St. Paul’s Family,
If you haven’t heard by now, you are invited to our Friendship Sunday on Sunday November 24 at 10:00am. The school children will be singing in church, and we will have a Thanksgiving meal after the service in the auditorium. We hope that you all can attend! I know that some of you regularly attended worship at St. Paul’s, others attended different churches, while some do not have a church home. While you are always welcome at St. Paul’s, we recognize that our worship service and worship style may be different than what you are used to. The colors in the church change, the pastors wear a white robe (called a Alb), there are different Scripture readings, some songs change each Sunday while other songs are there every week, and some weeks we celebrate communion and some we don’t. This can lead to some confusion and maybe some questions about what to do or not do when you come to worship at St. Paul’s. My biggest encouragement would simply be to come and see. Spend time in worship and, over time, you may begin to see the reason behind why we do what we do! However, let me briefly explain a few helpful details about worship at St. Paul’s that may help you on Friendship Sunday or any other Sunday, you join us.
Worship is about glorifying God.
This is the goal of everything we do (1 Corinthians 10:31). That is why we sing (Colossians 3:16), pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and read God’s Word. We want God’s Word, Jesus Christ, and his promises to be the central focus of all we do, and we do not want to do anything to draw attention or glory away from God and onto ourselves. For this reason, on Friendship Sunday, if you want to take pictures or videos of your child singing, we ask that you do so discretely while remaining in your seat or up in the balcony so that everyone can focus on the beautiful Word of God that the children are singing!
God works through Word and sacrament to strengthen the faith of his followers.
God promises to create faith, forgive sins, and grant eternal life through his spoken/written Word and through the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Romans 10:17, 1 Peter 3:21, Matthew 26:28). This is why we read Scripture, listen to the pastor preach a sermon, baptize babies & adults, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper on Sundays.
God desires unity.
While we invite everyone to gather around God’s Word and sing with us whether they are a member of the church or not, God does desire groups of believers to be united in faith and teachings (Ephesians 4:5-6, 1 Corinthians 1:10). For this reason, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we invite only confirmed members of St. Paul’s to participate. God explains that participating in the Lord’s Supper is an expression of being completely one in faith (1 Corinthians 10:17). We do not want you to express unity with us when we have not had a chance to teach you what we as a church believe! If you are not a confirmed member of St. Paul’s, we ask that you simply stay in your pew during the Lord’s Supper and speak to one of the Pastors if you would like to learn more.
If you have any other questions, thoughts, or concerns about worship at St. Paul’s, please reach out!
Yours in Christ,
Rev Ross
Phone: 262-510-4121
Email: rgottschalk@stpaulsk8.org
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