What is "liturgical worship"?

At Grace of God, we worship in a fairly "traditional" Christian style. Our 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 any 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. (Sometimes other colors are used for Advent and Lent; our own church uses ◼️BLACK on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Some churches use 🟦BLUE for Advent rather than purple.)

⬜ 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.

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When he is leading the service, our pastor wears clothing coordinated with the seasons of the church year. You can see from the picture (above) that our pastor wears a robe, known as an alb, and a scarf-like accessory known as a stole. 

The alb and the color white symbolizes how his sin (and ours!) has been "washed clean" by God's redemption. (Psalm 51:7 - “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”)  On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, he usually wears an all-black robe, known as a geneva, without a stole. 

The stole the pastor wears, as well as the cloths that cover the altar, ambo (lectern), and font, also have Christian symbols on them which have special meanings too. Want to know more? Ask the Pastor!