Worship: Your First Visit
The worship of God is a joy and a gift. It is the foundation of our lives. While a great deal of activity happens throughout the week, the foundation of our lives begins with Sunday worship. If you are worshiping with us for the first time, we welcome you and want you to know what you can expect. We worship in-person in the sanctuary and through Livestream:
9:15 AM (Livestream) & 11:00 AM: Sunday mornings
10:00 AM (Livestream): Sunday, December 29, 2024 (one service of worship)
11:00 AM (Livestream): Sunday, March 16, 2025 (Youth Sunday, one service of worship)
10:00 AM (Livestream): Summer Sunday mornings; sanctuary; May 18 – Aug 31, 2025
A Warm Welcome
Everyone is welcome to attend our worship service. You will be greeted warmly and welcomed sincerely. We are happy you have joined us and we look forward to offering you hospitality. We invite you to fill out information in the Fellowship Pad, say hello to a pastor, a church member. We are happy to welcome you.
When You Arrive
When you arrive at the church (see Parking below) you’ll want to head through the front doors of the church, toward our worship area, the Sanctuary, where you will be greeted by a church member who will welcome you and give you a bulletin with the day’s Order of Worship. This will guide you through our worship service. Feel free to sit anywhere in the Sanctuary, including the balcony.
The Church Building
Christians have a unique vocabulary you may not be familiar with. For starters, we have special names to designate various places and objects within the church. Here’s an overview:
| We call it… | It’s… |
|---|---|
| Sanctuary | The room where worship is held, with the pews for sitting |
| Chancel | The front raised area in the Sanctuary |
| Narthex | The entranceway between the outside doors and the Sanctuary |
| Communion Table | The big table in the Chancel |
| Pulpit | The lectern where pastors and other worship leaders read scripture, pray, and preach |
| Baptismal Font | The octagonal stand with the bowl filled with water in the Chancel |
| Church School & Adult Education | Educational classes for children, youth, and adults |
| Fellowship Pad | The dark blue booklets that are found in the pews, in which you write your name, contact information, request a name tag, add a prayer request |
| Books in the pews | The books in front of and under each seat include the Bible and, for singing, a red hymnal and a blue Psalter (a hymn book of psalms). |
Standing and sitting
In your bulletin, you can tell if the congregation will stand for a part of the worship service if it is marked with a ‘*’ before the item. In addition, watch the pastors and other worship leaders, and you will see gestures or instructions that also indicate when to stand or sit. Our church includes people of various physical abilities, and we invite you to stay seated at any time if that is more appropriate or comfortable for you. We also have several pews large enough to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers.
Music and Singing
We are truly a congregation that loves music and is blessed with many talents in our music ministry. We appreciate and like to incorporate musical gifts from the many different traditions and cultures within Christianity. On any given Sunday, we might sing a traditional church hymn like “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” or “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” an old gospel hymn like “Amazing Grace” or “Blessed Assurance,” an African song like “Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises!” or “Siyahamba,” a modern folk-liturgical piece like “Gather Us In” or “Blest Are They,” or a chant from the Taizé community like “Eat This Bread” or “Jesus, Remember Me.”
Most often our congregation’s singing is accompanied by our pipe organ, but we also sometimes use piano, other instruments, and percussion, as appropriate to the style of a song. We use the hymnal Glory to God (2013) and the hymnal of psalms (also known as a psalter), Psalms for All Seasons. In addition to the congregation’s own singing, our worship includes pieces in a variety of styles sung by our choirs, songs sung by soloists, and instrumental pieces on hand bells, brass, flute, strings, piano, or pipe organ.
Here’s information about Music & the Arts: LINK
Communion
On the first Sunday of each month, and on some additional special occasions like the first Sunday of Advent and Lent, we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion (also known as “The Lord’s Supper” and “Eucharist”). Everyone is welcome to participate. The sacrament is open to you, regardless of your religious denomination, church membership, gender, sexual orientation, race, language, or age. If you’re not comfortable or feel that you don’t understand the sacrament well enough to take part, just stay in your seat and don’t worry. No one will pressure you to take part. But, if you do want to take part but don’t know what to do, our pastors will give brief instructions, or you can just do what the people sitting around you are doing.
Offering
The offering is an act of worship and thanksgiving for Christians. It is an action of our belief that everything we have comes from God. It is also an act of generosity. Offerings support the ministry of our church and various outreach and mission programs locally, across the United States and throughout the world. If you decide to make Nassau Presbyterian Church your church home we hope you will consider regular participation in our offering, and you can choose from many different ways to contribute your time, talents, and resources.
Accessibility
Nassau Presbyterian Church is wheelchair accessible from the ramp to our side door from the parking lot. An elevator is by this entrance hall goes both up to the second floor and down to the Lower Level. We also have two wheelchairs available inside the church.
For worship services, we provide mobile hearing aids connected to our sound system, large-print bulletins, and large-print supplements that include hymns and scripture lessons. Please feel free to ask an usher for any need you may have. Our church includes people of various physical abilities, and we invite you to stay seated at any time during worship if that is more appropriate or comfortable for you. We also have six pews large enough to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers.
Our parking lot includes an accessible parking space. On Sunday mornings additional spaces are available near the church on Nassau Street.
Coffee and Fellowship
Between the worship services at 10:15 AM we gather in the Assembly Room behind the Sanctuary for fellowship and refreshments. In summer we enjoy fellowship at 11:00 AM out on the front patio. We look forward to welcoming you.
Children
We are always delighted to welcome children into our worship, and children of any and all ages are welcome to stay with their families throughout the whole of the worship service.
At 9:15 AM most children are in worship for the first part of the service. About 15 minutes into the service, after Time with Children, a special part of the service just for them, they are dismissed to Church School. There are volunteers to help you find your way to a class.
For the very young among us, we have childcare available in the church nursery. In addition, the Narthex in the back of our sanctuary makes a great quiet space for parents and children if you need to leave the Sanctuary during the service, and you can still see and hear what’s going on in the Sanctuary. Take a look out our Children’s Ministry and Youth Ministry pages for more information about opportunities for children and teens at Nassau Church.
Here’s more information about being Presbyterian: Presbyterian 101
Please contact the Rev. Lauren McFeaters 6090924-0103, 102, ">Email