The reformed service
of worship and the sacraments

On Sundays, the Lord’s Day, Reformed Protestants must stop working and gather to listen to the Word of God ; they worship him – in French – “in spirit and in truth”. People gathered in the church, and two church services were held each Sunday.

Morning worship was held according to Calvin’s liturgy. The pastor presided over the service, focusing on reading of the Bible and preaching on chosen texts. Many of Calvin’s sermons were kept. The congregation sang psalms in unison, with the wording of Clément Marot and Théodore de Bèze.

The afternoon service, for both adults and children, was based on Calvin’s catechism, presenting religious truths.

Baptism of young children – who thus entered into God’s covenant – was celebrated by the pastor at the end of the service, in the presence of the whole congregation.

According to the Geneva custom, the Lord’s Supper held four times a year : on Easter Sunday, on Whit Sunday, in September and at Christmas. The bread and the wine were distributed to the worshippers who had been taught the meaning of the sacrament. Those guilty of severe sins were momentarily refused the sacrament.

A new religious practice developed by Coligny and included in the Church discipline as from 1565, was characteristic of Reformed Protestants : morning and evening family worship.

The father of the family gathered all the members of the household together for prayers, saying thou to God. They sang a psalm and he read a chapter from the Bible.