Distinguishing Our Worship Services - The New 11:30am Service
Earlier this fall, the decision was made to transition back to the familiar 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. worship schedule, allowing for more time in-between services from 10:15 - 11:15 a.m. for faith formation and community-building opportunities.
Throughout the 2023 fall programming, we have welcomed new and returning faces to our in-person and online worship services. We continue to witness the presence of the Holy Spirit as we gather for worship to sing and proclaim God’s holy Word.
With Sunday morning worship at the center of our congregational life, we recognize the need to diversify and distinguish our Sunday morning worship opportunities and to clearly define the unique options both the 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. service have to offer.
Thus, beginning this Sunday, November 12th, the 11:30 a.m. worship service will live into a new way of gathering and worshiping.
In alignment with the values of the St. John’s worship experience, there continues to be significant and meaningful ways you can contribute. Volunteers may choose to serve as a member of the following ministries that foster and support the collective worship experience: The Order of St. John, Lectors, Greeters, Ushers, Altar Guild, singing or ringing in one of the choirs, or leading as a worship assistant. The “Kinder Raum” (children’s area) continues to be a perfect complement for families with young children and provides an engaging opportunity for younger worshipers to engage in faithful activities that meet their needs within the overall worship experience.
9:00 a.m. Embracing Tradition and God’s Grace
Early morning worship is a beautiful way to begin your Sunday connection with God and the faith community of St. John’s. The sanctuary, with its vaulted ceilings, towering pillars, and stained glass windows that depict significant moments in Christ’s life and the journey to the cross, all compliment and create a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Our 9:00 a.m. worship service is rooted in historic liturgical practices and rituals, centered on the word, corporate prayer, sacred music, congregational singing, and choral offerings. The central musical “voice” for this service ascends from the choir loft through the various ranks and pipes in the Bedient Opus 80 pipe organ.
Musical offerings from the pipe organ include a variety of masterfully played classical and sacred preludes, postludes, and regal accompaniments that embellish the St. John’s choirs, handbells, and the “collective voice” of all those gathered. The singing of psalms is a treasured moment in worship, often led by cantors with sung responses from the worshiping body of God’s people.
Congregants are encouraged to outwardly express their gratitude and appreciation through their singing of hymns, psalms and the various liturgical acclamations throughout the various church seasons and holy days. St. John’s aspires to deepen one’s encounter with God and each other, thereby illuminating our souls, even if for only a moment, so that we may, more fully, Live God’s Love in the World.
11:30 a.m. Intimate and Engaging
St. John’s late morning worship is an opportunity for worshipers to engage in the essential rubrics of Lutheran liturgical worship. Additional rubrics and rituals will be implemented throughout the church year depending on the seasons and needs of our faith community.
The outline of the Late Morning Worship follows as such:
- Preludes will signify the beginning of the gathering rite and often on the pipe organ.
- The Gathering Rite will be shepherded by acolytes, worship assistants, cantors, musicians, and clergy.
- Singing of Psalms will continue to be led by cantors and musicians, in tandem with the robust singing voice of the congregation.
- The reading of the Holy Gospel will be proclaimed by lectors and conclude with a sung acclamation.
- Sermons will be delivered from the lectern or at floor level and will embrace a more conversational nature.
- Prayers of the People will often be accompanied by a sung invitation to prayer and sung prayer response.
- The sacred community meal of Holy Communion will always be celebrated.
- Communion Music will reflect the spiritual significance of receiving the body and blood of Christ and the thematic focus of any given Sunday or season.
- A Sending Forth Benediction, spoken or sung, will send our gathered assembly on its way.
- Sharing of the Peace is the final act of our worship together, emboldening us to Live God’s Love in the World.
- A time of fellowship for all before departing the sanctuary.
The primary elements used in facilitating worship, such as the communion table, lectern, and seating of worship leaders themselves, will be brought closer in proximity to the congregation for the purpose of creating a more casual, intimate and formative worship experience.
This late morning worship service aspires to foster community and to evoke spirit filled conversations with new and returning faces, with a duration from 45 minutes to an hour, depending on baptisms or other rites.
You are encouraged to attend whichever worship service makes your heart sing!


