About First Lutheran Church

Worship and mission of First Lutheran revolves around the grace of God in Christ at the center. This centering of our lives brings us meaning, purpose and joy. God strengthens us through the community and empowers us for service using the many diverse gifts of the people. It is exciting to be part of such a gathering of people who share a common faith and yet are so different from one another. From young to old, from old timer to newcomer, we are blessed to find strength for life in this fellowship of Christ.

How We Worship

For Lutheran, worship matters. Worship lies at the heart of how we understand ourselves. There is a basic pattern for worship among Lutherans. We gather. We encounter God’s Word. We share a meal at the Lord’s table. And we are sent into the world. But we do not think about worship so much in terms of what we do. Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God’s action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Think about it like this. God’s Spirit calls us together. God speaks to us through readings from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, through preaching, prayer, and song. God feeds and nourishes us in a saving way. And God blesses us and sends us in mission to the world.

Taken together, the Word proclaimed and the sacraments -- both Holy Baptism and Holy Communion -- are called the means of grace. We believe that Jesus Christ is present in these means through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we describe worship as a “gathering around the means of grace.” This is a way of saying that we trust that God is genuinely present with us in baptism, in preaching, and in sharing the bread and wine of Holy Communion. In that sense, Lutherans believe that God’s presence permeates all of Christian worship.

The cross is the central symbol that marks our worship spaces and when Lutherans worship, singing fills the air. The voices of all the people joined in song and the participation of all the people in the worship is a witness to our conviction that in worship we are being drawn in to God’s own saving story (from ELCA web site - http://www.elca.org).

Mission of First Lutheran Church