Sunday mornings at 9:30am
St. John is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and practices a traditional style of worship, using the services from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship Book the first, second and fourth Sundays of each month and the With One Voice worship service on the third and fifth Sundays of the month. Holy Communion is offered each Sunday to any person who accepts Jesus Christ as the Savior. Music is an important part of worship at St. John with an adult choir and bell choir, a children’s bell choir and flute accompaniment to enhance worship. St. John encourages member participation in worship in many ways.
Music Ministry
St. John Lutheran Church has an active music ministry. We are a musical congregation, with numerous opportunities for participation by our members.
The St. John Choir, under the direction of long-time director Anita Misun, offers a musical gift to the Lord and the congregation almost every Sunday. Selections range from classic hymns to contemporary songs and all voices are welcome. The St. John Choir meets for rehearsals once a week, and sings from September through the end of May.
An additional musical opportunity available is the St. John Glory Ringers bell choir. We are fortunate to have received the donation of 3 octaves of handbells, together with the complementary hand chimes. Under the direction of Dale Allen, the St. John Glory Ringers perform monthly, from October through May. Rehearsals are held weekly, and all members are welcome regardless of their musical experience. If you can count, you can play the bells.
While the St. John choirs are on summer break, we are lucky to have members willing to share their talents with the congregation as musical offerings. All members are invited to share solos and small ensemble pieces, both vocal and instrumental.
Coffee Hour Fellowship
Immediately following our worship service each Sunday, congregation members and visitors gather in the Fellowship Hall adjoining our worship area to enjoy coffee, treats and fellowship. An important part of St. John Lutheran Church is the strong friendships formed by our members. Coffee is made prior to worship by a member of St. John and treats are provided by volunteers on a rotation basis.
Worship Ministries
St. John’s dedicated volunteers are an integral part of our worship services. Below are various opportunities to serve before and during worship. Contact the Church Office at 262.377.0410, with questions or if interested in arranging a training session.
St. John Lutheran Church is a warm and welcoming congregation. We provide greeters at both entrances prior to Sunday morning worship service who offer a smile and greeting to all who come for worship. Greeters engage guests in conversation, give them a guest card to fill it out, a Welcome Bag to take home and offer to answer any questions the guest may have.
Greeters serve on a rotation schedule and training is provided. YOU can share God’s love in welcoming and inclusive hospitality to all who come through our doors.
Usher teams consisting of 4 members - male, female, child or adult - are invited to serve on a rotation basis. Duties include:
- Arrive 30 minutes prior to time of service to unlock doors, turn up heat/air conditioning, turn lights on, shovel snow if necessary
- Hand out bulletins
- Assist those needing help to their seats
- Distribute collection plates during offering
- Usher congregants to the communion rail
St. John Lutheran Church welcomes any member who wishes to serve as a scripture reader (called a lector) to read two bible scriptures during worship services. Training and help with word pronunciation are provided. It’s an honor to share God’s Word with the congregation.
Any confirmed member of St. John Lutheran Church is eligible to volunteer to assist in the distribution of communion wine during the worship service. Training is provided for this meaningful way to assist in Sunday worship.
We welcome solo singers, accompanied by the organ, to lead in singing the Psalmody responsively with the congregation between the first and second readings each Sunday.
At St. John Lutheran Church members of the congregation present the Communion Elements (Communion wafers and wine) during worship on Sunday mornings.
“Do this in remembrance of me”
With these words ringing in our ears, we celebrate communion during worship each Sunday. As we eat the bread and drink from the cup, we reflect on Christ’s sacrifice and look forward to His return. Volunteers serve on a scheduled rotation basis. New volunteers are always welcome to help in this meaningful way.
The St. John Altar Guild is a group of members who serve St. John Congregation by preparing the chancel, nave and altar for worship services. The group is divided into teams that take care of the following tasks on a rotation schedule:
- Prepare the altar for Sunday Worship, Communion, Baptisms, Funerals, Weddings, Holidays
- Keep altar candles filled with oil
- Clean up following communion services
- Change altar paraments and banners as needed
- Launder and repair robes and communion linens
- Purchase needed supplies
Volunteers
St. John’s dedicated volunteers make it possible to celebrate communion during worship every Sunday. New team members are always welcome and will be trained – what a great family, husband/wife or youth project to provide a necessary component of worship services. Training is provided.
Contact the church office at 262.377.0410 or stjohnsecretary@hotmail.com
Complimentary Worship Services
Taizé is a monastic community located in Taizé, France, founded in the 1940s by a Swiss named Roger Louis Schütz-Marsauche, familiarly called Brother Roger. A Taizé worship service involves sung and chanted prayers, meditation, periods of silence, liturgical readings and lit candles. There is no preaching. Repetition is an important part of Taize worship because the service is about contemplation and being in touch with God and our spirituality. Silence is also an important part of the Taize service. At planned times, the music ceases and allows the congregation to contemplate what they have just been singing and saying. “It is simply holding oneself in a presence and letting Christ, through the Holy Spirit, pray in us,” according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Taize worship services at St. John are held on the second Wednesday of each of the months of January, February and June through November at 7:00 pm. All are welcome to experience this alternative form of worship.
