Our Sunday worship service starts at 10:15 am and lasts about an hour. This service includes organ music, choral and instrumental selections offered by one or more of St. John’s choirs, a children’s message, opportunities for hymn singing and scripture readings which connect to pur pastor’s weekly sermon . A Fellowship Time for refreshments and informal conversation follows this service in our Assembly Hall, accessible by our elevator.
Since the pandemic, to keep everyone safe, we have not offered a staffed nursery. Our nursery is open if children become restless during worship but we require that an adult family member stay with them in the nursery for their safety. Prior to COVID-19, during this service, a nursery was provided for infants through kindergarten age, and Junior Church most Sundays for children in grades 1-4. Click here for more information about our Nursery & Junior Church.
Did you know? The scripture readings from the Bible at each St. John’s Sunday service are selected each week from the Revised Common Lectionary, a book containing a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian worship on a given day or occasion. This means that the same scripture readings we read at St. John’s are being read at almost every Christian church that same day around the world! It is the choice of our pastors to decide which Bible verse from the lectionary for that day will be the Bible verse they choose to preach on during their sermon that day, but our sermon is always Bible-based on the words of today’s scripture reading!
You are welcomed and encouraged to ‘read ahead’ the scripture verses for the week! We now offer two opportunities to study this week’s scripture in depth – see our Adult Education page on this website. The scriptures are listed in the weekly Herald members receive by mail or you can view it here on our website under ‘Calendar & Media’, ‘Publications’.
Click this link to go to our Publications page
Link to the Lectionary used by the UCC: http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
A Word from the Webmaster: Mix It Up! Try A New Seat – Or Try Our Balcony!
OK, we sometimes fall in a routine of sitting in the same pews week after week. Have you ever tried sitting on the ‘other side’ or in a different part of the sanctuary? You get a new perspective, and just might meet someone from our congregation you never met before!
OR, for a really different perspective, have you ever worshiped from our beautiful St. John’s balcony? If you’ve never been up there, you may be surprised how many seats are up there, the ‘aerial view’ of worship is unobstructed, and see all of the beautiful windows you may have missed from ground-level. And don’t worry, the sound system works great and the ushers and communion servers find there way up to the balcony, too!
We are sorry the balcony is one part of our building not fully accessible – it is 20 steps with 2 landings above the Narthex (sounds like the answer to a trivia question elsewhere on this website!). The balcony seating is especially popular with our youth and young adults!