Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church

A congregation of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in Kirchendorf, Pennsylvania

The Week of the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

The Time of the Church

Worship

What happens on Sunday morning, and what to expect if you have never been.

Times of Service

The Divine Service

Divine Service Sunday · 10:30 a.m. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated every Sunday.
The Feasts and Festivals Holy Days · As announced The Epiphany, the Ascension, and the rest are kept on the day they fall. Times are printed in the bulletin and posted on the calendar.

The Prayer Offices

Matins Wednesday · 10:00 a.m. Followed by coffee in the parish hall.
Evening Prayer Wednesday in Advent and Lent · 7:00 p.m.

Bible Study and Catechesis

Bible Class and Sunday School Sunday · 9:15 a.m.
Catechesis (Instruction in the Faith) By appointment For adults preparing for confirmation, and for anyone who would like to go through the Small Catechism again.

Confession and Absolution

Individual Confession and Absolution Saturday · 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. In the nave. At any other hour, ask the pastor; he will make the time. He is bound never to repeat what is confessed to him.

The Divine Service is not a performance and it is not a lecture. It is a gift being delivered: God serves us with His Word and with the body and blood of His Son, and we respond in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. The shape of it is very old, and it is largely sung.

We use Divine Service, Setting Three from the Lutheran Service Book, which is the setting most people mean when they say the old liturgy. Everything you need is in the hymnal and the bulletin, and page numbers are announced. Nobody will be surprised that you are following along a beat behind; most of us did for a while.

The Order of Service

Preparation

Invocation, Confession and Absolution

The Word

Introit, Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Salutation and Collect

The Readings

Old Testament, Gradual, Epistle, Holy Gospel

Confession of Faith

The Nicene Creed

Preaching

Hymn of the Day, Sermon, Offertory, Prayer of the Church

The Sacrament

Preface, Sanctus, Lord’s Prayer, the Words of Our Lord, Agnus Dei, Distribution

Dismissal

Nunc Dimittis, Thanksgiving, Benediction

If you have never been and want to know where to park and which door is unlocked, that is all set out on the visiting page.

The Lord’s Supper

We believe that in the Sacrament our Lord gives His true body and blood, in and under the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of sins. Because we believe this, we ask that those who commune here be confirmed members of a congregation of the Missouri Synod or of a church body in fellowship with it.

This is not a judgment on anyone’s faith, and it is emphatically not a way of making guests unwelcome. It is that receiving the Supper together is a statement that we confess the same thing, and we would rather talk with you first than put words in your mouth. Please speak with the pastor before the service; he would genuinely like to meet you. Anyone is welcome to come forward for a blessing, arms crossed over the chest.

Daily Prayer

The lessons appointed for Monday, 9 November, from the daily lectionary in Lutheran Service Book, for reading at home.

Old Testament
Jeremiah 22:1–23
New Testament
St. Matthew 25:1–13

The Church Year

We are in the Time of the Church. The paraments are green.

Reckoned according to the three-year lectionary, Series A. The book in the pew is Lutheran Service Book (2006).