We are a liturgical church. The main point of our service is not the sermon or the worship songs but communion at the Lord’s table. Learn more about the liturgy at City Lights Church below.
The word liturgy means “the work of the people”. In simple terms, it means the way we organize our service. At City Lights the culmination of our service is communion. A moment where we are all invited to share the bread and the wine and encounter God’s presence at the table.
To lead up to this moment at the table we have set scripture readings, prayers, and sayings that help us prepare to worship God and encounter Him at the communion table. Find out more about these below.
We open up our service preparing our hearts to Worship God. We do that by praising God together with a corporate acclamation and praying the collect of purity out loud together. We do these things to recognize that God is the reason we are at church and that He is worthy of our praise.
We are told to make a joyful noise to the Lord. We worship God by singing songs of praise to Him.
We continue in worship by giving our tithes and offerings to the Lord. We chose to worship God by trusting Him with our finances. Everything is His and we are honored to give back to Him in sacrificial giving.
We take time to greet each other with the peace of the Lord. We offer the same peace that Jesus offers to us. This isn’t a moment of just saying hi to someone, it is a moment to share Christ’s peace with them. It is at this moment that we encourage you if you have an offense or issue with someone that you offer them peace.
We will read from one of the Gospels every Sunday. We all stand together while the good news is read among us. It is a reminder that the good news of the gospel is for all of us. We end the reading by thanking God for His word.
This is the moment where we prepare our hearts for meeting God at His table. We pray the prayer of confession out loud together. This is not a moment to feel bad about ourselves but a moment to recognize our need for a savior, This is a moment to be overwhelmed with God’s grace towards us.
We pray the Lord’s prayer outlod together. We pray this bodly knowing that God answers.
We are all invited to come to the table and receive communion. We meet God at the table and believe that the bread and wine are true spiritual food for us. The table is for anyone who professes Christ as their savior. You do not have to be a member of City Lights to partake in communion.
We pray the post-communion prayer out loud together. We thank God for feeding us and we ask God to send us out into the world in peace.
We lift our hands and have a prayer of blessing prayed over us.
We are reminded that we are sent out into the world. We ask God to send us out in the power of the Holy Spirit. We end the service by thanking God.
We know that liturgy may be confusing. Make sure to grab one of liturgy guides at the back of the church. We also would love to hear any questiuons you would have.