Worship at Providence
At Providence we follow the Church's ancient pattern of liturgical worship. Liturgy is simply the deliberate ordering of a public service, and the Church throughout her history has sought to order worship according to God's Word in reverence, beauty, and joy.
The structure of our service can be summarized quite simply:
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Calling
The service begins with a Scriptural call to worship. Gathered as God's people, we enter into the presence of the Lord by the Spirit, and we do so with songs and thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100.4)
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Confession
In Scripture, whenever someone enters specially into God's presence (think of Isaiah,) they quickly recognize their own sinfulness and need for cleansing. Having entered into God's throneroom presence for worship, we corporately confess our sins together from the words of Psalm 51. We then arise to hear the good news in the Absolution, the news of the Gospel that in our Lord Jesus Christ, our lives are rescued and our sins are forgiven.
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Consecration
Having been called out and cleansed, God then breaks us down and restructures us with the sword of His Word. We hear Scripture readings from the Old Testament, from the New Testament epistles, and we stand for a reading from the Gospels to honor Christ's special presence among us. During the sermon, God's Word is preached and applied to our lives.
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Communion
God calls us next to feast at His table as He feeds us with true food and true drink, the body and blood of His Son Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist (which simply means "thanksgiving") we receive by the Spirit the life-giving body and blood of the Lord, and, as St. Augustine put it, in this meal we become what we receive as we are formed together as the body of Christ.
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Commission
God gives us, His people, the gifts of fellowship in His presence, forgiveness of sin, the light of the Word, and the body and blood of His Son. We are, finally, sent our into the world to share those gifts with our neighbors, co-workers, families, and the nations as we obey Jesus' Great Commission to take the gospel to all nations, baptizing them and teaching all He commanded.
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Communion at Providence: In keeping with the historic practice of the Christian Church we celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday. We invite all baptized individuals physically able to eat and drink, regardless of age or mental capacity, and not censured from the table by church discipline, to partake of Communion with us. Communicants are welcome to drink from the common cup, or take an individual cup. Communicants eat the bread and drink the cup as they are passed.
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Children at Providence: God's Word assures us that the Lord's blessings are "for you and for your children and for all who are far off," (Acts 2.39) and the Lord welcomed little children to Himself as ideal members of the Kingdom (Mark 10.14.)Thus we encourage and welcome children in our worship as vital members of Christ's body. Parents are invited to bring their children along with them so they can contribute to the worship and grow through the liturgy with the whole church.
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We do have a cry room in the narthex where parents may take children if needed.
