In our Presbyterian tradition, the central act of our community life is worship.  Worship is the time when we come together to meet with God, to honor God, listen to God speaking to us and then respond to God’s Word.  

Our worship begins when the candles on our communion table are lit.  Christ, the light of the world, the revealer of God for us comes into our gathering and “turns on the light” so that we may know that God is with us.  Following the lighting of the candles, a musical voluntary is played.  This voluntary is most often played on the organ but any musical instrument may be used.  This voluntary is not a prelude.  A prelude by definition precedes something.  The voluntary does not precede our worship.  Rather, it is a time at the beginning of worship when musical sound becomes the vehicle by which the Holy surrounds us, gets our attention and draws us together to meet God.  Sometimes the words of a text are printed in our bulletin.  This indicates that a particular dimension of God has inspired the composition of the music.

Once we have been drawn together and our attention is focused by means of the voluntary, a call to worship is spoken.  This Call to Worship is God speaking to us through the worship leader and sometimes even through us if the Call to Worship is responsive.  The words of the Call to Worship tell us something of who God is and of who we are in God’s presence.  Following the Call to Worship, a hymn of praise is sung.  Realizing that we are now in God’s presence, we must do nothing less than praise, honor, adore this Holy One who creates and sustains us and all of reality.  God is with us but is also the High and Holy One who is far beyond anything we are or can become.

Then having been reminded of the greatness of God and having sung God’s praises, we cannot help but remember how unworthy we are in God’s presence.  The Call to Confession reminds us of our failure to be who we are before God.  However, the Call to Confession also tells us that even before we confess our failure, our sin, God’s merciful grace is available to us.  Having been called to confession, we pray our communal Prayer of Confession.  When we come to worship, we do not come only as individuals.  We come also as a community.  We come as people who share our lives together.  In the Prayer of Confession we acknowledge that not only do we as individuals fail before God, but also that our human race and our societies also fail collectively.

Following the Prayer of Confession, we sing the Kyrie Elesion (Lord, have mercy).  This ancient Greek invocation which both Martin Luther and John Calvin used not only affirms our need for God’s mercy, but also affirms that the Lord is merciful.  This unlimited mercy of God is then announced in the Assurance of Pardon.  Now instead of sitting with heads bowed contritely praying the Prayer of Confession, we joyfully stand to hear God tell us that because of God’s great love for us, our failure toward God and separation from God and each other are forgiven.  God does not hold our failure against us.  In response to our being forgiven, we then sing a brief song of praise and thanksgiving.

Then as a community having been forgiven, we may offer to one another an embrace, a handclasp and the ancient words by which we declare God’s peace to one another.  The Peace is not a time to engage in conversation.  It is a time to offer peace to God’s beloved, forgiven people.