It’s the movements you come to expect in worship, the map that takes you from the “Welcome” at the beginning to the dismissal at the end. At TPC we want to be intentional about shaping our liturgy in such a way that it reflects the place we call home while also lifting us out of our own self-centered-stories and placing us with other Christians of every time and place in God’s big story of rescue.
To do that, we follow a very similar order every week. This isn’t because we can’t be creative, but because we believe that the creativity of this liturgy that has been passed down to us actually helps us to grow into gospel rhythms of grace.
Each week our worship makes four movements: The Gathering, The Word, The Table, and The Sending.
We are Gathered by God’s Spirit and called to worship by his word. We lift our voices in song(s) and, in the face of God’s majesty, confess our sin and hear his forgiveness and grace.
God’s grace prepares us for his Word which we receive through the music of our choir, our voices singing together, the reading and preaching of Holy Scripture, and the silence of contemplation.
Having heard God’s word for us we then gather around the Table each week to confess our faith to him, to pray for one another and our world, to offer the gifts of our lives and (once a month) to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Finally, we don’t just leave worship but are Sent with a song, charge, and blessing to be an instrument of God’s grace in the world and a sign of his kingdom until Christ comes again.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
WHERE SHOULD I GO?
Parking for TPC is located on Main and Fourth streets and in our parking lot located in the alley behind our building. There are entrances on each side of our building, but if you need wheelchair access you are invited to enter through the Sanctuary doors. There is also a ramp on the east side of our building.
Our worship service begins in the sanctuary at 10am on Sunday mornings.
Our Christian Education/Formation time begins at 9am from Labor Day—Memorial Day.
ARE CHILDREN WELCOME?
Yes! Jesus said, “Let the children come to me,” and we welcome the praise of children in our congregation.
Every Sunday morning at 9am (September — May) we offer Sunday School for children ages 5 and up. During worship, after the Children’s Blessing those who are age 4 and up are invited to Young Children & Worship, a Montessori-styled children’s church.
The youngest children are invited to go to the nursery to play and hear a Bible story after the Children’s Blessing.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BECOME A MEMBER AT TPC?
While not required, membership at TPC is for folks who sense God inviting them to make our church community their spiritual home in which they may learn to follow Jesus more and more and out of which they may live and work to the glory of God. Membership is also a recognition that we can’t follow Jesus alone but only in a fellowship of other Christians, a local expression of his whole Church.
One of the most counter-cultural things you might do today is commit to being a member of a local church.
Our Presbyterian Book of Order says, “Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ is a joy and a privilege. It is also a commitment to participate in Christ’s mission. A faithful member bears witness to God’s love and grace and promises to be involved responsibly in the ministry of Christ’s Church.” (Book of Order, G-1.0304)
WHY DO YOU GATHER AROUND A LECTERN, TABLE, AND BOWL OF WATER, AND WHY DOES YOUR PASTOR OFTEN WEAR A ROBE?
Signs and symbols serve us all the time in life. We use street signs to know where we are and where we’re supposed to go. A wedding ring serves as a sign of unending love and commitment. So too, in our worship physical elements act as “signs” pointing us to what is really going on and who we really are.
We gather around a lectern with a Bible (called a pulpit), as a sign that God’s word has come down to us in Jesus, the living Word of God who has spoken and who continues to speak in the power of his Spirit through Scripture, the written word of God.
We gather around a bowl of water (called a baptismal font) as a sign that for us water is thicker than blood because in baptism we are united to Jesus, adopted into the family of God, and given a new identity as children of God.
And we gather around a table as a sign that God is not far off but invites all his children to taste and see his present mercy as he feeds us with the spiritual food of the body and blood of our Savior Jesus, assuring us we are members of Christ’s body and encouraging us to life by faith toward the day when we will feast with joy in God’s new creation.
Our pastor often wears a robe for the same reason a police officer wears a uniform or a doctor a white coat — as a sign of the role he fills and the responsibility he’s been given as a minister of word and sacrament and as a cue to the congregation of what we’re dealing with when we come into the sanctuary: the holy things of God.