What should I expect when I attend Advent?
Below is some information on the way we conduct the worship services at Advent. You can expect to be warmly greeted by our friendly greeters and ushers. They are available to you to direct you where you need to go and what is going on. They will give you Bulletin, which contains the order of Worship so you can easily follow along. You can also expect a loving, and christian environment suitable for fellowship with one another and growth in Christ.
The Worship Service: You will find more information about the reasons for the way we worship on our web site under “Worship.” Advent is a liturgical congregation, that is to say, we use forms and orders of worship that strive to adequately reflect the glory of God, forms and orders that have been used by the Christian Church throughout time. We take our worship seriously, so our service it is both joyful AND spiritually substantial. Our pipe organ greatly aids our humble singing and our skilled choir always brings the best we can muster out of the gifts that God has given to us. Most often we follow an order of worship that is found in our hymnal. If we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, there will be a processional with a crucifer at the beginning of service and at the end of the service. (Our members have the custom of facing the cross as it enters and leaves the sanctuary.)
Holy Communion is reserved for those who have been properly instructed in the doctrine and teachings of Holy Scriptures. Those who are members of a church body that is not in doctrinal agreement (or in communion fellowship) with the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod can be admitted to the Lord’s Supper if they attend an instructional class on the basic teachings of Christianity (called “ Form of Faith”) and become members of Advent. If anyone is a member of another congregation in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, we ask that he/she announce a desire to receive at the Lord’s Table to our pastor prior to communing. All communicants are asked to register their attendance at the Lord’s Table in the Record of Fellowship located in the pews.
Approaching the Altar: An usher will invite you to approach the altar down the central aisle. Communicants take their places from inside to outside, from the inside of the communion rail (closest to the center steps) filling to the right or left, depending upon which side of the church their seating is located. Once both elements have been received, communicants may return to their seat by exiting down the side aisles (There is no need to wait for a dismissal – this will come at the very end of the distribution).
At the End of Service: There is no ushering out of church. Once the last bell sounds upon the end of the final hymn, you are free to exit the sanctuary. The presiding pastor will greet our worshippers at the center door exit. If you are attending first service (8:15 a.m.) you are invited to join us for food, drinks and fellowship in the fellowship hall (down the hallway to the north of the narthex), which is then followed by the Adult Bible Study and Sunday School hour for children and youth (from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.) If you attend our late service, feel free to seek an opportunity to greet Pastor Fiene or request a personal meeting with him after service. He will be most willing to talk to you about personal matters or about involvement in our church.
We hope this overview will help you to understand a little more about our spiritual life as a congregation and make you feel a little more “at home” when you come to Advent Evangelical Lutheran Church for the first time.