Our Worship
The Liturgy
Why Liturgical Worship?
We live in a mostly secular age in the midst of a culture that values the entertaining (how I feel), the contemporary (what is new), and the convenient (what is easy). At the same time, things sacred and traditional seem foreign and are often viewed with suspicion. The ripples of these cultural trends have impacted the churches of America in a variety of ways, particularly in how it worships. In a consumer-driven world of instant gratification, dwindling attention spans, and dwindling church attendance (a phenomenon experienced nationwide in churches of every denominational stripe), many congregations have responded by moving away from tradtional forms of Christian worship and replacing them with services that conform to these same cultural values.
The road leading away from the worship forms practiced in the church for roughly fifteen hundred years has been paved with the best of intentions. Of this there can be no doubt. Nor do we question the genuine faith and sincerity of those who have built and walked the path. But the church's quest to become "attractive" to the consumer by clothing herself in modern worship dress has come at great cost: The task of worship is no longer a communication of the sacred, but the promotion of what is entertaining (how I feel), what is contemporary (what is new), and what is convenient (what is easy). Modern style has led to a weakening of Biblical substance, and though consumers will appreciate the convenience of grabbing an espresso from a coffee shop in the church Narthex to enjoy during the service, their ability to experience a sense of the holy is greatly diminished by doing so. Convenience ends in the loss of reverence.
Worship at Trinity is liturgical. The historic liturgy preserves the worship services, rites, and hymnody known and used in the ancient church and handed down through the ages. To worship litugically is to worship with and be connected to the church of all times and places as she gathers around the Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament. Culture-friendly worship shaped by modern entertainment may connect us to the worshipping communitiy of Christians in 21st Century America, but at the price of severing our connection to the past.
Though worship rooted in the historic liturgies of the Church is traditional, we worship liturgically not for the sake of tradition itself but for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, "who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). The liturgy is composed from the words of Holy Scripture and proclaims from beginning to end that sinners are justified by God's grace alone through faith in Jesus. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ," (Romans 10:17). We encourage you to experience the beauty of the liturgy as we hear, speak, and receive the Gospel words of Jesus in worship!