About sixty people attended worship on March 14 for Mercy Hill's first preview service.Mercy Hill's worship service follows a basic pattern that mirrors the Story of God in the Bible: creation, fall, redemption, mission.
Each service of worship contains elements that carry the attendee through this "narrative cycle," which is sometimes called "covenant renewal."
This arrangement of elements is called the "liturgy" which literally means "the work you do" in worship, as a "worshipper."
Our liturgy includes elements that the whole assembly speaks aloud together, such as the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, or a common confession of sin.
Other elements include songs, prayers by those who lead worship, and even moments of silence.
For symbolic effect, certain elements of our liturgy are carried out with the whole congregation standing.
Each Sunday we also celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion, also called the Lord's Supper.
The overall effect is that the one who comes to worship with us is shaped by both old and new elements of God's Word in an environment that is both reverent (God-centered) and understandable and personally meaningful (man-centered).
In this regard, our theology of Worship is focused on the God-man, Jesus Christ, in whose person we see God Himself--God is made intelligible to us.