Sunday Morning Service:  10:30a.m.

A welcome from our Pastor.

God has created us to worship. In worship we praise God for being who God is. During that time on Sunday morning, we help each other see God’s reality of hope and mercy in our world. As our Book of Order states, in worship we “respond to God’s claim and redemptive action in Jesus Christ.” Hopefully, we leave worship transformed, renewed, and ready to be God’s disciples for another week.   

Worship at Woodhaven is traditional and Reformed. We enjoy the mystery of the liturgy, the beauty of all styles of music, and the power of the Word.  Our worship is not centered on entertainment or meeting our needs. It is centered on giving thanks to God and trying to discern God’s call for our lives. Currently, we have one worship service that begins at 10:30a.m. Children are welcome in worship at Woodhaven. We do have a nursery for babies and toddlers, but children are always invited to stay in worship for the entire service. 

We celebrate the Lord’s Supper once a month, usually on the first Sunday of the month. We occasionally have other times for communion, like our Maundy Thursday service. We do have special services at different points in the church’s liturgical year. Our Sanctuary choir and Hand bell choir are important elements of our worship leadership team. Every Sunday, they offer up music on our behalf.

Children are always welcome in worship at Woodhaven. In order to help children and parents worship more fully, the Worship Team has provided several options:

• Children’s Worship is for children ages 3-5 years. After the Time for Children, volunteers will take children to Education Building for an active worship experience. Children will return to the sanctuary during the final hymn where they can join their parents.
• Worship Kits, available in the narthex, have aids for worship including a letter to parents with tips for worshipping with children, book about worship, markers for hymns and scripture, a children’s bulletin and a scratch pad where children can draw a picture of something that captures their imagination in worship.
• Worship Resources including story Bibles, seasonal resources and other books of interest are available on the children’s cart in the narthex.
• All adults are invited to become Worship Partners by inviting children in our church family to worship with them. Together, children and adults can explore the mysteries of worship and renew faith and understanding through each other’s perspective.

In addition, classes are occasionally offered to early elementary school aged children to teach about the sacraments and to prepare them for participating in the Lord’s Supper.

Worship Resources:

The Revised Common Lectionary

The lectionary is simply a list of scripture readings assigned to be read in public worship on each Sunday and festival occasion (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, etc.) of the year. The source of this lectionary derives from the Consultation on Common Texts, a group made up of representatives from various denominations in North America who have decided on the texts to be assigned. The purpose of the lectionary is to present to the minister and to congregations a wide variety and diversity of Scripture readings, with the hope that over a three-year period, Christians will be exposed to a large portion of the Bible during their worship services. The advantage of such a lectionary is that ministers and worship leaders who follow it will not be tempted to preach or teach repeatedly on their favorite passages, but rather will be forced to struggle with passages of Scripture which may not be in accord with their beliefs or preferences. In addition, the congregation itself is exposed to a broader base of Scripture passages than might otherwise be the case.

There are four passages assigned for each Sunday: one passage comes from the Old Testament (except the Psalms), one passage is a psalm, one passage is from one of the Gospels, and one passage is from a portion of the New Testament other than the Gospels. Altogether, there are two Old Testament and two New Testament passages assigned every Sunday.

Each of the three yearly cycles, labeled A, B, and C, begins on the First Sunday of Advent (the Sunday closest to November 30). You will notice that particular books are the focus for particular years. For example, during year A, the Gospel readings come almost entirely from the Gospel of Matthew. During year B, the Gospel of Mark will take on the same role, and the Gospel of Luke will be the focus of year C. Since the cycle only runs for three years and then repeats itself, the Gospel of John does not have this kind of a role; rather, readings from John’s Gospel occur primarily in special seasons, particularly Lent. One will find similar principles involved in the other lectionary passages.

The following link will take you to the PCUSA lectionary  web site.  At this site you will be able to access all the Lectionary references for today and read  each of the scriptural readings.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings

Focusing on God as the Master Potter