Change can be good. It is almost always hard. Change often disorients us from what is familiar. Sometimes, this is due to the particular change involved. Other times, we simply don’t like to change, regardless of what exactly the change is. And yet, the Christian life is one of change as God transforms us through the renewing of our minds that we might be conformed into the image of his Son.

This past Sunday morning, I announced five changes we are making in and around our Sunday morning worship service. These changes will take effect on December 1st, the first Sunday of Advent. I stressed that the changes did not come from a place of criticism or deficiency. We have a wonderful liturgy that embraces Word, Sacrament, song, and prayer. And we are led by an excellent worship leader accompanied by many gifted musicians. Instead, these changes are ways to build upon what is already true, good, and beautiful.

Here are the five changes:

• Increase the number of Scripture readings in the service. We are adding a reading prior to the pastoral prayer and one following the Lord’s Supper. These will go along with the reading during the Call to Worship and the sermon text for the day. As an aid to our worship preparation, the passages for the following Sunday will be listed in the bulletin.
• Add the Confession of Sin as a distinct element of worship. We are already doing a confession of sin but it is part of the pastoral prayer. In order to add a corporate element as well as make it more clear when the confession will occur in the service, we are making it a separate part. This will take place between the second and third song in our current order of worship.
• Bring the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper into a more ‘normal’ spot in the liturgy. Our current practice was put in place due to the circumstances surrounding COVID. Now that circumstances have returned to ‘normal’, it makes sense to move Communion to its more regular spot following the sermon. This will also reduce confusion for visitors who may wonder why they picked up communion elements but then a benediction (which usually indicates the end of the service) is pronounced before we have come to the Table.
• Move welcome and announcements to before the start of the worship service. This change is motivated by the desire that once we begin worship and have our hearts and minds reoriented to God that we not then disrupt that with other items, important as they may be. To this end, our new pattern will be for the worship team to play a musical prelude that will serve as a sign for the congregation to come into the sanctuary and find their seats and get settled. Announcements will follow and then we will begin our worship with a song.
• Re-introduce the practice of having an elder available for prayer following the service. This is a practice we observed prior to COVID. The elder will be located to the right of the stage as you face it. Please help us facilitate folks seeking prayer by moving away from that section to provide confidentiality for those who might be sharing personal requests.

 Please join me in asking the Lord to bless these changes, that they may only enliven and deepen our worship of our Triune God.