We celebrate worship at Grace in a single service patterned in
the traditions of our United Methodist Christian heritage.
Organ and piano, chancel choir, hymns, scripture and a sermon combine in joyful worship.
More than this our team is working with what we see and feel, smell and taste, hear and hold, to make experiential worship sync with the themes and patterns of Scripture through the Christian year.
_____________________________________________________
Worship begins at 9:00am in the Sanctuary.
________________________________________
Organ and piano, chancel choir, hymns, scripture and a sermon combine in joyful worship.
More than this our team is working with what we see and feel, smell and taste, hear and hold, to make experiential worship sync with the themes and patterns of Scripture through the Christian year.
_____________________________________________________
Worship begins at 9:00am in the Sanctuary.
________________________________________
WHY WE SING:
A large group of people singing together is odd.
It really is.
Other than a baseball game or occasional birthday
party, people don't usually stand around and sing.
But we sing every Sunday in church. Why?
For starters it is a part of our history and tradition.
We come from a long line of people who sing to and about God. From King David to Hildegaard of Bingen, Martin Luther to John Wesley to Mother Teresa, women and men have often expressed their faith, whether in painful cries or through exuberant praise, with singing.
The reasons behind this aren't always clear,
but the power of music is undeniable.
It seems to tap into deeper and more honest places
than words alone ever could.
It has been said music is the language of the soul.
We believe it.
A large group of people singing together is odd.
It really is.
Other than a baseball game or occasional birthday
party, people don't usually stand around and sing.
But we sing every Sunday in church. Why?
For starters it is a part of our history and tradition.
We come from a long line of people who sing to and about God. From King David to Hildegaard of Bingen, Martin Luther to John Wesley to Mother Teresa, women and men have often expressed their faith, whether in painful cries or through exuberant praise, with singing.
The reasons behind this aren't always clear,
but the power of music is undeniable.
It seems to tap into deeper and more honest places
than words alone ever could.
It has been said music is the language of the soul.
We believe it.
WORSHIP: KNOWING GOD
We come into our knowing of God...
... into an awareness of a larger force at work in our life...
... into an awareness of a sustaining presence...
... into an awesome realization of a love larger than our own...
We often do it looking back at our life with 20/20 hindsight.
We call this Prevenient Grace...
...grace which precedes our knowing...
...a God whose work in our life precedes our awareness.
So much of what we do in church is us coming into knowing God...
...wondering about God's hand at work in the world and our lives ...
...seeing how a conflict we weathered has prepared us for an
even greater challenge...
...getting to know the people in the biblical story, smart and not,
insightful and confused, power hungry and abused,
listening to their wondering about God in their lives as we
see God in ours...
...and resonating gratitude in word and song for God bringing us
along even before we knew it.
