What to Expect
Worship at Trinity follows the historic order of service found in the Lutheran liturgy. The liturgy ensures that our worship of God is ordered, structured and always focused on God and what he has done for us through his Son Jesus.
Worship at Trinity occurs in the sanctuary. The sanctuary of a church is where Christians may gather to find peace and refuge from their sin and guilt.
Worship at Trinity begins with a hymn. Hymns are timeless pieces of historic worship. We sing hymns to accompany our worship. Think of hymns as musical accoutrements to a worship service. These may seem archaic, overly complex and out of place in a 21st century worship, but in fact our hymnody strengthens are faith and roots us into our Lutheran heritage. Beneath a hymn's traditional facade is the rich and vibrant theology of our salvation.
After the opening hymn, the words of Invocation are spoken.
"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
It is in this Triune Name of God that we have the power and authority to forgive sins and proclaim salvation. The congregation responds with Amen! This means "so be it". When the congregation says this, they are affirming what the pastor has said.
After the Invocation, the liturgy moves into the next portion of the service called the Preparation. This is called the preparation because it is in these moments when we prepare our hearts to receive God's forgiveness through the confession of sins. In the confession, we confess our sins and acknowledge our fallen natures to one another and to God.
"I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being."
With our sins confessed, acknowledging our fallen states and recognizing that we deserve wrath and death, Jesus comes to us in the following words from the pastor.
"Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
Amen."
This is a removal of sin and guilt. This is called the gospel - the forgiveness of sins happening to you.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
The next portion of the liturgy is the Service of the Word. This part of the liturgy focuses on how God comes to us in his Word. It begins with the Introit - meaning "beginning" or "entrance". It is a short mixture of Psalms and other scripture verses. It is thematic for the current liturgical season. It ends with a verse called an antiphon - meaning "voice answering voice" or "repeating voice" because it is said at the beginning and end of the Introit. But before we say the antiphon, we say the Gloria Patri. Its name is its Latin abbreviation of "Glory be the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen"
"Glory be the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen."
Christians end a reading of a Psalm with the Gloria Patri to distinguish their worship from Jews. Most Orthodox Jews do not recognize the New Testament - which has revealed to us that God is three in and one in three (Triune), as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Following the Introit is the Kyrie. Kyrie is a Greek abbreviation for Kyrie Eleison - which means "Lord have mercy"
"Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy."
It is a prayer that asks God for mercy. When Jesus walked the earth, the people who cried out after him for healing cried this prayer. We say it three times to honor the Triune nature of God.
Next comes our second hymn. This hymn has a unique name - Gloria in Excelsis - which is Latin for "Glory in the Highest". It is one of the oldest Christian hymns in the church. It was originally sung by the angels who announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds in Luke 2:14
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" Luke 2:14
Following the hymn, the church prays a special prayer called the Collect of the Day. This comes from the Latin collecta as the congregation prays as one collective. This prayer, like the Introit, is thematic for the day and season of liturgy. If you pay attention closely, you can really see the main idea of that particular Sunday developing. Many Collect Prayers have been prayed by the church for over 1200 years.
After the prayer is spoken, the congregation is invited to be seated for the scripture readings. Like many churches in our Synod, Trinity follows a three-year lectionary. Year one follows the gospel of Matthew. Year two, the gospel of Mark. And the third year, the gospel of Luke. (The gospel of John is interspersed throughout all three lectionaries). The first reading usually comes from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the 66 books of Genesis through Malachi. Its inspired words contain many prophecies of Jesus Christ; and its historical narrative is God's plan of salvation for his people.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
After the Old Testament, a Psalm may be read. The early church greatly relied on the Psalms for their worship. The Psalms are read as if Christ himself was reading and praying them. In these words, we see the God who took on flesh, suffered our pains and lived our experiences.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest." Psalm 22:1-2
After the Psalm, a passage from the New Testament is read. The New Testament is the 27 books of Matthew through Revelation. Many of the books from the New Testament are called Epistles. An epistle is a letter. Paul the Apostle wrote these theological letters to Christians in different cities (Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, Thessalonica). The church has regarded these letters as scripture and has named them after the people who received them (ie: the books of Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians).
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 1:1-7
Next comes the gospel passage of the day. But before the pastor reads it, the congregation sings a short response called the Alleluia. Alleluia is Hebrew for "Praise the Lord". It is an expression of joy from the people who are about to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel Accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John follow the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are named after the men whose writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Matthew and John were two of the 12 disciples who accompanied Jesus in his travels. Mark and Luke would have been alive during the same time, but were not part of the 12 disciples of Jesus. They accompanied the Apostle Paul in his travels. Each author brings his own personal style and rhetoric to the pages - but all four are equally holy and inspired by the Holy Spirit. God has always worked through fallen humanity to bring about his salvation. Working through these four authors is par the course of God who delights in working his salvation through human means. The season of the church follows the gospel readings. Christmas day will read of Christ’s birth (Matt 1; Luke 2; John 1); Easter day will read of Christ’s resurrection (Matt 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20). Along with the sermon, the reading of the gospel is the main part of the Service of the Word (and it is often the primary text on which the pastor bases his sermon).
