Sunday Mornings

Worship Sundays 9:30am

Service for the Lord's Day
Welcome to Lord’s Day worship at First Presbyterian Church of Flint (FPCF). We hope this commentary will acquaint you with our order of worship and help you understand the meaning of what we are doing when we come together to worship in the presence of the Risen Lord on the day that weekly commemorates his resurrection. Our worship is to center in on God.

Our service is built around scripture, preaching, sacrament, and the faith community — the ways Jesus Christ is present among us when we gather for worship. Notice how central scripture is to this service, including lessons from both testaments, a sung psalm, and other portions of biblical texts that give shape and form to the service. Often, the hymns and anthems are also interpretations of biblical texts.

The order of worship is called a liturgy, a compound of two Greek words — laos and ergon — which quite literally means “work of the people.” What we do together in prayer and praise, listening for and responding to God, proclaiming and confessing our faith, and engaging in forms of self-offering during this time of worship, is our work in this service. This is service in a twofold sense: as we serve God in this liturgy, God also serves us — speaking to us with words of comfort, challenge and encouragement, and strengthening us to continue our work as Christ’s people in the world. Our work is strengthened by your presence as you join us in this service.

We believe that children bring gifts that are important in this worship service and they are encouraged to participate . Because they are able to do several things at one time, we provide a children’s bulletin. The bulletin is structured around the worship themes for the day and are another means of helping them worship. After the Epistle lesson the children are invited down front for a message designed for them based on the theme of the day.

The Gathering
Upon finding your place in the sanctuary, we invite you to briefly greet those near you, and then begin preparing yourself for the service.

During the Organ Prelude, please continue your prayer and meditation as our organist leads us in prayer. This is more than mood music — it is the beginning of corporate worship. The music has been carefully chosen to reflect the season, lessons, and themes of today’s service. Blessed with the artistry of our Director of Music & Fine Arts, Mark Riddles, and Organist, Brenda Portman, our music is an offering to God and a blessing to the congregation.

The worship leader issues the Call to Worship, which begins with the ancient Christian greeting, “The Lord be with you.” After we have returned the greeting, annoucements are shared and opening sentences are used to call ourselves to worship.

The Processional Hymn is a strong hymn of praise and thanksgiving, selected for its ability to unite us in praise as well as tell of God’s greatness, majesty, love and goodness. The choir and other worship leaders process bringing the Bible, Water, and Chalice as visible evidence of God’s self-giving. All that we do in this service will be done in and through the Truine God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The asterisk in the bulletin indicates that those who are able are to stand do so.

Confession of Sin
Words of scripture call us to confess the reality of sin in our common and personal lives. After the unison Prayer of Confession there is silence for Personal Confession, followed by singing the church’s ancient hymn text, “Lord, have mercy upon us …”, using a congregational musical setting. We are then reminded of the promises of God’s love and redemption, and that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. As this Good News is proclaimed, we rise to sing the Gloria Patri.

The Service of the Word
A major part of Christian worship is listening for God to speak to us through scripture readings, anthems, psalms, and the Word proclaimed in the sermon for the day. During this time, we are to listen for God to speak to us so that we may respond. At FPCF, we observe the Christian Year, which patterns worship after the life of Christ. Scripture lessons are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary — a table of scripture lessons used by Christian churches from many different denominations — which appoints an Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle and Gospel lesson for each Sunday of the year. The preacher for the day selects one or several of these texts as the basis for the sermon. Not only does this give the service a scriptural center, it enables coordination and planning between preacher, worship leaders, and musicians, and links us to the same scriptures which are being read on a given Sunday in many other churches.

Prayer for Illumination: Though the Bible is the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ and God’s word to us, Presbyterians believe it requires the power and illumination of the Holy Spirit for it to become God’s living word within us. This prayer calls upon the Holy Spirit to silence in us any voice but God’s own, that we may receive with joy what God is saying to us.

First Lesson: This comes from the oldest portion of the Bible, the Old Testament, which Christians share in common with Jews, however, Christians order the books differently because of our theological perspective. Presbyterians believe that God continues to speak to us as well as witness to the Christ through these lessons, and that the New Testament cannot be understood apart from the Old.

