Eternal Joy MCC

Eternal Joy Metropolitan Community Church holds Sunday morning worship services at 10:30 a.m. Our style of worship is a balance between a traditional or “liturgical” style and a more contemporary style. By this we mean that our worship contains elements of both styles of worship. We do this to reflect the wideness of God’s love and the wide diversity within our congregation. The people who make up Eternal Joy MCC come from a wide variety of ethnic, religious, economic, sexual and class backgrounds. In our worship we strive always to reflect and honor this rich heritage. Generally, people dress casually for worship.

Clergy wear robes or vestments, and our regular Sunday worship always includes Holy Communion. The GLBT community has long been turned away from and denied a place at God’s table, but no more. At Eternal Joy MCC, everyone is welcome to receive Holy Communion. Everyone has a place at God’s table; no one will be turned away or denied. You don’t have to be a member of Eternal Joy or any church to partake of the generous gifts of God. During Communion we offer a short prayer of blessing for those who desire it after they consume the communion elements of bread and juice.

Our worship also includes uplifting music from a variety of styles: Traditional hymns, contemporary worship choruses and songs, and even African American and Hispanic music. During worship, Scripture is often read in Spanish as well as English.

Preaching is not the focus of our worship; it is one part of a whole worship experience. Our preaching is unlike any other preaching you may have heard, and it’s certainly unlike anything you’ll hear on television! While many preachers seek to condemn, blame, and shame people, our weekly messages are designed to do the opposite—inspire you, lift you and build you up. Weekly messages at Eternal Joy are relevant to today’s situations and issues. They’re thought-provoking and always feature ways you can take what you’ve learned and apply it to your own life circumstances.

2. We believe in the power of diverse expressions of worship that utilize all the senses in glorifying God. We are called to stretch our comfort zones and experience a variety of worship styles.

3. Worship is a corporate act. We gather as the body of Christ to praise God and experience the rites and sacraments of the church as acts of worship.

4. Worship is symbolic and our theology is expressed through words, music, movement and visual symbols.

5. We strive for excellence in worship. We want to proclaim the gospel with confidence, consistency and through movement.

6. Mutuality is a philosophical value of worship. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. It is the faith of the community that consecrates the communion elements not the person who tells the story. The role of clergy staff is to guide, empower and equip all people for worship.

We believe that worship has the power to convey the immediate presence of God to the community. We believe that we, the church, are instruments of God’s love to one another.