Handbell Choir: Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Handbell
Room
Chancel Choir: Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m. in the Choir
Room
For more information about our choirs, see
the Music Ministries page or
contact our Music Director, Brandon Cook, by
e-mail.
Special Services for Advent, Christmas, and
New Year's Eve
Advent
The four Sundays in Advent (December 2, 9,
16, and 23 in 2007): 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. These services include special
music and Advent Wreath lighting ceremonies, and worshipers receive
booklets with suggestions for celebrating Advent in their homes.
Christmas Eve
At 7:00 pm, we will enjoy a particularly “child
friendly” time of giving God our thanks for coming into the world in
the form of a tiny baby. We will sing familiar carols, hear the story
of Jesus’ birth, and prepare a place — in our hearts and in our
sanctuary — for the newborn baby and his parents.
At 11:00 pm,
we will have a candlelit Festival of Lessons and Carols that traces
highlights of our faith history as recorded in the Bible. Carols will
be interspersed with the readings and will include not only choir
pieces, but also carol singing by the congregation.
New Year's Eve
On New Year’s Eve
at 8:00 p.m., we will have a Watch Night Service. The liturgy includes
several hymns, moments of quiet reflection, and readings from the Ten
Commandments and other Old and New Testament passages. Our
instrumentalists will be flutist Kenny Herring and pianist Rebecca
Herring.
In the past, it was
traditional to have a service on the last night of the year.
Christians worshiped together to prepare themselves spiritually for a
new year by ridding themselves of bad habits and renouncing evil and
injustice. They used this opportunity to renew their covenant
relationship with God. We will turn to this tradition in our service
of prayer, confession, reflection, singing, pardon, and thanksgiving.
During the service, we
will use “confession” cards to write down our personal confessions and
other parts of the old year that we want to give over to God and ask
him to remove from our lives. At the end of the service, we will place
our cards in a basket and burn them — signaling our faith in God’s
promise that he will no longer remember our sins and our lawless
deeds. (Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 10:17)
Special Service for Ash
Wednesday
Lent begins on Ash
Wednesday. The observance of Ash
Wednesday provides an opportunity for us as a worshiping community to
engage in corporate penitence and confession, to prepare for the Season of
Lent, and to look forward to the hope of Easter. During the Ash Wednesday
Service, we receive ashes on our foreheads as we hear the words from
Genesis: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." We
also celebrate the Lord’s Supper and recall who has redeemed us from our
sins and conquered death forever. We take the opportunity to examine the
kind of life we are leading, asking, “What is the quality of our actions,
our thoughts, our relationships?”
Ash Wednesday Supper
February
6, 2008: 5:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall
Ash Wednesday Communion and Imposition of
Ashes
February 6, 2008: 6:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary
Special Services for
Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter
Palm Sunday
March 16, 2008:
11:00 a.m. We will begin our service outdoors in the side parking lot,
where we will dedicate the new entrance doors. Then, the children will
lead us in a Procession of the Palms. Once inside the Sanctuary, we will
continue our service of thanksgiving and praise commemorating Jesus'
triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Holy Week
Maundy Thursday Service of the Upper Room: March 20, 2008, at 7:30
p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. This informal communion service is suitable
for all ages.
Good Friday Tenebrae: A Service of Shadows: March 21, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Sanctuary. This solemn event helps us keep the vigil of Jesus' Passion.
Easter Sunday
March 23, 2008: Music Prelude begins at 10:45 a.m. in
the Sanctuary, followed by the Worship Service at 11:00 a.m. Feel free to
bring flowers to decorate the Floral Cross and proclaim to the world that
Jesus Christ is Risen Today!