Psalm: The book of Psalms is commonly called the prayer book of Israel. It is a collection of songs to be used both corporately and personally. Psalms can be sung or read both in unison and responsively, as well as used for personal prayer.

Epistle Lesson: A portion of one of the letters written to the churches of the New Testament is read. These are among the earliest writings of the New Testament and contain not only important theological affirmations about Jesus as the Christ, but also instructions for how to live as Christ’s people. Frequently the lectionary will schedule the continuous reading of a book over a series of Sundays, so that the entire letter can be heard in much the same way it was heard being read in the church in the second half of the first century.

Childrens' Lesson: At the conclusion of the epistle, the children are invited to join one of the ministers for a message based on the theme of the scriptures.

Gospel Lesson: From Advent through Pentecost, this lesson will be taken from the portion of the gospel which witnesses to Jesus’ life and ministry as he makes his way to Jerusalem for his death and resurrection and ascension. After Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, the lessons will focus on Jesus’ teachings. The lectionary focuses on one of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark or Luke) for an entire year, using the Gospel of John on occasions or in seasons when it is particularly appropriate. In this way, the major portion of one synoptic gospel is read throughout the cycle of the Christian year, with each of the gospels having been read once every three years.

Sermon: God’s Word is proclaimed, using the day’s biblical text as foundation for addressing the needs, concerns and questions of our day. Reformed Christians believe that God speaks to us as readily through the sermon as through scripture read and sung. Dr. Musgrave is a Christocentric expository preacher, staying close to the biblical texts while proclaiming them in contemporary context, making application for daily living. The sermon may challenge, inform, encourage, comfort, and inspire, but always, it will call for deeper commitment to faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Responding to the Word in Self-Offering
The Creed is more than our own profession of faith, it is a proclamation of the faith of the church. The creed we most frequently use is the Apostle’s Creed, a baptismal confession that developed in the western church over some five-hundred years, and by the 8th century was also being used in worship to instruct the laity in the essentials of the Christian faith. On Sundays when we celebrate a baptisms or welcome new members, we use the Apostle’s creed in its traditional translation.

Baptism: The response to and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is also a sign and seal of God’s grace which joins new believers to Christ and his body, the church. In Reformed worship, baptism is ordinarily celebrated in response to the proclamation of the Word in the midst of the worshiping community.

Passing of the Peace: After hearing God’s word and affirming our faith, we acknowlege Christ’s presence by sharing God’s peace with each other.

Offering: Another form of response to the proclamation of God’s word is the offering of our tithes and gifts to God. The money received in the offering is used for the support of the church — its staff, facilities and ministries — as well as FPCF’s missions: locally, regionally, nationally and globally. Through the gift of giving, worshipers are serving God in each of these places, and joining us in serving God in the name of Christ in this place. Offertory Anthem: Through the gift of music, the gospel is proclaimed by one of our choirs. Most often the anthem is an interpretation of one of the scriptural texts for the day, though the text may also reflect the great wealth of inspired religious poetry from across the centuries. The music that is sung by the choirs at FPCF covers a range of sacred choral repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day.

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper: Celebrated about once a month. The sacrament is both a commemoration of Christ’s last supper before his betrayal and death, and an enactment of his table fellowship with followers after his resurrection. For the Reformed tradition, the Lord’s Supper is a time of joyful thanksgiving (Eucharist) and holy encounter (Communion) with our Risen Lord in which we are nourished by his presence. Through bread and wine the Risen Lord gives us the gift of himself — his body and blood — to nourish and strengthen us in faith and faithfulness.

The Prayers of the People, Thanksgiving, and Lord’s Prayer: the concerns and thanksgiving of the community are lifted up in prayer. After listening to God we are now ready to offer our prayers.

The Sending
The service is closed with a Hymn that charges the community to live our faith in word and deed with God’s help. The Benediction gives a summation of the service and a blessing that our lives are encircled by the grave of God, the love of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Postlude is filled with energy to send us on our way.