Worship is at the core of what we do as the Church. We gather at Redeemer every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. to worship God and celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Holy Eucharist) with Word and Sacrament. Our worship is based on the traditions of the early Church, as developed over the ages in the Western Liturgy, and enriched by the Lutheran hymns of the Reformation. Because our congregation reflects the rich diversity of our community, we also incorporate new hymns and worship traditions from around the world in our worship, to celebrate our global heritage and mission. We use Evangelical Lutheran Worship as our primary worship book and hymnal. We also draw on hymns and liturgies from With One Voice and This Far By Faith (African American hymnal), which provide us with a great variety of hymns from around the world. In addition to holy communion on Sunday morning, we also make use of other liturgies and forms of worship, including Rite of Healing, Evening Prayer (Vespers), and Compline (Prayer at the Close of Day). During Advent and Lent services of Evening Prayer are held on Wednesday evenings. During Holy Week we observe the Sacred Three Days (Triduum) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday (the Great Vigil of Easter). We observe the Rite of Laying on of Hands and Anointing with Oil for Healing most Sundays immediately following the Holy Communion service, at 11:15 a.m. We celebrate church feast days and commemorations of the saints with festival liturgies, with processions of torches, banners, and choirs, led by the cross and often including incense. The celebration of festivals allows many persons, children, youth, and adults, to participate in worship leadership – by carrying banners, torches, and cross, or by reading scripture, leading prayers, and serving communion. Our adult, youth, and handbell choirs provide the musical leadership in our worship.