What is "liturgical worship"?

At Grace of God, we worship in a fairly "traditional" style. You can see from the picture that our pastor wears a robe, known as an alb, and a scarf-like accessory, known as a stole. The stole matches the colors which decorate the furniture in the front of the worship space, and these colors change seasonally.

These visual elements of worship are ancient. The clothes worn by ministers, and the colors of the different church seasons, have centuries of tradition and meaning behind them. But if those meanings are never explained, then these don't mean anything! So we hope the brief explanations on this page help introduce you to liturgical worship.

If you have more questions, let Pastor know!

The colors of the liturgical year

There are four main colors used in liturgical worship.

PURPLE is the color for Advent and for Lent. Advent, the beginning of the year, looks ahead to the arrival of the King. Traditionally, purple is associated with royalty. It was a very expensive dye color to produce in the ancient world. Consequently, purple is also associated with sacrifice, because it cost so much. During Lent, purple looks ahead to Jesus' own sacrifice, the costly price of our salvation.

WHITE is the color of Christmas, Easter, and a few other small special occasions. The color white calls to mind the angels who announced Jesus' birth and resurrection.

RED is the color of festivals celebrating particular events in the Church's history.

GREEN is a catch-all color for the "ordinary" Sundays in the year, when there's no particular festival going on. Green symbolizes growth, reminding us that as we gather to hear God's Word, we grow in faith and love.

Sometimes other colors are used. Our own church uses BLACK on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Some churches use BLUE for Advent rather than purple.

Our pastor wears clothing which is matched to the season of the church year. The stole he wears over his white robe matches the seasonal color. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, he usually wears an all-black robe, known as a geneva, without a stole.