Entering the building,
you'll find wide stairs leading up
to the
narthex and sanctuary (narrow stairs on the left lead down to the
restrooms and fellowship hall). On your right at the top of the stairs
is our fellowship register—please sign in and leave us some contact
information so we can touch base after your visit (we won't spam you!).
In the narthex
(the gathering area just outside the sanctuary) we
have information tables, coat racks—one of which
features busy-bags for
young children—and a communion sign-in sheet on a
podium next to the loft stairs.
Should you commune?
If you are not a member in good
standing of a Missouri Synod Lutheran
church, we respectfully ask that
you not come forward for the Lord's Supper, because you could be taking
Christ's body and blood to your harm and also because communion
expresses unity of doctrine. Our pastor would welcome an opportunity to
discuss communion and our doctrine with you in preparation for your
joining us in the sacrament. If you
are a Missouri Synod Lutheran,
please introduce yourself to the pastor before the service and let him
know you will be coming forward.
Entering the sanctuary.
Some folks go right in and sit as
soon as they arrive, and some chat in the narthex before service, so
feel free to do what feels comfortable to you. In addition to the main
floor pews, we have a good-sized loft upstairs. Don't feel you have to
sit in back if you have children with you—children often respond well
to sitting up front where they can see better and can feel closer to
the action.
God is with us.
We believe that when we
gather for worship, the one true
God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is present among us, bringing us his
gifts of the forgiveness of our sins and new life in Christ. He is our
loving Father, Redeemer, and Comforter, but he is also our Lord, worthy
of our highest respect and reverence. We come to be filled with all he
has to give, since as sinful human beings we have nothing he needs—he
is serving us. The means he uses to give us these gifts are his
word—the holy Bible, absolution, the Scripture readings, and
preaching—and the sacraments Jesus instituted during his earthly life:
baptism and the Lord's Supper.
We follow a formal order of
service,
or "liturgy," for several
reasons. It is a historic practice of the Christian Church, it keeps us
grounded in Scripture, and it provides for uniformity across
Christendom. If you attend a church that uses a traditional liturgy,
you can be at home in churches all over the nation and even the world.
People who know the liturgy often can still participate in it long
after their mental faculties have deteriorated. And it helps buffer the
human weakness of a pastor—if a particular sermon isn't quite as
biblical as it
should be, you still leave having been fed on God's word in the rest of
the service.
The Sunday bulletin is your "road
map" through the service.
For a quick overview, open up the bulletin and look at
the right-hand column. "LSB" indicates page numbers in the Lutheran
Service Book (hymnal). Wherever you see "In bulletin," look on the
left-hand page for the Introit (responsive psalm readings), the Collect
(pronounced "COLL-ect"—a prayer), and the Gradual (short
responsive
Scripture reading) or psalm of the day. Note that the section
below the words "use for communion service" will only be used
when communion is celebrated—it begins after "Prayers of the
Church."
If the service includes communion
(usually the first and third
Sundays of the month), communicants will be invited forward from the
pulpit side first and line up at the chancel steps to receive communion
in groups. If you need to avoid alcohol, you may choose the
nonalcoholic wine in the center cups of the tray. If you are not
a member in good standing of a Missouri Synod Lutheran church,
you are welcome to come forward for a blessing, crossing your arms
over your chest to indicate you are not communing.
Next Steps
Get social
Visit our
YouTube channel to view our midday devotions and
recorded services. If you have Facebook and/or Instagram, follow the
links on our Links page to Like the churches' page. These sites contain
the most up-to-date news about events and opportunities at both Zion
and St. Paul's.
Check the Calendar
Take a
look at our Calendar
for an at-a-glance view of what's happening.
Get involved
Take a look at the
prayer
requests in the weekly bulletin and schedule some
prayer time for them. We need ushers and greeters for Sunday
mornings—there's usually a signup sheet on the desk in the narthex.
From fall through
spring St. Paul's hosts our adult choir rehearsals,
an adult Bible study,
and Sunday morning and Wednesday night classes for kids. There's a
chapter of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League, who do all kinds of
service projects in and beyond Green Isle. In the late summer we
need lots of volunteers to make our Vacation Bible School happen.
Don't see an activity you're interested in? Talk to the pastor—maybe
you can help start something new! God has given you a unique set of gifts
and abilities—ask the Lord to show you where and how he would like you
to use them!