Opportunities for Worship and Music
Several special features characterize the worship experience at Immanuel. Nearly every Sunday, you will find a layperson leading a significant portion of the worship service. This practice started during the tenure of a previous pastor who became ill. Laypeople stepped up and helped lead the rest of worship to allow the pastor to expend what remaining energy he had on preparing and delivering his sermon. Since then, the leadership of this congregation has continued this tradition, believing that worship truly is “the work of the people.”
Immanuel has a long tradition of preaching that engages head and heart. We trust you will find that the sermons here challenge and inspire you as, together, we go about the task of living out what it means to be followers of Jesus in a world full of complexity, ambiguity, and challenge. Here at Immanuel, we take questions seriously. We believe that the absence of faith is not doubt but indifference. But we also strive to take the texts of Scripture seriously, seeking in them an encounter with the Living Word who leads us out of ourselves into love and service.
Our music program, led by our fine music director and organist, Brian Wilhour, features several choirs, including two bell choirs and several choirs for children. You may find your talents and interests lead you into one or more of these groups. The choice of music leans to the traditional, but on a given Sunday you may hear an African-American spiritual; a gospel standard; a piece by Bach, Durufle or a modern composer; a folk song from Latin America; or an original composition by Wilhour.
From the second Sunday in September through the first Sunday in June, we have two worship services on a Sunday morning, one at 9:00 a.m. and one at 11:15 a.m. Through the summer, we move to one service at 10 a.m. Trained childcare workers staff our nursery, which is available for the early service each Sunday. Children ages 3 years to 3rd grade are invited to go to Morning Hour or Summer Church school after the “Message for Young Disciples” each Sunday.
Here at Immanuel, we observe the seasons of the church year, and on certain occasions (Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Christmas Eve), we have evening services to mark the day. We also offer healing services four times a year and other opportunities for worship and prayer at times other than Sunday morning.