Worship: Gather in Fellowship and Praise

As a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Redeemer Lutheran is a liturgical church. Liturgy is defined as “public service.” It is the service of followers of Christ towards God, but it is also, more importantly, God’s service to His faithful, as He gives blessings and hope to His people. Liturgy, in whatever form and style it follows, is the faith-filled response of a gathered group of believers to God, who also gives believers gifts of grace and mercy through His word and sacraments. Our worship at Redeemer shares in these heavenly gifts, following a traditional form that offers prayers, songs, and scripture readings in our services. Though our worship follows a structure, it is also varied and is often creatively adapted by different kinds of music and activities as we praise God, hear His word, and share in His blessings given to us.

As a traditional liturgical church, our public worship services are Christ-centered, as we follow the ancient Christian calendar, which divides the year into seasons related to the life of Christ. Beginning with the Advent season before Christmas, we follow the Gospel testimony of Jesus through to the Passion of our Lord and His resurrection at Easter. During the summer and fall months, we mark the season of Pentecost, where we recall the mighty acts of the Holy Spirit in forming the church into the character of Jesus. During the time of Pentecost, we also emphasize the church’s mission, as we grow in sharing the saving Gospel of our Lord with other people nearby and around the world, even as we faithfully await Christ’s promised return.

Our Sunday services are traditional Lutheran worship settings, often taken directly from the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). These include Divine Services with the service of Holy Communion, along with various non-communion Services of the Word that include Prayer and Preaching and other adapted service settings. For most services, Redeemer utilizes a worship bulletin with daily “propers”: responsive readings, prayers, and special music that all work in conjunction with the hymnal. Occasionally, the Order of Worship will come from a special creative format, when we celebrate certain themes: LWML Sunday and Reformation Sunday, Mission Festivals, and Easter Sunrise are just a few examples.

Just as Martin Luther loved using hymns and liturgical music to accompany his worship, we at Redeemer enjoy both organ and piano played by our organists and other musicians. Periodically, our adult choir, children’s choir, or guest soloists and musicians contribute to our worship experience.

God has blessed Redeemer Lutheran church with a sanctuary that invites singing: the open-beamed cathedral ceiling resonates with all the emotions expressed in the congregation’s worship, from the organ’s most majestic notes to the choir’s quietest a cappella moments.

Redeemer’s organists, Glenn Blank and Karen Fulton, create a special musical context for each service.

Redeemer uses the Lutheran Service Book (LSB), Pew Edition (03-1170), Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, 3558 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63118-3968 1-800-325-3040. The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod prepared the LSB. We provide the LSB, along with other songbooks and resources, for weekly worship in our church and school—but it is also available for purchase through Concordia Publishing House to be used devotionally in the home.

Here at Redeemer, we provide other opportunities to grow in our praise and worship of God. Seasonally, the church provides devotional materials for the home to our worshipers. We distribute the daily devotion booklet Portals of Prayer; it contains short daily devotions and simple orders for worship and prayer at home. We also make devotional booklets available during the Advent and Lenten season that thematically coordinate with our seasonal midweek evening services at these special holy times of the church year.

We regularly include the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in our worship services. Our church teaches that this is a sacrament—a holy act instituted by Jesus that gives us spiritual benefits through physical elements. When we celebrate this holy meal in our worship, we believe that Jesus Christ is truly present with us. He gives us the heavenly benefits of forgiveness and peace, as well as strength for our souls and bodies when we eat the bread and drink the wine at our communion service. This sacrament unites us in a special way to God in Christ, and it also unites us with one another in a unity of shared faith and practice.

Our church practices Close Communion, which means that at the services where we come forward to receive the Lord’s True Body and Blood, we welcome everyone—children included—to come up and receive God’s blessing. Yet, we humbly and respectfully ask those worshiping here who are not yet confirmed in the Lutheran confession of faith, and those not currently within a sister congregation that holds altar fellowship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, not to receive the sacred elements of bread and wine, unless they have made prior arrangements to do so by first speaking with the pastor.

Another important sacramental event that sometimes takes place during worship is the baptism of infants and adults. Baptism is an act of new birth, whereby one is included in the resurrection life of Jesus and becomes a member of the Christian church and a new creature in Christ. We believe that Christian baptism by water, united to God’s Word of promise, actually gives people the certainty of the forgiveness of sins, as it imparts faith and brings the very Spirit of God to the life and being of those baptized. This holy act, done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, marks us forever as a child of God. Baptism is not only the command and Great Commission of the Lord Jesus, but it delivers and seals His very life and presence to all who believe God’s Gospel of peace and truth in the Holy Bible.