In the beginning of the service, we look up and see the Glory of God. As we sing, praise and contemplate his glory this causes us to look down and see the Gravity of our sin in light of His Holiness. Then, he raises us through the Grandeur of his Grace in Jesus through his atoning death and forgiveness as we receive it. And finally, at the end, we open our hands to receive Grace for Mission as we go into the world. Call to Worship: Every Sunday morning starts with a welcome and encouragement. One thing that has been the same since day one at Christ Church, is to sing the Doxology at the beginning as a call to worship God and orient our hearts right off the bat. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” Music: We use all kinds of instruments from a lone guitar to a band. Using a blend of songs as ancient as the Gloria Patri to songs recorded yesterday, we sing declarations of God’s greatness, laments, songs of comfort and of joy. Music is an important tool that God gave us to steward our emotions, and bring them into right response to the truth. It is worth noting that we are theologically reformed. That does not mean that all the songs we use come from reformed writers. We use songs often popularized by churches with whom we would not be in theological agreement. On any level, these frictions are inevitable. For instance, Horatio Spafford, was the man who wrote the lyrics to the much beloved hymn, “It is Well with My Soul.” Many have heard the tragic story of how he wrote that song after losing his wife and four daughters in a shipwreck and his shocking trust and dependence on Jesus for comfort. But most people don’t know that later in life he allegedly strayed from orthodox teaching and became somewhat universalist denying the existence of Hell. This is not our theological position. This underscores that what we must be attentive to is the truth and accuracy of the words we sing, more so than if they are written by fallible human beings and institutions. Prayer: Our pastor and elders pray over and for us publicly and in corporate fashion we bring to God our confessions of sin. Sometimes we use prayers of confession from the Bible, and sometimes we use historical prayers from the Reformed tradition. Assurance: After the confession of sin, we take a moment to remind ourselves of our pardon of guilt in Christ from God’s words to us in the Bible. Preaching: Listening attentively and actively to a sermon is an act of worship meant to stir our affections for Jesus. These sermons are gospel messages straight from scripture, with a blend of preaching and teaching. The Table: The Lord’s Supper — or Communion — is the capstone of every worship service at Christ Church. We take the Lord’s Supper together weekly, inviting Christ to nourish our faith as we receive from him in faith. His glory, demonstrated by his broken body and shed blood, is what we’re all about. Confession of Faith: We frequently recite the Apostle’s or Nicene Creeds to publicly profess our faith together. If we publicly confess our sins as a body, it is good and right that we also confess our faith as a body. Benediction: The service is concluded with a benediction from God to go in that renewed sense of Grace. Every person who worships with us on a Sunday leaves that room with God’s blessing, to be received the same way we receive everything from God: by faith.