God's Gifts
In the Divine Service, God gives us His gifts. He speaks to us and is with us, just as Isaiah predicted that He would be Immanuel, "God with us," when He was born for us at Bethlehem.​
​
Preaching and how to listen to it
The Bible is God’s Word. Our pastor teaches you what the Bible says and encourages you in the life Christ gives you. In preaching God’s ministers unfold the meaning of God’s Word, not their opinions, God’s will, not their preferences. In the sermon you will hear God’s truth applied to your life so that you might have hope for now and forever in our Lord Jesus Christ.​
​
The Lord's Supper and how to receive it
In the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, our Lord Jesus Christ is physically present for us and with us just as He promises, “This is My Body...This is My Blood.” That’s why our church takes the Lord’s Supper so seriously – God Himself is present. And that is why...
-
We kneel to receive the Lord’s Supper.
-
We are silent when Christ’s Words of Institution are chanted.
-
We say “Amen!” when we are served Christ’s Body and Christ’s Blood from the pastor.
-
We prepare ourselves through confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness early in the Divine Service.
-
We ask guests and inquirers to talk to our pastor before receiving the Lord’s Supper.
​​
Sacrament and sacrifice
In the Divine Service God is with us, and we are with Him. Whenever the family gathers, the Father with His children, everyone has something to give, something in which the other delights. When God gives to us, that is called a “sacramental” act, and when we give something to God, as a child might give his poorly drawn picture to his father but the father is nonetheless delighted to have that drawing, that is called a “sacrificial” act.
When the pastor forgives our sins in Christ’s Name, reads the Word of God to us, preaches God’s Word in the sermon, celebrates Holy Communion, or feeds us with Christ’s Body and Blood, those are the sacramental acts, where God is giving us Himself and all His gifts. When the pastor prays on our behalf or presents the congregation’s offerings, these are “sacrificial” acts–small sacrifices of our prayers or our gifts for the sake of our God and His work.
​
More About the Divine Service...