When questioned by a clever young lawyer as to which of all the laws
is the greatest law, Jesus immediately responded, "You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind, and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30)
Quite simply, we believe that worship is the process by which we
express, develop, and maintain that kind of love. In worship we
discover the manifold ways that God loves us and we respond to him with
our love--imperfect though it is.
Throughout the Bible, when people are in the revealed presence of
God or before Jesus in the Gospel accounts the word used for worship
literally means to bow down or humble oneself before Him. In the
Epistles, however, as the literal presence before God will be in the
future, the word for worship means to serve. So our all-heart, soul,
mind, and strength love expressed in worship is through our bowing down
with humility to serve the King. A summary definition of worship that
we embrace is expressed by Dr. Bruce Leafblad: "Worship is communion
with God in which believers by grace, center their minds attention, and
their hearts affection on the Lord, humbly glorifying God in response
to His greatness and His word."
The other important biblical instruction for worshippers is found in
the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well. "True worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of
worshipers the Father seeks." (Mark 4:23) This serves as a warning to
us that it is possible to have vain and false worship. How careful we
must be to pay attention to the sincerity of our words and actions as
we gather to offer songs, prayers and words of worship.
Worship should not take place in our lives only on Sunday mornings.
It should begin as a daily part of our private devotional life, and be
a regular part of our family devotional gatherings. However, Eugene
Peterson says so well the reason that we gather each week to do this
corporately: "Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our
reoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God--not
because he is confined to time and place, but because one's
self-importance is so insidiously relentless that if we don't
deliberately interrupt ourselves regularly, we have no chance of
attending to him at all at other times and in other places."
Our Practice of Worship
Little defines the distinctive of a church more than the practice
style of its services of worship. While Presbyterians are generally
known for worship that focuses upon the Word of God and reflect the
Reformed traditions of theology, there is wide variance in music and
liturgy even among Presbyterians. What are the experiences of worship
practice in worship that can you expect when you attend Trinity
Presbyterian?
Liturgy
Our order of worship is carefully planned and written in detail in a
beautifully printed bulletin each week. (An archive of services is
available from this year and last year.) The service is created by the
minsterial staff according to a general theme that is drawn from the
text and focus of the sermon of that week. It is highly participatory
for the congregation as they sing and read scriptures, prayers and
creeds. Within this there are numerous opposing issues to which we seek
balance:
We desire the worshipper to realize both the transcendant wonders of God as well as the imminence of his holy presence among us.
We believe the service should have both vertical and horizontal verbal expressions... speaking to God and to one another.
It should have great dignity and reverence yet offer warmth and intimacy.
There will be times of celebration and pageantry as well as informal, spontaneous worship.
We desire to challenge worshippers to use their minds as well as their emotions.
We will enjoy occasional moments of complete silence mixed in the times of elation and celebration. <>Music
The congregational music at TPC is largely drawn from the The Trinity Hymnal.
Although this hymnal predominately includes the historic hymns and
songs of the last several centuries of Protestant worship, there are a
large number of new hymns and songs. We also supplement these with a
constantly growing list of even more recent carefully chosen songs that
meet our convictions of what qualities should be in the songs we sing
as our offerings of praise to God. These include texts that focus more
on the attributes and character of God than on our personal experiences
with God. The melodies must be singable and attainable by both young
and old, and composed according to high standards of excellence of
accepted professional compositional practice. We believe it is optimal
and entirely possible to balance or converge the older music with the
new.
The music is led by a choir and the instruments of piano and organ,
regularly supplemented by various acoustical instrumentalists from the
church body including guitar, cello, flute, brass instruments, etc. We
believe that the music should be majestic and joyful but not
overpowering with percussion and electronics. We encourage spiritual
singing with enthusiasm and hold high the New Testament instructions to
the church:
"Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to
God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:18-19) "Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one
another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:16)
Although we occasionally use small ensembles or soloists, we believe
the Scriptural pattern of the choir is the ideal for worship
leadership. This is because the focus is not on individuals and their
personalities but upon a microcosm of the congregation itself. Nor do
we want heavily amplified voices to compete with the congregation's
ability to hear themselves singing. Over the choir stalls in a British
Church in Cornwall is inscribed:
"Amor, nonclamor, ascendit in aures Dei." "Love, not loudness, riseth to the ears of God."
Rather than focusing on their performance the choir seeks to serve
as both an aural and visual encouragement to the congregation in their
worship. When they sing an anthem it is to use the gifts and training
of their music to proclaim the truth of God as does the Pastor in his
message or perhaps to speak on behalf of the congregation in worship
toward God. (Link for an extensive statement of the Biblical history of
the choir)
As a church with the full range of demographic characteristics, both
age and social economics, people come to worship in an equally wide
range of dress. However, a form of business casual would probably
describe the average choice by the congregation. The ministers and
choir wear robes to minimize the distractions of personal tastes and as
a reflection of the dignity and order that scripture suggests for those
who lead in worship.
Communion and Baptism
We celebrate the Lord's Supper together monthly on the first Sunday
of each month. It is open to
all who have professed faith in Jesus Christ and become a
Christian--not just members of Trinity Presbyterian Church.
All members of Trinity are baptized with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We baptize all believers and their offspring. Please contact one of our pastors if you have any questions regarding baptism.
Children in Worship
We believe that children should begin learning to worship at an
early age. Therefore we encourage parents whose children are 4 years of
age and older to have their children beside them in the worship
service. At the point of the sermon, however, we dismiss all children
between the ages of 4 through first grade to a wonderful program called
"Celebration Chapel" just down the hall from the sanctuary. Here they
will continue with music and teaching that is age-appropriate.