Hear and Believe the Word of the Lord, Eat and Drink of Christ's Body and Blood and Never See Death!
At Holy Trinity & St. James Lutheran Churches, we are truly blessed by our gracious Lord to make use of the historic liturgy of the Lutheran Church. Therefore, our Divine Worship is liturgical throughout. The word liturgy means "the word of the people," and so we have the privilege and honor of receiving God's grace and mercy through the liturgy of His Church. Yes indeed, the historic liturgy is the Word of God to us so that we, the Church, have it and are greatly blessed by it. Above all else, the holy liturgy is the action that God performs for us in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit - a gracious, sin-forgiving, conscience-comforting action!
In the liturgy, "Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise. Music is drawn into this thankfulness and praise, enlarging and elevating the adoration of God, our gracious giver.
"Saying back to Him what He has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure. Most true and sure is His name, which He put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are His. This we acknowledge at the beginning of the Divine Service. Where His name is, there is He.
"Before Him we acknowledge that we are sinners, and we plead for forgiveness. His forgiveness is given to us, and we, freed and forgiven, acclaim Him as our great and gracious God as we apply to ourselves the words He has used to make Himself known to us.
"The rhythm of our worship is from Him to us, and then from us back to Him. He gives His gifts, and together we receive and extol them. We build one another up as we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our Lord gives us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink. Finally His blessing moves us out into our calling, where His gifts have their fruition. How best to do this we may learn from His Word and from the way His Word has prompted His worship through the centuries. We are heirs of an astonishingly rich tradition. Each generation receives from those who went before and, in making that tradition of the Divine Service its own, adds what best may serve in its own day - the living heritage and something new." (Lutheran Worship, Concordia Publishing House, Introduction, 6)
Another important aspect of the liturgy is that it is God's Divine Service (German: Gottesdienst) to us, or the Lord our God, in Christ, serving us poor sinners with His forgiveness, life and salvation through His Holy Word and Sacraments (Holy Baptism and Holy Communion). The Order of Worship we use is The Lutheran Hymnal, Page 5 (non-Communion Sunday services) and Page 15 (Communion Sunday services; see our Communion Policy under "Visitor Info."), as well as other services in the hymnal.
