Pearl Church – Worship

Worship at Pearl Church

Church Calendar →
Components of our Services →
Why we embrace this type of public worship →

Church Calendar

The “Church calendar” is a way of marking time that has characterized the Church since its early days. While taking many forms throughout the centuries and various church traditions, the practice of framing worship around the story of Christ on an annual basis can be a helpful tool for many reasons.

This cyclical reenactment of the story of Christ — from His birth through His passion and to the establishment of His Church — helps to re-orient our sense of time; it takes our attention from our work, our busy lives, and the commercialism of major holidays to focus on things eternal.
Also, this annual rehearsal of Christ’s story is just a good reminder of the story of God’s incarnation and purposes for humanity; particularly for children or people who are new to the faith, the church calendar is catechistic, or educational in nature.
What is more, the celebration of the expanded range of Christian holidays joins us together with believers of many other traditions through our common heritage.

Advent

The four Sundays prior to Christmas Day are a special time of anticipation and preparation for the coming incarnation of God among us. We remember the centuries of longing by God’s people for the Messiah. We think about what it might have been like, living in a world that had yet to have God in flesh dwelling among us. We anticipate His second coming to reclaim us; this leads to a renewed awareness of our sin and a desire to “clean house” and remain faithfully watchful. His return is imminent.

Colors: dark purple/blue – represent royalty of the coming King; darkness of colors is symbolic of our solemn penitence and longing
Symbol: The Advent wreath has four candles (usually three purple; one pink) that are lit progressively – one each Sunday of Advent. They symbolize different aspects of our waiting for the Messiah (longing, preparing, joy of anticipation, the long season of prophetic expectation); the candles’ growing light symbolizes our growing anticipation and longing for His arrival.
Note: We refrain from singing Christmas carols that celebrate his arrival until that day – Christmas Day.

Christmas

Christmas begins on December 25th, and the celebration continues for 12 days. Epiphany (meaning “manifestation”) is the 12th day and the peak of celebration. As we read the first accounts of Christ’s manifestation among us, we identify with those who had a hint of the tremendous importance of his arrival (Anna, Simeon, Mary, the magi)

Colors: white and gold – represent the celebration and joy of “God with us”.
Symbol: Christ is the “Light of the World”. A large white candle will be prominent on the altar to represent His Light.

Epiphany

Epiphany begins on January 6, and extends to Ash Wednesday. During epiphany we celebrate Jesus as the light of God and the manifestation of God to the world. The act of worship by the Magi was the first indication that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races. Epiphany means “to show”. This season is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the church in reaching others by “showing” Jesus as the Savior of all people.

Colors: white and gold.

Lent

Click here to download Pearl's 2010 Holy Week Devotional Guide.

The season of Lent is a period of 40 days (not counting Sundays) preceding Easter that is set apart as a special time of fasting, penitence, and prayer to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. We pare down our lives and embrace renewed quietness with the goal of re-centering our lives on God. Sometimes it is helpful to temporarily abstain from things that draw our hearts away from Christ in order to gain focus. In the centuries following Christ’s time on earth, Lent was developed as a special time for new Christians in particular to demonstrate their devotion and piety and prepare for their baptisms, which took place at Easter. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the season of Lent, and like many churches, we hold a special service to reflect upon our need and weakness and to turn to Christ in a special way. During that service, those who wish may take the special sign of ashes painted on the forehead to symbolize their penitence.

Colors: black and grey – represent our repentance and turning from sin; darkness of colors is symbolic of the quiet and serious nature of this season
Symbol: Burlap or another form of sackcloth is used on the altar as a traditional sign of repentance. No flowers or living things are used on the altar for most of Lent.
Note: The tone of our Sunday services is quieter and less celebratory than at other times of year. Progressively, More time is given to silence during our service in an effort to keep continuity with the season and make space for deeper reflection.
Note: Pearl partners with Lifewater International and their Significant Sacrifice program to send all money related to our various Lenten fasts to those without access to safe water around the world. This has become a very meaningful part of our Lenten journey.

Easter

Easter Sunday begins 50 days of celebration of Christ’s resurrection; these seven weeks are the pinnacle of the church year. The week prior to Easter is commonly called Holy Week. During that time, we walk through the passion of Christ and reenact various events from Palm Sunday until His crucifixion. It is a special time of remembrance and identification with Christ in His sufferings. After living a season of special repentance and reflection (Lent) and then re-living the events of Holy Week, our hearts are better prepared for the intense joy of celebration when we announce, “Christ is risen!”

