ENTRANCE
The people come together in the Lord’s name. There may be greetings, music and song, prayer and praise.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
The Scriptures are opened to the people through the reading of lessons, preaching, witnessing, music and other arts and media. Interspersed may be psalms, anthems, and hymns. Responses to God’s Word include acts of commitment and with faith with offering of concerns, prayers, gifts, and service for the world and one another.
THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION
In Services with Communion, the actions of Jesus in the Upper Room are reenacted:
Taking the bread and cup,
Giving thanks over the bread and cup,
Breaking the bread, and giving the bread and cup.
In services without Communion, thanks are given for God’s mighty acts in Jesus.
SENDING FORTH
The people are sent into ministry with the Lord’s blessing.
In the Christian United Church we follow the Basic Pattern of Worship (BWP) identified in the United Methodist Book of Worship, We use this pattern to guide our gatherings to praise God and celebrate our communion in Christ and with one another.
We come to proclaim the death, resurrection and second coming of Jesus Christ weekly through the celebration of Holy Communion, more than mere ritual we celebrate our unity in Christ through word and deed. It is not enough for us to be concerned about rubrics of how we conduct worship, if we do not show equal concern for those who make up the Body of Christ,the church and those yet to be churched.
Our worship is universal (Catholic) and Local (Evangelical) its ultimate purpose is to share the good news of Jesus Christ to a broken world.
Bishop Robert Schnase (Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations) says that God uses worship to:
Transform lives
Heal wounded souls
Renew hope
Shape decisions
Provoke change
Inspire compassion
Bind people to one another
Bishop Schanse say that “ comprehending worship requires looking beyond what people do to see with the eyes of faith what God does”
Worship is often the first contact the unchurched and others have with our community. Will they find dead ritual or passionate worship that welcome, restores and invite people to be in community with Christ and one another? We should offer our best in music, preaching,worship space and hospitability to those who come through our doors.
What you do on Sunday could change someone’s life on Monday!
The BWP honors the fourfold pattern of the early church. The pattern consists of the following elements: Entrance/Gathering, Proclamation and Response, Thanksgiving and Communion, Sending Forth.
The Basic Pattern of Worship (BPW) offers structured flexibility for our congregations and community. This pattern provides the opportunity to reflect the diversity of our congregations and the local contexts in which our worship is celebrated. It represents the common faith that we share as a covenant connectional conference of communities throughout the world.
While we do not maintain the written liturgy of the historic churches (Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox, Catholic) we do honor patterns of that liturgy in our use of the Doxology, Apostle’s Creed, Sursum Corda, Eucharistic Prayer, the Lord’s Prayer and Dismissal on Holy Days and Special occasions and in the fourfold shape of our worship.
We will build a uniquely Christian United Church culture of worship in which you will find gospel music, praise and worship music, traditional hymns, liturgical dance, traditions from African, African American, Asia, Polish and Spanish speaking cultures. It will honor the richness of historic western heritage of Christian liturgy.
We believe that God is calling us to a convergence of worship blending the sacramental and evangelical and being open to the move of the Holy Spirit as represented from the charismatic/Pentecostal and celebrating the liturgical year with color,art vestments (alb, robe, and stole). The richness of our structure and the openness of our flexibility bring togther a beautiful tapestry.
I encourage each of our congregations to fully embrace the Basic Pattern of Worship (BPW) and allow it to be filled with the gifts of your community. Worship is never the work of the clergy alone; it is the mutual ministry of the clergy and laity. Every community should have a worship planning committee that studies and prepares worship that uses the gifts and talents of the members of our congregation.
When you gather on Sunday morning, you can truly proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died!
Christ has risen!
Christ will come again!
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