Worship at Grace

ancient worship for today's church

"Never eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." So says journalist Michael Pollan, arguing that many of our health problems stem from a diet far removed from anything our ancestors would have recognized as real food. What if the same thing could be said about worship?

Maybe our spiritual health suffers as a result of a practice of worship so far removed from the real thing as to be unrecognizable to Christians who have gone before us.

What would happen if we reconnected with the ancient pattern of Christian worship?

That’s what is happening at Grace. Worship at Grace is shaped by what author Jim Belcher describes as “deep worship,” which means our service is a blend of ancient and new in which we act out the biblical drama with joy and reverence. Our worship is rich with Scripture, featuring profound but accessible sermons and weekly communion.

Our Worship Service Explained

Every worship service at Grace is saturated with Scripture. Each element builds intentionally on the last, drawing us deeper into worship. From the call to worship at the beginning of the service to the benediction at the end, the focus is always on the glory of God. This guide brings out some of the nuances of a typical service at Grace.

a note on music

forget traditional vs. contemporary.
It’s about transcendence.

Music at Grace doesn’t try to be traditional or contemporary. We long for a musical vocabulary of our own that draws from ancient sources and modern ones, making them our own. As in every other aspect of worship, we strive for transcendence.

Our philosophy of music

The first thing to remember is that worship and music are not synonymous. Everything we do during the service is worship — the prayers, readings, sermons, and sacraments. Music is part of that. Because it’s part of our language of worship, we try to curate a sound that is unique to our community. Some of our music is written by us. Most comes from the outside world. But you won’t recognize it as purely contemporary or traditional. Nor is it ‘blended.’ To be honest, we don’t operate with those categories. The goal is not to appeal to one taste or another, or even to a wide variety of tastes. In worship we are formed, not appealed to.

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