Sunday Morning Worship: Your First Visit

While much happens at Second Congregational United Church of Christ throughout the week, the cornerstone of our week is our 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship service, complete with preaching, music, prayer, and fellowship. If you're considering visiting us for the first time, this is the service that will give you the best sense of what we're about. Of course, you can also drop by and see the church Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 2 p.m. if you'd like to look around, pray, talk with a pastor or other staff, or just sit a while (simply buzz one of the doors for entrance).

We know that some people who have not been part of a church community before, or who are otherwise unfamiliar with Christianity, are sometimes nervous about their first visit to a Christian worship service. Even if you do come from a church background, there are a wide variety of ways in which Christians worship, and we know that our ways of worshipping may be less familiar to some people.

So, whether you're new to Christian worship, or just new to our particular congregation, here's a little "Second Con 101" to give you a glimpse of what to expect:

• A warm welcome is waiting
• What do to when you arrive
• Finding your way around the church
• The Bulletin ("Worship Order")
• Standing and sitting
• Bible Readings
• Music and Singing
• Communion
• The Offering
• Coffee time
• Children
• Special Needs/Accessibility
• Restrooms

A warm welcome is waiting
Everyone is welcome to attend our worship service. It doesn't matter if you have no religion, are of another religion, or if you've simply never been to church before. You will be greeted warmly, treated with dignity, and your privacy will be respected. No one will try to convert you. We're just happy you came and hope you find some spiritual sustenance with us. We invite you to pick up a guest packet in one of the entrance ways to get to know us a little better, and to feel free to make a note in the "Friendship Pad" (see below) if you would like to connect with one of our ministry team.
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What to do when you arrive
When you arrive in the building, you'll want to head toward our worship area, or Sanctuary, where you will be greeted by a church volunteer who will welcome you and give you a 'Bulletin', or Worship Order, that will guide you through our worship service. Feel free to sit anywhere in the Sanctuary you like.
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Finding your way around the church
Christians have a sort of unique vocabulary you may not be familiar with. For starters, we have special names to denote various places and objects within the church. Here's an overview to get you started: (Of course, you don't have to know all this in order to worship with us!)

The Bulletin ("Worship Order")
Everything you need to know about our Sunday morning service is listed in the bulletin you will receive from one of our greeters. We call this the "Worship Order." It's a play-by-play of everything that will happen during the service, and it includes everything you need in order to fully participate in the actions taking place:

• When a something is written in boldface type in the worship order and is labeled "People:" or "in unison", that means that the entire congregation speaks the words together.
• Music for the whole congregation to sing together is either found in the blue Chalice Hymnal found in front of your seat, or will be printed in the worship order. Everything in the hymnal can be found by the large numbers found in the upper corners of each item.

When the worship service begins, simply follow along with the order of items in your bulletin. If there are any special instructions about something, those will be included as well.

We have plenty of information to share about how we worship and why we worship the way we do. See the How We Worship section.
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Standing and sitting
In your bulletin, you can tell if the congregation will stand for a part of the worship service if it is marked with a '*' before the item. In addition, watch the pastors and other worship leaders, and you'll see gestures or instructions that also indicate when to stand or sit.

Our community includes people of various physical abilities, and we invite you to stay seated at any time if that is more appropriate or comfortable for you.
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Bible Readings
There are usually 2 or 3 readings from the Bible each Sunday, chosen by the Christian church as a whole, and which rotate on a 3-year schedule known as "the lectionary". The sermon will be related to one or more of the Bible readings, and generally some of the music is too.

See the Bible Readings and Sermon sections for more information.
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Music and Singing
We're truly a congregation that loves music and is blessed with many talents in our music ministry.

For what we sing as a whole congregation together, we appreciate and like to incorporate musical gifts from the many different traditions and cultures within Christianity. On any given Sunday, we might sing some traditional church hymns like "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" or "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", an old gospel hymn like "Amazing Grace" or "Blessed Assurance", an African song like "Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises!" or "Siyahamba", a modern folk-liturgical piece like "Gather Us In" or "Blest Are They", or a chant from the Taize community like "Eat This Bread" or " Jesus, Remember Me". Most often our congregation's singing is accompanied by our pipe organ, but we also sometimes use piano, other instruments, and even occasionally some percussion as appropriate to the style of a song.

