Visiting St. John's
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ."
Saint John’s is a congregation that centers our Sunday morning services on Christ through the use of the rich, historical, and faithful liturgical tradition of the Church. This means that on any given Sunday you will find us utilizing a fixed order for our services as found within Lutheran Service Book which is the most recent hymnal of our church body. This hymnal is filled with the best of the traditions as handed down to us, as well as incorporating new settings and hymns. The reason for using this is that this is a faithful way the Church has received Christ for generations, and is a way we can faithfully continue to hand on the faith for generations to come. Familiarity with these liturgical practices have been a source of great comfort for many a Lutheran throughout their life, and even at the deathbed as they await their welcome into the courts of heaven.
Additionally, Saint John’s follows the lectionary of the Lutheran Church which aligns very closely with the Revised Common Lectionary utilized in many Christian denominations around the world. A lectionary is a scheduled set of readings for use in the services of God’s house each week. The benefit of a lectionary is that it offers both clergy and congregation an opportunity to consider a wider scope of Scripture than they might wish to if left to select their own Scripture readings each week. To say that we follow a similar lectionary than other Christians is also to suggest that readings and sermons offered on those Scripture passages will be similar across denominations and can foster discussion and dialogue with other Christians throughout the week.
One stark difference you may notice about Lutherans is that we love to sing out of our rich hymnody. Music is very much part of our services and serves as another means by which the Gospel is proclaimed into our ears and through us in prayer and song. Many of our hymns are sung by other Christian denominations and come from a variety of traditions, while others are uniquely Lutheran. In all our singing, we seek to keep Christ at the center and connect God’s people to His promises of grace in Word and Sacrament.
The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is something that happens at almost all of our services every week and throughout the year. Lutherans consider the Lord’s Supper to be the pinnacle of our life together and how we tangibly receive Christ’s body and blood under bread and wine for forgiveness and for our eternal good. Lutherans confess certain things about what happens at the Lord’s Supper, what is received, and who should receive it, and as such, if you are visiting, we ask that you would speak to the pastor prior to receiving the Lord’s Supper for the first time at Saint John’s.
If you would like to get a sense of what happens at Saint John’s each week, feel free to watch the videos of our services here. If you have any questions about our services, please speak to the pastor.