregation is leaving the sanctuary.