Worship is central at Christ Lutheran Church.

Holy Communion is offered three times each week:

10:00 a.m. Sunday Morning

4:00 p.m. Tuesday Afternoon (at Vale Healthcare Center)

6:00 p.m. Wednesday Evening W.O.W.

Click here for Seasonal Services and special occasions

Christmas Services 2005

10:00 a.m. Sunday Morning
          This is the most traditional of our worship settings, yet it is celebrated with a variety of settings and styles according to the season and mood.
          The Good News of God's Grace is always preached.
          Music is accompanied by organ, piano, guitar, flute, percussion or any available instruments appropriate to the musical style. We offer variety in musical styles within each service.
          The Sacrament of Holy Communion is offered every Sunday, providing the strength to meet the week ahead.
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4:00 p.m. Tuesday Afternoon
          The process of ministering faithfully to one of our members at Vale Healthcare Center (13484 San Pablo Av in San Pablo, CA) and affirming her ministry where she is, has enabled this service to grow from her witness. This service brings the Sacrament of Holy Communion to about 15 residents at Vale Center. Christ Lutheran members are encouraged to come along each week to share the love of God in this fellowship.
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6:00 p.m. Wednesday Evening
          Full worship on a small scale, the W.O.W. service incorporates the “shape of the rite” (see With One Voice, page 8) in a setting where children take leadership. Preparation is made for this service during the Wednesday Children and Youth program, which begins at 5:30 p.m. The children select which role they will assume in their worship, including call to worship, candle lighting, offering taking, and communion assistant. Worship themes and Bible Stories are coordinated with the education time, which reflect the scripture themes for the week. We must emphasize, however, that this worship is not for children only! ALL ARE WELCOME!
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Seasonal Worship and Special Events 

Lent
Holy Week and Easter
Thanksgiving
Christmas

Lent 

Wednesday Noon Lenten Meditation
          This is a new opportunity Rev. Mary Louise Hintz, new to our community, will lead this time to enter into the Holy Word with meditations on the Psalms and related Old Testament texts, and a time for silent prayer. You will be blessed in this time of worship with Rev. Mary Louise who brings much experience and many spiritual gifts to ministry.

Midweek Lenten Worship Wednesdays in Lent 7:30 p.m.
          A strong tradition has evolved in the singing of the Evening Prayer setting by Marty Haugen, Holden Evening Prayer.

Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent
          Sanctuary open all day Wednesdays and Fridays for private prayer and devotion.
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Holy Week and Easter

Maundy Thursday 6:30 p.m. Community potluck followed by worship.

Good Friday Worship 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Solemn worship 

Stations of the Cross, Saturday all day (private prayer) We’ve reclaimed for our own use this tool for meditation used by ancient Christians on their pilgrimages.

The Vigil of Easter, Saturday at 7:00 p.m. In some ways, this is the most powerfully charged of the Holy Week and Easter services. Attendees hear traditional readings and experience the mysterious waiting for the resurrection. Though the service begins somberly, it concludes in celebration of the resurrection which has taken place at an indefinite moment during the Vigil. We celebrated Easter Vigil for the first time in 1999, and those attending insist that this must become part of our worship tradition at Christ Lutheran Church.

The Resurrection of Our Lord, Sunday 10 a.m. (regular Sunday worship time) This is THE church’s festival, full of joy. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
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Thanksgiving Eve Worship

Wednesday before Thanksgiving. 7:30 p.m. Worship with Women's Thankoffering Service followed by a Pie Social in the Fellowship Hall.
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Christmas

Christmas Eve, 5:30 p.m. Festival worship for all ages with singing and candlelight service. Children and adult choirs and bell choirs add to the richness of this service. 

Christmas Day, 10:00 a.m. Christmas Festival worship with Holy Communion. 

New Year’s Eve Prayers and Holy Communion, 5:30 p.m. A service to commemorate the turning of the secular calendar with prayers and Holy Communion
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THE ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP
Worship is central at Christ Lutheran Church: 

"Corporate worship expresses the unity of the people of God and their continuity with Christians across the ages. In the liturgical tradition are the gestures, songs, and words by which Christians have identified themselves and each other. The Lutheran Confessions set our liturgical life within that mainstream of Christian worship: 'We do not abolish the Mass but religiously keep and defend. ... We keep traditional liturgical forms' (Apology to the Augsburg Confession, 24)"  —  From the Introduction to the Lutheran Book of Worship, page 6

Participants: 

We all participate in worship, but the most important participants are the people who  remain in their places in the pews throughout the worship, whose voices are heard in unison with the others, and whose prayers and meditations are said silently. The leaders in worship — the presider, the assisting minister, the lector, the preacher, the choir director, the choir, and the organist — are the participants whose roles are to facilitate the worship of God by the whole congregation. These leaders are your servants.

The Liturgical Settings and Hymns: 

We use a variety of settings to keep the ancient and holy words alive and fresh to all who speak and sing them. We use: Lutheran Book of Worship Setting I and Setting II; With One Voice “Light of Christ” (Setting 4); The Hymn Mass (poetical versions of the ancient texts set to familiar tunes) from Augsburg Fortress; “Now the Feast and Celebration” by Marty Haugen; “The Kentigern Setting” from the Iona Community in Scotland; “Even as Christ Has Loved Us” by Arlin Aasness; and a simplified setting for Advent with music from all of our sources. Our goal in the Sunday morning service is to vary the musical style — not only monthly or seasonally but also within each service — to appeal to all tastes in worship style and set the mood for the season or festival. 

The Environment: 

The Liturgical Arts Committee has worked to draw attention to the seasons and festivals of the church year. We hope to inspire you and even make you curious about the season or festival through visual accents. 

The baptismal font is placed at the entrance to the Sanctuary (which we have begun calling the “Narthex/Baptistry”) to remind us of our first entrance into the Church of Christ in our baptism. It’s placement in front of the “For All the Saints” window with resurrection symbols reminds us that we are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.

The Gifts of Bread and Wine:

We bring to the table the common things that become sacred, ordinary things that become extraordinary. Bread, whether one loaf or wafers, and wine remind us of our unity with Christ and all the saints of old, the saints here with us, and the saints of generations to come.

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