Peace Valley is a liturgical church. What does this mean? We follow the hymnal (songbook) through a worship service and sing hymns (songs) that are sourced directly from Scripture. 

What does the worship service part look like? 

A service at Peace Valley begins with an opening hymn and then the Invocation. The Invocation is a welcome, plea, and prayer that the Lord would be present in our midst during the service and that all would follow according to His Will. 

We then acknowledge our sins before God and one another, thinking about the previous week and all that went wrong that was our fault and praying that God would forgive us. Pastor will then, through the virtue of his office, announce the forgiveness of our sins by the precious blood of Christ.

The service may continue with the reading of the Introit (in-troy-et [a psalm that is read responsibly located in the bulletin for that week]); a Kyrie (key-re-aye) [asking for the Lord to save us]; Gloria in Excelsis (glo-ri-a ex-chel-sees) [Glory to God in the Highest—a song acknowledging the Trinity (see resource page for more info)]. 

There is a salutation (greeting) and the collect of the day is prayed (a special prayer for that day in the church year). 

Passages from Scripture are read aloud. Most likely one from the Old Testament (before Christ was born), an Epistle (one of the letters written after Christ had ascended to Heaven), and a reading from the New Testament, also known as the Holy Gospel (during Christ's ministry, normally a miracle or another moment recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

We will confess our Christian faith in the words of one of our Creeds: Apostles', Nicene, or Athanasian (see resources for these Creeds written out); we sing the Hymn of the Day, then pastor will give his sermon.

We collect our offerings and then will have the prayers of the church.

We then will have the Service of the Sacrament also known as Holy Communion. We ask that all those who are not members of the Lutheran-Church Missouri Synod or those affiliated with it not partake in taking Christ's Body and Blood. We do ask this as we believe that those who take Communion without knowing what it is and what it does (see the resource page for information) are taking it to their damnation and punishment, if however you would like to receive a blessing, you are welcome to do so by approaching the altar with your arms crossed across your chest. Children are welcome to receive blessings as well. For more information about Communion, please read the resource page, or contact our pastor. 

There will be another Salutation, then a Benediction to ask that the Lord be with as we depart. We will have a closing hymn and then any church announcements will be made.   

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