Public worship is the most important activity in the Christian life.

In public worship, God meets with his people through Word and sacraments. He feeds our souls, strengthens faith, and equips us for service and mission. Here, we are presented with an opportunity to respond as Christ’s Body with prayer, confession, and song. It’s a miraculous conversation!

When looking for a church, we know it’s natural to begin with the question, “how do I prefer to worship God?” Yet the Bible commands us to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12.28-29). Therefore, it seems better to ask, “how does the Lord want to be worshiped?” Without doubt, the best source—and that which we consult when crafting services—is God’s Word.

Since we don’t track the latest trends in worship, you might not find our worship as familiar or immediately satisfying as other churches. Yet we encourage you to stick around long enough to appreciate a way rooted in over 2000 years of wisdom, truth, beauty, and goodness. You will come to experience songs and speech infused with gospel substance. You will not only hear, but come to participate in a corporate encounter with the divine Savior, and one that intentionally re-orients us for mission.

What is liturgy?

The word “liturgy” simply refers to the parts of public worship services, both in terms of content and order. Thus, every church has some form of liturgy. The liturgy you experience at Phoenix URC has historical precedent: each part can be found in the liturgies from the historic Christian church, especially those of the early church fathers and sixteenth-century Reformation.

More importantly, our liturgy conforms to God’s Word, and is carefully designed to lead us in a dialog with our Creator and Redeemer. God speaks to his people through his Word and sacraments, and we respond in our prayer, confession, and singing. 

Every week, God enters into this public dialog with his people to renew his covenant of grace with us and call us back to our commission. Below is a brief explanation of each part of our liturgy.

Contents

Call to Worship
Invocation
God’s Greeting
Song of Praise
Reading of the Law
Confession of Sin
Declaration of Pardon
Confession of Faith
Pastoral Prayer
Offering
Song of Preparation
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Reading
Sermon
Lord’s Supper
Song of Response
Benediction
Doxology

CALL TO WORSHIP

The service begins with the Triune God calling us with his Word to worship him with reverence and awe. A text, often a Psalm, is read as a summons to the people of God: “O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker!” (Ps 95.6). This moment reminds us that worship was not invented by man, nor does it exist chiefly for ourselves, but is something God initiates, desires, and compels for his glory. When heard with faith God's call is an awesome and exciting part of every service.

GOD'S GREETING

This is God’s response to his people invoking his name. He announces his grace and peace to all who come to him through Jesus Christ. As God’s appointed ambassador, the minister raises his hands and announces God’s blessing from his Word: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 1.7). 

SONG OF PRAISE

Having heard God’s blessing, we respond by lifting up our voices to him and singing a psalm or biblical hymn. As we are commanded, “Come into his presence with singing!” (Ps 100.2). The words we sing to the Lord are carefully chosen, as the content of each song must conform to Scripture, and should provide us with a deeper understanding of God. 

READING OF THE LAW

God tells us his will for our lives in his law, that is, the commands of Scripture. God’s law tells us clearly how we are to live and what God expects of us. It also reveals God’s holiness as well as our sinfulness, for “if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin” (Rom 7.7). 

CONFESSION OF SIN

Having heard God speak to us in his law, we are driven to confess our sins. First, we do this publicly and corporately, confessing to God as a people, “against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Ps 51.4). Then, we do this silently, confessing our own individual sins. 

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Having confessed our sins to God, we hear the joyful announcement of his promise that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1.9). As Christ’s ambassador, the minister declares pardon to all who trust in Christ and repent of their sins. 

CONFESSION OF FAITH

We confess together the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed, or a section of the Heidelberg Catechism. We do this not only to be instructed in the Christian faith, but also as a prayer to God in which we declare that we stand united in the truth he has revealed: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph 4.5-6). The creeds and confessions beautifully summarize that revealed truth. 

PASTORAL PRAYER

The minister prays on behalf of the congregation, bringing “the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Heb 13.15), as well as intercession for the church and world. This is concluded with the congregation praying together the Lord’s Prayer. 

OFFERING

We respond to God’s grace with our monetary giving, which is for the advancement of the gospel in the world and the making of disciples. We do this as an act of worship, knowing that “each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9.7). 

SONG OF PREPARATION

We sing in preparation for the meal God is about to give us for our souls in the preaching of his Word. We sing another psalm or hymn, essentially saying to the Lord, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119.105). 

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

We call upon the Lord again, this time asking him to “give [us] the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of [our] hearts enlightened, that [we] may know what is the hope to which he has called [us], what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe” (Eph 1.17-19). 

SCRIPTURE READING

Having asked God to open our ears and hearts to receive his Word, we listen to him speak as his Word is read. This too – “the public reading of Scripture” (1 Tim 4.13) – is an act of worship. 

SERMON

God continues to speak as his Word is explained and proclaimed. As the apostle Paul told pastor Timothy: “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim 4.2-4). The minister gives a faithful exposition of the text, which ultimately calls us to repentance of sin and faith in Christ. 

LORD'S SUPPER

Having heard from our covenant God in his Word, we now join him in a covenant meal. As the preached Word promised us God’s favor in Christ, so also our heavenly Father adds this visible conformation of his unchangeable promise. We partake together to commune with and participate in the body and blood of Christ (1 Cor 10.16). 

SONG OF RESPONSE

Having heard the word of Christ and participated in the body and blood of Christ, we “let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly,” by “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual sons, with thanksgiving in our hearts to God” (Col 3.16). 

BENEDICTION

In the worship service, the triune God gets the first word and the final word. And both are announcements of his grace. With uplifted hands, the minister blesses the people of God from the Word of God, which is available to all who receive it through faith: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13.14). 

Doxology

The concluding song, typically exalting the triune glory of God.