Our Worship

A seminary student asked our minister, Ron Sebring, about Northbrae Community Church. Knowing that we are a bit unorthodox, he asked, “If you are Christian, in what sense are you liturgical?” Ron always enjoys questions like that; they make him squirm and think hard.

Worship at Northbrae is divided into five parts:

Focusing consciousness toward worship;

Pondering who and where we are in the world;

Opening the windows of our awareness;

Gratitude and replenishment;

Sending forth.

In our worship experience, with hymns and responsive readings and the sharing of our joys and concerns, we attempt to structure the flow of our worship experience around these focal points. We seek to (1) become conscious of our human predicaments (centered in our sharing of joys and concerns), (2) open our hearts to God’s Word as it speaks to our human predicaments (sitting together in silence), and (3) explore how we appropriate God’s word (symbolized in offering, scripture, sermon).

Generally speaking, in classical Christian spirituality, these are known as purgation, illumination, and union. The movements in the church year – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost – also reflect this sequence. In traditional worship services, the parts of this sequence have religious sounding names: Call to Worship, Invocation and Confession, Praise and Witness, Invitation and Dedication, Benediction. To demystify all this, we have attempted to rename them while keeping the coherence and inner significance of what worship is all about. We call worship at Northbrae: “Opening Unto Spirit.”

Worship is not complicated. It follows a sequence that we all do, quite naturally and without a bulletin, when we take moments to get into a spiritual mood, reflect on our problems and determine our future. In one way or another, we ask: what is my/our concern/s? What does God say to me/us about my/our concern/s? How am I/are we to apply the inspiration we receive and live according to God’s Word?

Worship, whether formal or informal, is critical to spiritual growth. It is unfortunate when the routine of tradition anesthetizes people to such an important process. Next to prayer, which is part of an overall worship experience, reclaiming worship is one of the most important challenges of our modern age.

Northbrae provides opportunity for worship and resources for spiritual growth. While rooted in the Christian tradition, our worship services draw from the rich resources of world religious traditions. Every Sunday morning at 10:30, our congregation gathers in the chapel for fellowship, sharing, music, and inspirational thoughts. Children and young adults leave for Sunday School mid-service.

Our Spirituality and Worship Focus Group plans events from time to time to share experiences of spiritual growth.

Worship (within community) and a personal spiritual discipline (in private) such as meditation affords a “time-out” to “tune-in.” Our purpose in worship is to (1) build inner peace, (2) motivate compassion, and (3) realign life’s priorities by encouraging a spiritual perspective. Ideally, regular worship (along with a good spiritual discipline) enables our centers to hold. There are several things we seek to accomplish in our worship service:

Enable a community rich in fellowship and warm friendliness

Provide opportunity to blend voices in hymn and praise

Share our joys and concerns one with another

Share quality religious music

Offer inspirational thoughts.

We structure this in an Order of Worship that seeks to express the spiritual journey as inclusive of all religions while remaining true to the Christian tradition. We recite the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday, a rich resource for spiritual formation in itself.

Northbrae Community Church

-- an open, affirming, and inclusive church

Our Worship