Worship at Saint James Church
We welcome you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Saint James Lutheran Church web site and invite you to join us in our mission to worship, love, and serve our blessed Savior. We offer many opportunities to live out this mission and we encourage you not only to take a look at them but to participate in them.
The clergy and parishioners of Saint James Lutheran Church extend a cordial welcome to all guests and newcomers to our congregation. We would be delighted to have you join us in worship and hope that you will return often. We invite all baptized persons to share in the Holy Eucharist, or to come forward with the community for a blessing.
Worship is at the heart of our lives as Christians and is the center from which all other activities, no matter how well-meaning, must flow. The beautiful worship space of Saint James Church, and the attention we seek to give to the liturgies and music of the Church, work together to provide rich soil for spiritual growth. Gathered together around the Lord's table, we are humbled and equal before God. The principal service offered at Saint James is The Holy Eucharist, celebrated at both 8:30 and 11:00 each Sunday, which is the primary act of worship in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Our worship is determined by the liturgical calendar, which includes the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and after Pentecost.
Saint James conducts a regular schedule of Mid-Week Noon Prayer services, Evening Prayer services, Choral Evensong services, and two Eucharists each Sunday, as well as baptisms, confirmations, weddings, memorials and funerals. The liturgical practice combines the magnificence of Saint James' physical space with the use of formal ritual and ceremony.
Liturgy does not simply take place in the building. At a certain level the building itself becomes part of the liturgy. Unless we worship with our eyes closed, part of what is offered will be the glass, the wood and stone, the shapes and curves and spaces, all mixed in with the prayer and the Scripture, the music and the silence. People are conscious of this when they go into a great cathedral, or a building of particular beauty, character or strong simplicity but tend to take it for granted as they worship week by week in the building with which they are most familiar.
Worship is the medium by which we gather as a parish to celebrate and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our services follow the form of the ancient mass. Each Sunday, we celebrate the Holy Eucharist that begins with the Liturgy of the Word, in which scriptures are read, a sermon is preached, prayers of the people are offered, and our sins confessed. The Liturgy of the Eucharist follows, which brings us into communion with Christ. Music is always from the traditional religious body of work embracing the Renaissance through modern day composers. There are over 75 lay people on any given Sunday involved in some aspect of direct liturgical participation in making music, reading, serving, or ushering, making the services inspiring and uplifting.
Saint James serves the Concord community throughout the year, drawing ecumenical crowds with special services such as the St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals, Thanksgiving services, Reformation services, The Festival Service of Advent Lessons and Carols, and the Christmas Eve Festival Eucharist. We also serve the city in times of crisis, such as with recent prayer services for the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina.