Church's
Liturgical Year

Ordinary Time
Advent
Christmas
Epiphany
Transfiguration
Ash Wednesday
Lent
Palm Sunday
Holy Week
Maundy Thursday
Good Friday
Great Vigil of Easter
Easter Sunday
Ascension
Pentecost
Trinity Sunday
All Saints
Christ the King

Other days
World Communion Sunday
Reformation Day
Youth Sunday

An Outline of the Service
for the Lord's Day

Gathering
Call to Worship
Hymn of Praise, Psalm, or Spiritual
Confession and Pardon
Response to Pardon
The Word
Children's Message
First Scripture Reading
Choir Anthem or Special Music
Sharing Joys and Concerns
Prayers of Intercession and Lord's Prayer
Second Scripture Reading
Sermon
Hymn
   (On special occasions sacraments of baptism or the Lord's Supper may be celebrated)
Affirmation of Faith
The Sending Forth
Offering and Doxology
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Closing Hymn
Charge, Benediction and Blessing
   (Based on special events, the above order may be altered)

As Reformed Christians we believe Christian worship is all about God. We are a community of believer’s who have chosen to assemble together as the congregation of the Buckton Presbyterian Church, as we have for over 50 years, to worship and give glory to God. We are a family called together by Christ to serve God in this place. Some of us have known each other for decades and some for only months, but together we are a family of the faithful and we greet one another with joy and expectation as we gather together once again to worship God.

The music helps us set an atmosphere where we as God’s people can enter into a worshipful heart and mind. Music is a major element of Presbyterian/Reformed worship. From the beginning of the service with the prelude to the end with the postlude, music plays a significant role within our worship of God.

Presbyterian worship is participatory, it is not something we watch or observe happening, it is something in which we are active participants. The call to worship draws us in as a community of faith participating together in the worship of God. From the call to worship to the benediction, praise, honor, glory and power belong only to God.

Worship within the Presbyterian tradition is centered upon the Word of God and it is important that the congregation hear the Word of God from both the Old and New Testaments.

"If worship does not change us, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy; it ends in holy obedience."
Richard J. Foster

"Prayer is at the heart of worship. In prayer, through the Holy Spirit, people seek after and are found by the one true God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. They listen and wait upon God, call God by name, remember God's gracious acts, and offer themselves to God. Prayer may be spoken, sung, offered in silence, or enacted. Prayer grows out of the center of a person's life in response to the Spirit. Prayer is shaped by the Word of God in Scripture and by the life of the community of faith. Prayer issues in commitment to join God's work in the world." (Book of Order W-2.1001)

Sermon

"The preached Word or sermon is to be based upon the written Word. It is a proclamation of Scripture in the conviction that through the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ is present to the gathered people, offering grace and calling for obedience.... The sermon should present the gospel with simplicity and clarity, in language which can be understood by the people....the preaching of the Word shall ordinarily be done by a minister of Word and Sacrament. (Book of Order W-2.2007)

"The great vocation of the minister is to continuously make
connections between the human story and the divine story."
- Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Living Reminder

"Christian worship joyfully ascribes all praise and honor, glory and power to the triune God. In worship, the people of God acknowledge God present in the world and in their lives. As they respond to God's claim and redemptive action in Jesus Christ, believers are transformed and renewed. In worship, the faithful offer themselves to God and are equipped for God's service in the world." (Directory of Worship)

Finally, we offer our most radical act of worship when we allow God to lead us out of the sanctuary and back into God's world. We, Reformed Christians believe that our final act of worship is found, not in the pews or even in the hallway as we exit the church, but in the streets, the malls, the offices and the schools throughout God's world, where the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is simultaneously scrutinized, confronted, maligned and eagerly sought.