St John's First Hungarian Lutheran Church

What are services like?
We sing our services together each week from the Lutheran Book of Worship, setting 1, and Today's Readings from Augsburg. We have a seated service, so you don't have to stand, or worry about knowing when to. Before the service, worshipers are invited to take a moment prayer in the beauty of our historic sanctuary. You will be handed a weekly bulletin to look over, and can find your hymn pages too. A prelude is played at the organ, candles are lit, and the bells are rung to signal the time of worship, and the beginning of a new week. A welcome is given, community announcements made, and a "joke of the day" shared. We begin with a brief order of confession and forgiveness, spoken in silence to God, and then sing a hymn together. The Kyrie (Lord, have mercy) is a prayer for peace, followed by the Gloria, a hymn of praise, the song of the angels at Christ's birth. We pray together the prayer of the day, and listen to lessons from the Old and New Testaments each week. We also recite a section of the Psalms together responsively. We hear a lesson from the Gospels each week too. In 2018, we are reading through Mark's Gospel. We hear a brief sermon, 10 minutes or so, that focuses on God's grace and love, and then sing our hymn of the day together. We recite the Apostles' Creed (or the Nicene Creed on Communion Sundays), and ancient statement of faith. A musical interlude follows, and a free will offering is collected and presented at the altar. Visitors are welcome to contribute too, but no one should feel obligated. We conclude with the morning prayers, for our church, our community and our world, and a blessing. We sing one final hymn together, listen to the postlude at the organ, and offer our silent prayers to God. The candles are extinguished