The Common Service
At Our Savior, we use the historic Christian order of The Divine Service as found in “The Common Service”, specifically the Divine Service Setting III of our synod’s most recent hymnal, Lutheran Service Book. Whether you are long-familiar with this order of service or have never encountered it before, you’ll find it traditionally ordered and simple to follow week in and week out as we make blessed regular and steady use of it. Below is an example of what we use at Our Savior.
Hymns
You can see by the selection in the bulletin that we use only hymns out of Lutheran Service Book (and occasionally The Lutheran Hymnal) as our source. We are thoughtful and discerning in our choices and pick ones that go well with the Scripture readings and overall theme of that particular day. Hymns teach and we take that fact seriously as we enjoy the beautiful, rich, musical truth handed down to us from prior generations.
Traditional
Not only do we use The Common Service, but we gather to worship our great God and Savior in a way that is rich in reverence, consistent with the Scriptures, and faithful and true to Church history as confessed in The Book of Concord (1580) and the traditions of the Western Church. The service is reverently aesthetic with the goal of exalting Christ from beginning to end in every single thing that we use, do, say, etc. as we gather to receive His Holy Word and Sacrament from Him. The Divine Service is unlike any other moment throughout our week, so it intentionally looks and sounds very different. Many parts of the service are chanted, which helps set the words apart from the normal speaking that happens in daily life. At your first exposure to it, this may seem cold, but it is actually far from it, because we are encountering the Living God via the means that He Himself has instituted. Once you come to discover the depth of how our service is literally built on and structured by the Scriptures as they exalt Christ among us in joyous response, you’ll value the due reverence that is characteristic of The Divine Service. There is no part of the service that doesn’t have a Godly focus driving it to happen that way. If you’re unfamiliar with the deep richness and symbolism of traditional Lutheran theology and practice, do not feel intimidated. Come and learn it freely as the Lord Jesus Christ abundantly pours out His gifts upon us.
Lectionary
We use the historic one-year lectionary for our Scripture readings. Each Sunday’s place in the Church Year is listed on our calendar. The calendar is also a good place to see when we have special services scheduled.