Worship Page Two

The people and clergy also distribute Communion as a shared ministry of Christ.

When you come forward for Holy Communion the person serving you will pick up the cup and the plate (chalice and paten) and offer it to you saying: "The Body and Blood of Jesus for you." We ask you to respond with "Amen" or "Praise The Lord" or some other acclamation of affirmation and/or belief. Take a piece of the blessed bread and dip it into the blessed cup and serve yourself. If you are fortunate to be at worship with your lover (regardless of gender) or friends or family, you may come to Communion together and even serve each other. Then we ask you to wait and the person serving you will pray with you before you return to your seats.

You can even give Holy Communion to each other by placing the dipped Holy Eucharistic Bread and Wine/juice on the tongue of the other person.
Here we see a female couple praying with the person who served them Communion. Couples often come to Communion together.

One of the beautiful parts of this form of Communion is one must get up out of their chair and come forward to the person serving Communion. This is in fact an ALTAR CALL in every sense of the Protestant tradition. When you come forward to the Table Of Christ, you are making a public testimony of your faith.

This is a wonderful moment of statement of faith.

At any worship service persons may come forward to give their lives to Christ. We use the Communion time for this. If you are ready to give your life to Christ and accept personal Salvation, simply come forward for Holy Communion and signal to the servant not to serve you. Instead, tell the servant you wish them to pray with you while you dedicate your life to Christ and accept Jesus as your Personal Lord and Saviour. The servant will assist you in your prayers in any way you need. We are always delighted to welcome new converts into God's Holy People. You may wish to receive your first Holy Communion after giving your life to Christ and accepting personal Salvation.

We do not use this time for persons to come forward and confess their sins, or repent of backsliding, etc. Confession and repentance is done at every worship service at the beginning of the service in silent prayer. The Altar Call is reserved for those who are giving their lives to Christ and accepting Salvation. We are saved only one time in life.

During Holy Communion we sing and continue in worship.

WE ARE SENT FORTH

After announcements are made, we have a final blessing and sending forth, "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Then we usually sing another hymn of praise and thanksgiving that reflects the theme from the Holy Scriptures for the day.

The worship service is usually 90 minutes in length. Sometimes, but rarely, it stretches to two hours, never longer. One of the founders of Ray Of Hope Church Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mal Dack, who is now in Heaven, used to joke and say "...it takes about an hour for the 'Protestant' part and about an hour for the 'Catholic' part."

Following the worship service we always enjoy deserts and coffee. Everyone is encouraged to stay, help put worship materials away, and visit. It is a joyful time after being blessed in worship. On the second weekend of each month we also have a shared dinner, called the "The Love Feast."

Rainbow line

Here are some pictures of some seasonal events in the worship life of our Congregation.

This is a picture of the Lectern and Candle Of Hope with a special banner for the Feast Of Epiphany, commonly called the Feast of The Three Kings. Simple changes in the art in the room announce the important theme for each worship service. In this way the art is helping evangelize the Good News.

This is a picture of our "Lenten Cross" as it looked on Resurrection Sunday. During Lent it didn't have so many flowers on it. All six candle glasses were on the cross. Each week we lit the next candle and had a short paraliturgy during the first part of the Service setting the theme for that week in Lent. It really helps to see the progress as each week another candle is lit. Here are all six lit and beautiful white flowers added for the resurrection.

This is a picture of our Advent Wreath in Syracuse for Advent, 2000. The Advent Wreath was originally a Lutheran custom. Each week one more candle is lit and special readings read to progress through the four weeks of Advent.

Christ has given the Church many gifts. Some denominations call them Sacraments. Two of the greatest Sacraments are The Word Of God, the Bible, and the Holy Communion, also called The Blessed Sacrament. Here is a picture of the Holy Eucharist in a vessel for showing it. The vessel is called a "monstrance" from the Latin word "monstra", "to show." In English we have the word "demonstrate" as one derivative of this word. The gold vessel you see in this picture is a monstrance and you see the Holy Word Of God, the Bible in this picture. This arrangement of the monstrance and the Bible are arranged for meditation and prayer in silence. Someday we will have permanent chapels where this arrangement and others with baptismal water and the oils of blessing are also present. These places of meditation can be very artistically arranged. The purpose is to inspire people to spend time in meditation and silence while seeking the Lord in prayer.

This is a picture of the monstrance with the coverings on it. This arrangement shows Paul's statement that we see "dimly" now, or "veiled." Artistically speaking, this is quite a beautiful site. It does reflect the fact that Christ is hidden in our hearts as we go through our lives in the world. Again, this may be foriegn to your particular tradition but do understand this part of the experience of the Church, though mostly from the contemplative side of the Church, even the monastic side of the Church.

~ PASTORAL PHONE NUMBERS ~

Rev. Brother Shawn Francis Benedict + Appointed Pastor Of Ray Of Hope Church + - (607) 275-9983 OR 800-FOR-1-GOD (800-367-1463)
Ray of Hope Church Phone - (315) 471-6618

[ Sign our Guestbook ] - [ Read our Guestbook ]
[ GuestBook by TheGuestBook.com ]

BELOW ARE THE "LINKS" TO OUR OTHER PAGES.
Simply choose the page you want to go to by clicking your mouse on the name of the page. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO PAGE ONE OF THE WORSHIP PAGES

| Main Page|
| Statement of Faith|
| Statement of Purpose|
| Meet the Pastor|
| The Worship Of Ray Of Hope Church|
| Vocational Ministry Training Program|
| Homosexuality, Bisexuality, Transgender and the Bible|
| Sermons Of Ray Of Hope Church|
|CLICK HERE FOR LOCATIONS AND TIMES OF RAY OF HOPE CHURCH MEETINGS|
|QUEER YOUTH PAGE|
|CHRISTIAN RESOURCES FOR YOUR EDIFICATION|
|CLICK HERE FOR LOCATIONS AND TIMES OF RAY OF HOPE CHURCH MEETINGS|
|Study the government of Ray Of Hope Church. Read our by-laws by clicking here.|

Send e-mail to Email:

Brother Shawn F. Benedict