Liturgy

"Worship is the arena in which God re-calibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and re-habituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts."
James K.A. Smith

The Four Movements of Christians Worship

Christian worship has always involved four movements: Gathering, Word, Table, and Sending. These movements mirror the activity of God in the life of His people. Worship services at Harvest follow these movements.

Gathering

God calls us together as His people and we enter into His presence with praise and confession.

Word

God speaks to us through His Word, both read and preached. We sit at the feet of Christ to receive His Word and allow it to transform us into His likeness.

Table

We gather at Christ's table to receive the Eucharist in fellowship with one another and God's people world-wide. Through bread and wine, we participate in Christ and are nurtured for God's work in our daily lives.

Sending

God sends us to proclaim and embody His mission, and we go forth in the power of the Spirit for the renewal of the world.

The Church Calendar

As God's people, we tell time differently. Our years are oriented around the story that God is telling, rather than the demands of work, society, school, or state.  Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary Time are formative seasons where we immerse ourselves in the story and work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Advent

The Church year commences with Advent, a four-week season that anticipates the second coming of Christ for judgment (2 Peter 3:11-14; 1 John 3:2-3) and commemorates his initial arrival through the Incarnation.

Christmas

Christmastide begins with the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25, and extends for twelve days of celebrating the Incarnation (John 1:17).

Epiphany

Epiphany commemorates the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles in fulfillment of prophecy (Isa 60:1-3), as exemplified in the visitation of the Magi (Matt 2:1-12).

Lent

Lent is a period of fasting and penitence from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday. These forty days, not counting the six Sundays which are celebrations of the Resurrection, recall Christ’s fasting during temptation in the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11).

Easter

Eastertide lasts for fifty days. This season remembers time from the resurrection to Christ’s Ascension to the Father’s right hand (Acts 1:1-11).

Pentecost

Pentecost the commemoration of the Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41). We celebrate God with us and in us.

Ordinary Time

This remainder of the liturgical year is “the time in which the church lives out the Great Commission in the world through love, service, and proclamation of the Gospel.

Christ the King

The last Sunday before the start of a new Church Year celebrates that King Jesus will renew and restore and rule over this world.