Colors: white, gold, and all the rainbow colors – represent our radiant joy at the victory of Christ over the grave and the grace extended to us in salvation
Symbol: The large white “Christ candle” will reappear on the altar to represent Christ, the Light of the World, who is victorious over death on our behalf.
Note: The tone of our Sunday services is joyful and celebratory for the full seven weeks of Easter. Throughout this time a refrain will frequently be heard in the services: when the leader says, “Christ is risen!” -- the people should joyfully and enthusiastically respond, “He is risen indeed!”

Ascension Day

Forty days following Christ’s resurrection, He ascended into heaven to reclaim his right and glorious place at the right hand of God the Father. On the Sunday closest to Ascension Day we celebrate the completion of Christ’s mission on earth and His return to glory. Throughout the Bible, we see that God longs to see His Son be lifted high and given his proper praise. On Ascension Day we rejoice and celebrate Christ the King!

Colors: white and gold – the colors of celebration

Pentecost

Fifty days following Easter, we celebrate Pentecost – the birthday of the Church. On this day, God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within the people of His Church. We celebrate the role of the Spirit in our lives today – instructing, convicting, and guiding us along the path of life.

Colors: red – this is to represent of the fire that descended upon the people present at the first Pentecost

After Pentecost

After Pentecost, we have the long season known as “ordinary time” until we begin the story again at Advent. During Ordinary Time, there are no major holidays to celebrate, but we continue to walk through the story of the establishment of the Church. This season is a great time to focus on the purpose and responsibility of the Body of Christ. Traditionally, in our public Scripture readings, we follow the story of the early Church in the book of Acts and focus on instructions to the Church in the epistles. Toward the end of Ordinary Time, we celebrate All Saints’ Day. This is observed on the Sunday closest to November 1st. On All Saints’ Day we remember our place as just a few among the many members of God’s family, and we reflect with thanksgiving upon the courageous people who have gone before us and those who have helped each of us personally in our journey of faith.

Colors: green – to represent the growth of the Church throughout ordinary time; white – a color of celebration when we get to All Saints’ Day
Symbol: The altar has growing things – flowers or other plants – in a central place to symbolize and celebrate the growth of the Church and the growth of each one of us as Christ’s disciples.

Christ the King Sunday

Christ the King Sunday is the climax and conclusion of the Church's liturgical journey through the life of Christ and the Gospel message. Its purpose is to celebrate the coming reign of Christ as King of the Earth and his completion of the renewed creation that marks the fulness of the Kingdom of God.

Colors: white and gold– to represent the ultimate reign and sovereignty of Christ the King over all the peoples of the world, over all nations, and over the entire cosmos

Components of our Services

It may be helpful to think of our worship together as an active, participatory interaction – like a conversation with God. Together these components make a rough outline of the conversational pattern: God speaks, and we respond to Him. The arrows in this section give a rough idea of the “direction” of the conversation. The down arrow represents God reaching out to us; the up arrow represents our response.

↓ Call to worship God calls us to worship by His very nature, His involvement
in the world, His pursuit of us personally, and His words to us in Scripture
This usually involves a reading from the Bible that reminds us of God’s character and care. Sometimes, words spoken by the “host” of the service help focus us on a particular attribute or perspective from Scripture.
↑ ↓ Songs We return praise to God for who He is and the sustaining role He plays in our world. We also hear from God as we are reminded about His character through the words of songs.
↑ Confession In light of our encounter with Him, we are reminded
of our need for cleansing and healing.
Our brokenness and poverty become clear when we spend time praising our holy Creator, and the confession section of our service allows us to spend a few moments in silence before Him considering our position.
↓ Assurance of Forgiveness In response to our brokenness, God offers
forgiveness and wholeness.
Sometimes this piece involves a reminder from God, through the host, that through Christ he extends forgiveness to His children. Other times, we are assured of our forgiveness by reading the promises of Scripture.
↑ Songs As we experience His mercy in confession, we’re given a chance to respond in agreement with God about our need and gratitude for His grace.
↓ Reading of the Word God speaks to us through the reading of passages
from the Bible.
We believe that the public reading of Scripture is good for us – to remember together as a community the story of God’s redeeming activities from Genesis to Revelation. Often these passages are chosen because they help us progress through the story of Scripture in accordance with the season of the Church calendar. (For example, during the season of Pentecost and the months following, we often read through the story of the early Church in the book of Acts and the instructions to the Church in the New Testament epistles.) At other times readings are chosen to complement the content and lessons of the sermon.

