It seems as though many people believe that the main purpose of the worship service of a Christian congregation is for us to praise God and give Him thanks. In other words, the worship service is about what we do for God. Obviously, this is an important part of worship and the Christian life, but this is not the main reason that we come together as a congregation.
What the worship service is really about is what God does for us. The main service is God’s. He serves us with His Word of life and forgiveness as it comes to us in the absolution, the readings, and the sermon. He serves us with His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, giving us forgiveness and the strengthening of our faith. So, again, the service is about what God does for us.
Then -after we receive God’s goodness and mercy- do we respond with praise and thanksgiving.
At St. Paul’s, our Saturday service is a bit less formal in nature and incorporates new songs with old hymns as well as a different instrumentation than the traditional organ. The Sunday service is our traditional service.
