Love is at the heart of our Christian faith and worship is a celebration of that love. Jesus was once asked, “What is the greatest commandment? “He replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’.This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it,‘Love your neighbour as yourself.‘“
In worship we celebrate that God loves each one of us just as we are –and we respond by offering our love to God and to each other.
Just as people have different tastes in music, some preferring classical or opera while others like only hip-hop or jazz, so our worship can take different styles. Some people prefer traditional or formal worship with organ music, old and well-known hymns, a sermon and perhaps a liturgy – a set of words read from a worship book. Others prefer a more informal style of worship with modern worship songs, perhaps led by a worship band with guitars and keyboard and an address using contemporary ‘non-church’ language. Some services try to steer a middle course between these two styles.
There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to worship – we believe that as long as worship is sincere, God-centred and comes from the heart then it is acceptable.
At EMC our worship varies between these different styles. One Sunday each month we will have Holy Communion. Some services are more informal and include contemporary worship songs as well as videos and two or three short reflections rather than a typical sermon. That is very much the choice of the Minister or Local Preacher leading the service. Services usually last approximately 1 hour, although those including Holy Communion may be expected to last a little longer. There are often young children in the first part of the worship and some preachers try to accommodate them until they leave for their Sunday Club after 10 or 15 minutes.