Our service also often includes a couple of sung responses that are part of the ritual action. Most commonly, there are two: the Gloria Patri ("Glory be to the Father...") and the Doxology ("Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."). The music and words for these or any other responses is included in your worship order.

In addition to the congregation's own singing, our worship includes pieces in a variety of styles sung by our choirs, songs sung by soloists, and instrumental pieces on handbells, brass, flute, strings, piano, or pipe organ.

See our Music section for even more information!
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Communion
On the first Sunday of each month, and on some additional special occasions, we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion (also known by some Christians as the "the Lord's Supper" or "the Eucharist"). Everyone is welcome to participate. You're sure to hear one of our pastors say "all are welcome at Christ's table", and they mean it. The sacrament is open to everyone--regardless of your religious denomination, church membership, gender, sexual orientation, race, language or age.

If you're not comfortable, or feel that you don't understand the ritual well enough to take part, just stay in your seat and don't worry. No one will pressure you to take part. But, if you do want to take part but don't know what to do, our pastors will give brief instructions, or you can just do what the people sitting around you are doing. We also always include instructions printed in your worship order.

We have lots of information on this site about the faith we proclaim and practice here, including what the sacrament of Holy Communion is and what we believe about it. See the Our Faith & Identity section.
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The Offering
The offering is an act of worship for Christians. It is a symbol of our belief that everything we have comes from God. It is also an act of generosity. Offerings support the ministry programs at our own church (including salaries) and various programs across the United States and throughout the world to help others.

Visitors are not expected to participate in the offering, and it is perfectly acceptable for you to let the offering plate pass you by. But you are certainly welcome to contribute.

If you decide to make Second Congregational United Church of Christ your home (and we hope you do!), we hope you will consider regular participation in our offering, and you can choose from many different ways to contribute your time, talents, and resources.
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Coffee time
Following the service, we gather in the dining room on the lower level of our building for coffee, snacks, and a social time. If you're a newcomer, please feel free to stay and join us. You'll have a chance to meet the pastors and other folks from our community, and chit-chat—as well as enjoy some treats.
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Children
We are always delighted to welcome children into our worship experience, and children of any and all ages are welcome to stay with their families throughout the whole of the worship service. All children are in worship for the first part of the service. About 15 minutes into the service, Pastor Mike, Pastor Matt, or our Christian Education Director Becky Erbe will share an "Early Word" (known in some churches as a "children's moment" or "children's sermon") with the children, which includes a carefully crafted telling of a biblical story or a lesson related to something special happening in worship. Then, those children who wish to attend Sunday School leave the sanctuary to go to their classes in the north wing.

For those who desire it, we offer Sunday School during our worship service for children aged Kindergarten through 5th grade. (Sunday School for youth in grades 6 and above and for adults is offered at the 9:00 am hour before worship.) This program is available for all, whether a member or a visitor to the church. However, we also encourage children to stay in worship—the patterns of Christan worship have an important effect in faith formation and development that simply cannot be replicated anywhere else.

For the very young among us, we have child care available in the church nursery. In addition, the "old narthex" out the back of our sanctuary makes a great quiet space for parents and children if you need to leave the sanctuary during the service (but a space where you can still see and hear what's going on in the sanctuary).

We have lots of information on this site about our activites for children and youth. See the Children's Ministries and Youth Ministries sections.
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Special Needs/Accessibility
Second Congregational United Church of Christ is fully wheelchair accessible. Accessible entrances to the building are from the main parking lot at the south end of our building and at the northern-most entrance off Church Street. An elevator is located in the north wing of the building, near the church offices.

We also provide mobile hearing aids connected to our sound system and large print worship orders. Please feel free to ask a greeter or usher for any specific need you may have.
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Restrooms
Restrooms on the sanctuary level of the building are available at the south end of the building around the corner from the outside entrance and at the north end of the building across from the church offices.
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