 We want to welcome you to the First Presbyterian Church in Litchfield, Minnesota. We are located at 225 North Holcombe Ave. We are right behind the Library east of Central Park. You can enter from the West Parking lot(library lot) and turn left up into the Memorial Room. We have a beautiful Sanctuary with historic stained glass windows. Our worship is a traditional liturgy with traditional hymns, and is filled with laughter and teaching and fellowship. Plan to stay for coffee hour fellowship following the service.
Worship 10:0 AM; Coffee hour follows. At 9:00 we have Sunday school for all ages. Adults discuss the scripture readings for that day; we have a lively discussion group that you can share your thoughts or sit back and be challenged by others. The Presbyterian Church has a stong emphasis on scriptural interpretation; that's what we do in class. Children meet together in a "one room schoolhouse" format. Be sure to check the events page to see what's coming up in the life of the Church! Let's look at what a typical worship service will look like if you are new to our church. We begin with a time of gathering our thoughts during a musical prelude. A distinctive feature of our worship is a rather wide-ranging sharing of the Peace of Christ-we shake a lot of hands, not just our immediate neighbor! We share a responsive call to worship, a hymn-normally quite traditional and then a communal prayer of confession, confessing in community the need we each have for restoring relationship with God that is damaged by sin. We do use the common lectionary which means we read the passages of scripture that many churches share on that specific day. We listen to an Old Testament passage, a passage from the New Testament epistles and the gospel of the day. Now all three readings may not be part of the sermon, but God's word, read and heard, can touch any particular heart in ways the pastor may not. Following the Old Testament, we have a time we call Praises from the People of God; a time for the choir to share, a member to share how God is working in their lives, or perhaps a poem. Following the epistle, we have a time for children, a message for the young and young at heart. The sermon follows the gospel reading; it will be based on scripture and it will seek to be a sharing of the good news of God's grace. We follow that with a hymn, a time of prayer, an offering (which is for our members, guests are invited to allow us to be hosts and are free to let the plate pass by) The first Sunday of each month we share the Lord's Supper. The bread and the grape juice are served to the people in the pew by elders. The very real presence of Christ is represented in the bread and the cup; the reformed tradition says that Christ is truly present but not enclosed within the bread and cup, but we truly partake of the body and blood when we take the bread and cup in faith. We then sing another hymn, a charge-what are we to take with us from this service-and a shared blessing: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever." And we close with a sung blessing. All are invited to share in coffee, snacks and fellowship in the Memorial room. |
