About Sunday Worship
Come, Experience God and a Community of Hope
Come as you are!
Don’t get worried about what to wear to church at Hope. We would just love to see you. Usually, people come dressed informally. We start our worship at 10:30 a.m. with greeting and announcements and then move into lively worship time together. Worship usually lasts about an hour.
More than anything, we hope you can be real when you visit us. No need to pretend — no need to be churchy. If you’re happy, sad, worried, bursting to celebrate, or at the edge — God can hold it in worship. That’s hope.
Come, you are welcome!
Everything that we do in worship is listed in a bulletin. Folks are usually next to you. If you have questions, feel free to ask them. During the service, we “pass the peace of Christ.” We greet one another with a handshake and say, “May the peace of God be yours.” We welcome you, but want you to know that God welcomes you as well!
Throughout the service, we most often use inclusive language — words that are welcoming to men and women, boys and girls, and lift up the many biblical images of God. Lay people, like you, are involved in the service as much as our clergy. And please join us after worship for fellowship, downstairs, with coffee and snacks. We’d love to get to know you.
Come, question and discover!
The middle part of our worship service is a time when we explore what God is saying to us. We read and sing together a psalm. We hear readings from the Bible that are often chosen from a guide called the lectionary. Then through both a children’s time and a sermon, we question, connect, and discover God’s word for us today. Often we are challenged, often comforted. We find hope.
Come, sing, pray, rest, and meet God.
Music guides us throughout worship — soft sometimes, with the beat of the drum sometimes, always with an abundance of spirit. Music leads us into prayer — and often is our prayer. Speaking of prayer — there are no experts. Yet we get honest with God through prayer in confession, experience God’s forgiveness, pray for others and our world, and also have moments of silence. In silence, often our head catches up with our hearts and we rest in God — gaining strength for the work and week ahead of us.
Come, taste the goodness of God.
The 1st Sunday of every month, we share together in Holy Communion (what others may call the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist). In the simple meal of bread and juice, around the communion table, we experience the presence of Christ today and celebrate the oneness of all Christians. We believe all are invited to communion. Christ is the host here. You can join us. If you would rather not, that’s OK too. We believe we still commune with one another through prayer and community.
After worship on other Sundays, you are also invited to join with a smaller group around the communion table for prayer and communion. One Sunday a month, before worship, we have a brief communion service for those who are intellectually disabled and their friends. Please join us for any of these times of Holy Communion.
Come, Be Inspired to a Life of Faith 24/7
We trust God will work among us in worship and meet us in the community called Hope. We also believe we worship to get us ready to live our faith outside church, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We get fired up to be about God’s work of love and justice all the time. We pray for others and our world. In worship, we offer gifts of money to say “thanks” to God and to do needed work. We are sent out by God’s Spirit to be bold, loving and just people.