On a typical Sunday, we have two readings: one that closely reflects some aspect of the Gospel of Christ directly and one that could be more general in nature – rehearsing the story of Scripture or some piece of instruction from it. During the seasons of Pentecost and Ordinary Time, the Gospel passage is read from within the congregation (often from the middle aisle) to represent the power of the Gospel being lived out through the growing Church, from the inside out.
↑ Songs, Silence and/or Prayer This is our response to the Word
read aloud in our congregation.
↑ Tithes/Offering Another aspect of our response to God’s love for us, we bring tithes and offerings to contribute to the building of His Kingdom.
We believe that the act of returning a small part of our resources to God, who supplies all our needs, is an act of worship and one that is faithful to the model set out for us in Scripture. While giving is a private matter between the worshipper and the Lord, we bring the offerings forward to the altar corporately – symbolically offering our whole selves to the work of God.
↓ Sermon God speaks to us through His Word in the sermon.
We believe that God has a message for his people from his Word. Since the whole counsel of God is relevant, we try to preach through entire sections of the Bible and hear God as he speaks to us in our circumstances. We purpose to preach expository sermons. That is to say, we want the word of God to speak to us. We want to hear from God’s unique biblical instruction and we desire to respond to the Holy Spirit’s guidance for our lives as we learn from his word. To accomplish this, we take great care to study the Bible in preparation for these sermons and to present them in a way that captures the message of God for our lives. We want to hear God’s voice in these sermons, not ours.
↑ ↓ Resting in the Word We "rest" as a community in the word that has been spoken.
We spend a few minutes in silence as a community to simply “rest” in the word that God is speaking to us, both individually and corporately. Practically, this looks and feels like simple silence. However, our intention is that the space provide pause for us to listen for the Spirit’s specific direction as we seek to respond to truth and wisdom in our lives and our community. Depending on the liturgical season and the content of the sermon this part of the service may be as short as a few seconds or a long as a number of minutes.
↑ Songs We respond to the direction and conviction of God through song.
↑ ↓ Lord’s Supper God invites us to His table, to meet with Him and be fed by Him
The Lord’s Supper is in many ways the climax of our service. Here we most intimately meet with God and “do business” with Him – responding to Him by faith and conversing with Him about the things He’s been bringing about in our heart. Because of the importance of creating this space to meet with God, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper each week.

Observing the Lord’s Supper gives opportunity for us to meet with Christ, to be fed by Christ, to receive healing, forgiveness, strength, and comfort from Christ, to take a step of obedience and demonstrate our belief in what God has communicated to us. Most poignantly, at the Lord’s Table we receive spiritual nourishment from Christ himself.

Throughout His earthly ministry, Christ actively invited sinners and outcasts of society to Himself – not requiring anything from them but offering everything to them if they would come and meet with Him. So it is in the Lord’s Supper. Rather than feeling a need to make everything “right” in our hearts before we meet with Christ, we recognize that on our own we can’t make things “right” on a heart-level. We need Christ and His active movement in our lives in order to take steps toward deeper connection with God. In the Lord’s Supper, Christ invites us to “come as we are” and dine with Him. And we go – broken, open, confused, needy… and experience again the embrace of the Savior.

The Lord’s Supper also carries the weight of something that hints at future things. This is a rehearsal of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb. This is a small taste compared to the embrace of Christ that will come in the last day at the wedding feast – where we, Christ’s Bride will finally be united with Him. The descriptions in Scripture of that day are simply breathtaking – no pain, crying, or fear for God’s children. And at that banquet, people from all tribes, nations, ethnic backgrounds, economic situations, and political views will join together united as the Bride of Christ. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is not just an individual action, but it is very much a corporate, united practice. Through the weekly celebration of the Eucharist, we join together in a sacrament shared by the Church universal… and participate in a tiny foretaste of the unity that will come in heaven.
↑ ↓ Prayer We respond to His active work in our hearts through the service and dialog with Him about the world the needs of our community.
We know that prayer is much broader than our personal requests, but it is the privilege of Church members to carry each others’ burdens through prayer. In light of this, on the second Sunday of each month we set aside time for the “prayers of the people” – a place for the church to pray corporately for specific needs within our family.
↑ Creed We affirm key parts of our faith through the corporate recitation of creeds.
Regularly rehearsing creeds reminds us of our roots in the historical Church and connects us with believers everywhere in our world today. We regularly affirm creeds that have been recited throughout the centuries of Church history, and we also use ones that are “new” but reflect the universal faith of God’s Church. Creeds can help re-center and re-orient us, particularly when we are struggling with doubts or feelings of isolation. We enjoy affirming truth along with the global and historic Body of Christ – an entity far bigger and more significant than any individual’s voice alone.
↓ Benediction … but the last word is His.
With the closing words, God sends us out into the world to love and serve.