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:30-31
Following the gospel reading, the congregation sings the third hymn of the day. This hymn is often called the "Sermon Hymn" or the Hymn of the Day. This hymn typically follows the theme and theological main point of the sermon. If you pay attention closely, its words are like a sermon on their own.
The sermon is the grand finale of the Service of the Word. The sermon is a public and authoritative proclamation of what God has done through his Son for the church.
- It is public - anyone and everyone is welcome to hear
- It is authoritative - the local church has issued a Divine Call to this particular man to be their preacher. The congregation recognizes that he has the authority to serve as God's mouthpiece in the proclamation of what God says in his Word.
- It is a proclamation - the sermon expounds upon the scripture readings. There are many difficult passages in the bible to understand; listening to sermons helps to learn more about what God is saying in his Word. This manifests itself in two modes of proclamation: Law and Gospel. Law proclamation tells us that we are sinners and that we deserve wrath and death. Gospel proclamation tells us the good news - that since Jesus has died a sacrificial substitutionary death and has risen in a glorious victorious resurrection - we are forgiven of our sins and have our own resurrections and everlasting life.
As we can see, sermons are a very unique and specialized address to a particular group of people. Sermons should not verge into the so-called categories of "self-help" or "divine therapy sessions". They are not merely informational speeches of some sort of truth either. But unfortunately, many preachers do waste their congregations' time with empty words. The sermon is God's Word proclaimed to God's people, so that in their hearing, they faith may be emboldened and deepened in what Christ has done for them.
"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4
After hearing the truth of God's Word preached and receiving it by faith, the congregation collectively speaks a summary of the Christian faith in the words of what is called a Creed. Creed comes from the Latin "credo" which means "I believe." And the creed is just that, a brief summary of what Christians believe. The church recognizes three ecumenical creeds (ecumenical meaning universal among all Christian denominations).
- The Apostles' Creed - written in the second century, its author is unknown. It may have been one time called the "Old Roman Creed" as it is commonly understood to have been used by the early church in Rome for the baptismal liturgy.
- The Nicene Creed - originally formulated at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and revisited at the Council of Constantinople in 381. This creed especially clarified who Jesus is - true God, with the Father and the Spirit and true man.
- The Athanasian Creed - its origin is also unknown, dating somewhere between the sixth and eighth centuries. It is named after the preeminent theologian Athanasius who was instrumental in drafting the Nicene Creed.
The Creeds were not developed by accident. After Jesus' ascension, the 12 Apostles were sent all over to spread the gospel; and the church grew. But in that growth came a necessity for leadership and clarification. That was the impetus behind each creed (especially the Nicene Creed). The creeds theologically clarify who God the Father is, who God the Son is and who God the Holy Spirit is. By these authoritative and ecumenical statements of belief, the church is guided in sound, pure and biblical theology. This is why the church still confesses them to this day; we make its words our Confession of Faith.
The Service of the Word concludes with the offertory and the prayers of the church. It is true that we cannot offer God anything to merit our own salvation; but we can respond. That response looks like the offering of our tithe. The bible commands God's people to tithe - to offer a portion of what they have - to the church (Gen 14, 28; Lev 27:30; Num 18:25–28; Deut 14:22–24; 2 Chronicles 31:5–6; Matt 22; 1 Cor16:1–2; 2 Cor 8–9; Phil 4:14-15.). It is not an act of greed that the church takes an offering. God's Word speaks very strongly against this (Mal 3:8-12; Acts 5:1-6). Through people's generosity, the ministry of the church - the preaching of the forgiveness of sins and the care and instruction of the saints - is continued. After the offering is collected, the pastor prays what is called the Prayers of the Church. The church prays for sound theology to be proclaimed here and around the world; for men to enter the pastoral ministry; for the local, state and national leaders, their health and their wisdom; for first responders and military members; for the sick and the dying and their care givers; and for many more concerns.
Worship concludes with the Lord's Prayer and the Benediction. In Matthew 6 and Luke 11, Jesus instructs his disciples on how to pray. Since these are Jesus' words, instructing disciples then and how on how to pray, many Christians pray this prayer in their worship and throughout their lives. The Benediction means "blessing". Its words come from Aaron, Moses' second in command, in Numbers 6, as he addressed the people with a parting blessing. The liturgy ends with these words in the same way - the people leave the Divine Service with a blessing from God, ready to return to their vocations of loving the Lord and serving their neighbor.
"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22-27
