Divine Service - Divine Care

  Christian worship! What is it? What does it look like here at Prince of Peace? Why we do what we do? One of the foundational principles in understanding Christian worship is that worship is an activity; it is not a static event. Someone is always doing something whether it is singing, listening, praying, reflecting, speaking, eating or drinking. 
For Lutherans, worship is a distinct activity; it is a divine activity. God is truly present in the midst of his people to serve them with his living Word. God is the actor and we are the receivers. In fact, the Divine Service is nothing other than the activity of the Triune God who moves out from himself to make us participants in his activity. Worship then is primarily th eactivity of God; it is a Word event.
God’s Word is delivered through the act of proclamation. It is an external Word handed over through the preaching of the gospel and the giving of the sacraments. Worship, then, is primarily God’s activity to us, and God is acting upon his worshippers. He is distributing his gifts by means of his performative Word which does what it promises; it forgives sins and gives faith. 
This divine encounter with the living God through his Word and sacraments cannot leave the worshipper unaffected. Faith is being formed and theology is being synthesized; in fact, worship is doing theology.
Against the backdrop of the current trend in worship to make “church” relevant and to satisfy “me”, Lutheran worship reverses the focus from ourselves to Christ and from the primary activity as being “what we do” to “what God is doing.”
Worship here at Prince of Peace is a down-to-earth event, literally God coming down to you, which grounds the Christian in the promises of God and nurtures faith that carries us into the midst of ordinary life. In other words, through the Divine Service, God is divinely caring for you, and don’t we all need that? 
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  - Pastor Darrin Sheek