Why does Pearl Church embrace this type of public worship?

Rooted

Our goal is to engage in relevant worship that is historically informed. We draw from many different traditions of worship, learning from those who have come before us and enjoying the fellowship of the saints in the greater Body of Christ. We desire to learn from these traditions and affirm the reality of our place as heirs of a rich history of faith and belief. We do not stand alone in our faith; we are not autonomous inventors of this religion. Rather, we are deeply connected to all the children of God -- past, present, and future.

Formative

Many aspects of our worship are counter-cultural: silence, penitence, disciplined waiting, re-centered observance of holidays. By these impositions, our worship does not conform to our cultural or personal preferences. Instead we are asked to conform to its rhythm. In this we remember our place as strangers on this earth and in this place. When we don’t “feel like it” or struggle with doubts, the corporate directedness (sit, stand, say this, etc.) and cycle of the Church calendar can provide a framework for exercising what little faith we may have, reinforced by the greater Body of believers – those sitting next to us, as well as those who’ve gone before us. In this way we engage in spiritual calisthenics, submitting ourselves to the shaping work of corporate spiritual exercise.

Re-living

We believe that the worship of our church is part of the story of God. To represent his story, we rehearse and re-experience it every year and in each season, from His advent through his passion and to the establishment of the church. Our weekly service also represents God’s story, culminating in the remembrance and celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The “formulaic” nature of each service and every year guides us in a pattern of reaffirming our faith. Because of the power of the story of the Gospel, we embrace these cycles and seasons in our worship.

Participatory

Worship is less like looking in on something as a spectator, and more like being involved in something as a participant. Participation requires effort and engagement by the worshipper. While prescriptive postures, words, and actions might appear to be constraining, this style of worship is designed to invite and give cause to join in and not just watch. We value worship that requires the active engagement of worshippers, often participating in collective actions of worship. Our liturgy is not worship itself, but it is a framework -- a tool -- that is offered by the church to elicit a genuine, heart-connection to the Lord.

Transcendent & Immanent

Our worship is intended to promote a conversation between God and his people. The formality of our worship services communicates the magnificence and transcendence of our Creator, the One to whom we are connected. As well, many aspects of our worship call attention to the immanence – or closeness – of God to each one of us. Yet while Christ is our brother and the Spirit indwells us as believers, it is crucial to remember that God is very much “other.” Sometimes it is good to approach him with awe and trembling, to remember our place as “dust”, and to ponder His greatness in silence. We want to create space in worship to remember our smallness in light of His ultimate glory. Recognizing that God is both transcendent and immanent, we strive to represent this tension in our form of worship.

Word-Centered

God speaks through His Word — His Son and His Holy Scriptures illuminated to us by His Spirit. Every service is Word-centered. The revelation of God through Christ is embedded in every movement, particularly the Lord’s Supper and the centrality of the word of God in the public reading of Scriptures and our Biblicist sermons. Central to our quest of hearing from God is a dedication to the written Word of God. We highlight the efficacy and authority of Bible in our public readings of Scripture and in our preaching, for we believe that the Scriptures provide “teaching, rebuke, correction, and training in righteousness.”

Worshipful

The goal of our services is to develop true worshippers, and true worship is about love (Mt. 22). We recognize that behavior and knowledge and emotions are key components to worship. But love makes behavior turn into conviction. Love takes knowledge and makes it true belief. Love turns emotions into loyalty and intimacy. In our worship we try to not just talk simply about how to behave or what to know. And we don’t try to evoke emotion alone. Our desire is that our worship would touch the hearts of our people in order to stir and establish love for God and people. We believe this to be the true goal of true worship.