Worship at Calvary Lutheran Church, Rio Rancho, is formal, reverent, and distinctively Lutheran. It is our hope that this website’s text conveys that clearly. We want to make a clear confession that worship is this congregation’s central feature. God’s love is most clearly demonstrated when He distributes His gifts of Word and Sacrament to the body of Christ in the Divine Service.
Formal
The liturgy, not the clothing!
The liturgy is not dependent upon what the people wear or even what WE DO. The liturgy itself is formal. That means that it is planned and deliberate. The movements, furniture, readings, Psalms, and Hymns all have rich meaning. The Liturgy is not spontaneous. That means that it is formal in its tone, and that it takes up topics of the utmost importance and eternal consequence.
The sermons tend toward formality also, though there is attention paid to where our Lord meets us here in this world. The Word of God is preached through Law and Gospel, revealing that we are sinful and in need of saving, and that God has sent a Savior in the God/Man Jesus Christ to shed His blood for us. The pastor prepares all week for the sermons with deliberate study. He always seeks to be relevant and preach sermons that are contemporary to the needs of the people, taking note of what is going on in the culture around us.
Reverent
Our worship is not a show to be done in the sight of men. The point is not pomp and circumstance. Rather, our ceremonies, standing, bowing, kneeling, and the like, are driven directly by our conviction that God Himself is present in His risen Body and Blood for us, that He speaks in His Word and the Absolution, and that He is paying close attention to our prayers.