Healing Services are offered three times per year at St. John (March, June, and October). Gathered by the Holy Spirit around Jesus Christ, the Word of salvation, we pray for God's healing in all its dimensions. Personal prayer and a sign of healing --- the laying on of hands, which is accompanied by anointing with oil --- are offered to all. In its ministry of healing, the church does not replace the gifts of God that come through the scientific community nor does it promise a cure. Rather, the church offers and celebrates gifts such as these: God's presence with strength and comfort in time of suffering, God's promise of wholeness and peace, and God's love embodied in the community of faith.
Ash Wednesday – Ash Wednesday is a solemn day of prayer that begins the season of Lent. On this day we, at St. John Lutheran Church, confess our sin in a litany of repentance. During Lent's forty days we are invited to carry out the Lenten discipline, practices of fasting, prayer, and works of love. On this day we receive the sign of ashes. This ancient symbol of repentance reminds us of our mortality. Returning to God's mercy and grace, marked with the cross of Christ, we make our way through Lent, longing for the baptismal waters of Easter, our spiritual rebirth.
Wednesday Lenten Supper and Worship -- In the five weeks of the Lenten season, following Ash Wednesday, here at St. John Lutheran Church, we continue to worship every Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. We worship using the Holden Evening Prayer Service. Written in 1985-1986 by Marty Haugen, the musician-in-residence at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in Washington State, this lovely setting of vespers follows the traditional form while using contemporary and inclusive language. Contents include "Service of Light," Evening Hymn-"Joyous Light of Heav'nly Glory," "Evening Thanksgiving," "The Annunciation," "The Magnificat," "Litany and Prayers," and "Final Blessing." This contemplative form of worship prepares our hearts for the coming death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
Lenten Suppers --- Preceding each Lenten worship service, we gather around a simple meal at 5:45 p.m. and give thanks to God for our many blessings.........and enjoy the myriad of benefits from food and fellowship.
Palm Sunday --- On this day, united with Christians around the world, we, at St. John Lutheran Church, mark Jesus' triumphant entry into the holy city of Jerusalem to complete the work of our salvation. In the Palm Sunday Gospel reading we hear the passion narrative of Jesus' suffering, death, and burial for our sake.
Maundy Thursday --- On this night we begin the Three Days during which we participate once again in the saving power of Jesus' passing over from death into life. This service includes the words of Jesus new commandment to love one another. On this night in which Jesus was handed over to death we also gather around the Lord's Supper to receive Holy Communion. At the service's conclusion, the altar area is stripped of furnishings as a sign of remembrance of Jesus' abandonment.
Good Friday --- The Good Friday service continues the journey through the Three Days of Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection. As Jesus draws all people to himself, we, at St. John Lutheran Church, pray for the whole world for which Christ died. Finally, we honor the cross as the sign of forgiveness, healing, and salvation.
We at St. John Lutheran Church (ELCA) have an Easter Sunday worship service celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whom, we believe, God raised from the dead 3 days after he was crucified and killed for the sins of the world. God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead to show us that who Jesus was, and what he said and did, is the Way of God in the world ever since!
Easter worship is at the usual Sunday time of 9:30 a.m. with vocal choir, bell choir, Resurrection readings, a message of hope, and the sacrament of Holy Communion to celebrate the presence of the risen Christ let loose by God in the world! Many songs celebrating Christ’s rising from the dead are sung as well! All are welcome! Our holy communion practice is to welcome all who believe in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the sacrament, regardless of denominational affiliation. Christ invites all who are willing to receive his forgiving presence in this way!
Easter worship is preceded by a traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and juice, to which anyone is invited!
A few Sundays each summer, St. John Congregation worships outdoors in the Peace Garden, located within a fenced area on the south side of our building. Worshipping outdoors allows members and guests to worship our Creator in Creation.
While not a Christian observance --- here at St. John Lutheran Church, we gather with three other ELCA congregations on the Eve of Thanksgiving to offer general thanksgiving to God for all goodness to us and to all that God has made. We praise God for all of creation, for keeping us and all things in His care, and for all Blessings of life. This Thanksgiving worship is hosted alternately by these 4 ELCA congregations: Faith Lutheran Church Cedarburg, Trinity Lutheran Church Cedarburg, Immanuel Lutheran Church Cedarburg and St. John Lutheran Church Grafton.
In preparation for the birth of our Lord and Savior, St. John Lutheran Church holds worship services each of the four Wednesdays prior to Christmas. Setting 5 of the With One Voice Lutheran hymnal is used for these services that are held at 7:00pm.
The St. John Christmas Eve worship service, every Dec. 24th , is normally held in the early evening around 5:00 p.m. Our worship experience always has at least 3 elements: The sacrament of Holy Communion, a candlelight service, and lots of Christmas carol singing. Christmas scripture readings are definitely included, along with a Christmas message. There is a praise like atmosphere of thanking God for coming into the world as a child, to become one of us and one with our humanity, in order to save us and the world!
On Christmas day, we also have a communion service with additional, yet alternate Christmas readings, and once again, the singing of many Christmas carols that people find meaningful. We at St. John hold one of the few Christmas day worship services in our area meeting at 9:30 a.m. December 25th.