According to the Lutheran confessions , faith - our trust in God - grows through Word and Sacrament. The confessions also define the church as the gathering around Word and Sacrament. Thus, what defines us as a church is what we do each Sunday morning - gather around Word and Sacrament. In our worship services, the first major part centers around the Word of God and normally includes three readings from the Bible and a sermon, while the second major part is centered around Holy Communion.

We use two resources to help us: the Lutheran Book of Worship , which was published in 1978 by several Lutheran bodies, and With One Voice , published more recently by the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . We do not follow these resources rigidly, but they do provide excellent resources for our gatherings around Word and Sacrament.

As do most Lutheran Christians and so many Christians throughout the centuries, we follow the church year.  

We also normally use the Bible readings listed for each Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary , although we do feel free to deviate from it as need arises.