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We welcome you to worship the Lord with us at United Covenant Church. The service is designed around the Lectionary readings for the particular week and this links the service to the Sunday School lesson the children have learned. We take time to greet one another, share joys and sorrows, sing our praises to God, read and hear the Word of God, reflect on God's Word and pray about God's word to us. We make special time for the children in the service and welcome families who wish to stay together during the service. We do ask that those who have younger children be sensitive to the way their children may be affecting the experience of worship for others. Childcare is available for those who desire it.

United Covenant Church has recently started introducing the new denominational hymnal, so we are learning some new music. We encourage the participation of the entire congregation in all aspects of the service through singing, responsive readings and prayers and in the unison reading of Scripture.

Some central themes that run through our worship are:

The Trinity:

God. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Worship at United Covenant is Trinitarian worship. Our worship expresses our relationship with God the Father. "Father" or "Abba" (literally Papa or Daddy) is an intimate term used by Jesus (Mk. 14:36) and Paul (Rm. 8:15; Gal. 4:6) to emphasize the close, loving relationship God has made available to all of humanity. Jesus, the Son, shows us God's faithfulness in this relationship and makes that relationship available to us through his life, death and resurrection. Our worship is empowered by the Holy Spirit, given to believers as God's presence in the world today. We emphasize worship as an experience of grace. Worship is for God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, God's people.

The Sacraments:

The Covenant believes that the biblical record gives the Christian community particular signs that define its character and life. The first is baptism, the sign of our new life in Christ and the beginning of faith. The sacrament of baptism identifies a person as someone born into God's Kingdom, "born of water and the Spirit" (see John 3). The second sign is Holy Communion, the sign of the ongoing and abiding love between God and his people. The sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper is the sacrament that testifies to the nourishment received and to the presence experienced by the Christian community through faith. Another word for sacrament is "mystery." The word "mystery" keeps us mindful that the ongoing presence and work of God in our lives is sometimes beyond our understanding. Sacraments help us remember that this presence of God in our lives is an undeserved but freely given gift of grace.

The Word:

The question most frequently asked by early Covenanters was, "Where is it written?" We are a people of the Book. The center of our worship is the Holy Scriptures, the Old and the New Testaments. They are essential for establishing our life of faith, fellowship and mission. The Covenant considers itself accountable to Scripture. We struggle to listen to and apply Scripture in our lives as individuals, families and as a congregation. We use the Revised Common Lectionary to order the Scriptures for our worship life. This helps us consider a wide range of Scripture within a three-year cycle of readings. In the service, we set aside time for the careful reading of Scripture and the preaching of its message for both children and adults. A prayerful time of silence allows the congregation to personally reflect on the passages.

The Music of God's People:

Music has been a gift to God's people from the beginning. United Covenant uses the oldest hymnbook, the book of Psalms, as a regular part of our worship. We include a unison reading from the Psalms each Sunday as given in the lectionary readings. The music we use in worship for congregational singing comes from a variety of sources. The Covenant Hymnal (1973), The Song Goes On (1990) and The Covenant Hymnal - A Worshipbook (1996) are the current denominational hymnals we use. They contain a selection of the best traditional hymns, contemporary praise music and choruses. The Covenant also has a distinctive tradition of joyful hymns written by our founders during the late 1800's and early 1900's. These songs are poetic witnesses to a deep abiding faith in God set to beautiful Scandinavian folk melodies.

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