Category: News and Events

Holy Cross Lutheran Church, a Christian community, seeks a motivated and joyful person of faith to lead the musical portions of our worship experiences. Visit the Holy Cross website at www.holycrossabq.org for more information about Holy Cross Lutheran Church.

Please send cover letter and resume by January 25, 2025 to schedule an interview to:
Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 6901 Wyoming Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or via email to kathy.rochau@comcast.net.

Title: Music Minister
Reports To: Congregational Council
Supervisor: Pastor
Compensation: $13,300 (negotiable according to education, experience and qualifications)
Qualifications: Proficiency in any of the following: piano, piano and organ, piano and choir direction, or all of the above.

Primary Duties

• Accompany weekly worship on Sundays at 9:30 am with a special focus on enabling congregational singing, incorporating the musical gifts of all people (including rehearsal time as needed), and seeking creative ways to incorporate young people into worship
• These same duties for special worship days such as Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Christmas Eve
• Four weeks of paid time off on Sundays for vacation and 2 weeks of paid time off for continuing education.
• Direct, accompany, and rehearse with our vocal choir (8-10 members) one evening per week for 90 minutes and Sundays 9:00 to 9:20 AM during the school year
• Rehearse with Riverside Brass Ensemble 1 hour per week as needed (optional)
• Participate in worship planning with the Pastor and volunteers (optional)
• Demonstrate motivation and initiative through consistent collaboration with people and creative musical experiences for worship

Mark your calendars now and plan to join us for Holy Week at Holy Cross! Scroll below to check out all the happenings of Holy Week, and plan to join us as you are able. Peace to you today, and we look forward to journeying with you through Holy Week to the joy of Easter Day!!

Scroll below for detailed information for each worship experience. You will find the Zoom link for all services here.

I look forward to a journey through Holy Week with you!

The Great and Holy Week
Saint Augustine (354-430 CE) called Holy Week the “Great Week” because of the powerful things God accomplished during these days. Today, followers of God continue to journey through Holy Week—Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Day—to remember and celebrate God’s action through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, as well as to claim that God’s story of resurrection becomes our story of new life every day.

On this day we take our place with all who gathered around Jesus as he made his entry into the city of Jerusalem to suffer and die, those initially gathered around Jesus were hungering and thirsting for transformation in their lives and in the world. Alongside all who gathered then, we gather today to wave palms of welcome and cry out “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” We long for Jesus to enter our lives today to bring the blessing and peace which only God can bring.

Maundy is the English form of the Latin mandatum, from the “mandatum novum,” or the new commandment that Jesus gives on the night he is betrayed and handed over: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (John 13:34) On this day we read the story of Jesus’ final meal with his followers before he was crucified. At this meal Jesus models God’s self-giving love by washing the feet of those who were gathered. This action becomes our call to mission as the people of God, to love one another as Jesus loves us.

In ancient times this day was called the Triumph of the Cross. English speakers now call the day Good (originally “God’s” Friday) because we believe that through Jesus’ death on the cross, all receive the good gifts of salvation, eternal life, and daily resurrection reality. On this day the focal point of the worship experience is an extended and interactive reading of the passion of Jesus from one of the four Gospels. This passion narrative—the story of the betrayal, arrest, mockery, suffering, crucifixion and burial of Jesus—delivers the good news of God’s self-giving love which transforms us and the world. The worship experience concludes when at the foot of the life-giving cross we pray for everyone and everything on earth and engage in a liturgy of reverence for the cross on which hung Christ, the savior of the whole world.

Christians consider Easter to be the “first day.” From Easter comes the practice of worshiping on Sunday morning. It is the first day of the week. It is also the first day of new creation, sometimes called the “eighth day” of the week, for on it Christ restored the image of God in the human and in so doing also brought restoration and renewal to all of creation. The Easter season proceeds from and celebrates this first day. In the resurrected Christ, there is time after the end, life after death, restoration of what was broken, the brightening of what had gone dark. In the fifty days of Easter, Christian communities around the world strive to worship God in a way that illustrates that the body of Christ lives now in the heavenly places and also in the gathered body in the world. Worship is where heaven and earth meet. (this description of Easter Day comes from Sundays and Seasons)

Shrove Tuesday is the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday, named historically after the “Shriving” (confession and absolution) of Christians on this day that precedes the penitential season of Lent.  This is the feast before the fast! 

Join us for a pancake dinner at the church at 6pm on February 13. Pancakes and syrup will be provided, but please bring something to share!

We will also be working on the creation of ashes via the burning of Palms from last year’s Palm Sunday at 6 pm.

I hope to see you there!

Hybrid–On-Site and via Zoom (use the Sunday worship link on the website)

While Advent is a season of hope and Christmas is a season of joy, not everyone feels hopeful or like celebrating. Grief, illness, aging, depression, loneliness, unemployment, and loss are magnified. Even those who are not struggling with losses may feel the stress of preparations and expectations around Christmas time. 

The winter solstice, December 21, is the longest night and the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere.

A few days after that many of us will gather to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord, the arrival of Jesus Christ, God in human form. December 25 is celebrated as Christmas because it had been incorrectly identified as the winter solstice. What the early Christians intended for this feast was not a birthday party for baby Jesus but rather a feast of proclamation. God arrives by way of deep darkness. Christians wanted to tell the world that God, the maker of the cosmos, chose to lovingly draw near to our broken world by way of a human birth on the longest night of the year. God’s love for us goes deep and does not fade or change with the seasons. It is richer and more plentiful than the darkness of night, blazing brighter than the noonday sun of late June.

For many, the lack of daylight intensifies other suffering. The weight of depression grows heavier when light is scarce. We get stressed out when our calendars fill with extra social obligations. We fear interactions with family members that have been difficult in the past. What an opportunity, then, to share that the message of Christmas is specifically sent for those in pain and suffering. It is not that “all is merry and bright.” Rather, it is the abiding truth that God seeks to be with us, even when we are “blue.”

Join us on Wednesday, December 13^th at 6 pm for a worship experience of music, prayer, readings from the Bible, and a brief reflection on God’s arrival by way of deep darkness.

In times of heightened tension, division, and expressions of hate, faith and spiritual communities have a vital role to play in being stewards of resilience, collective courage, and creating braver space in the presence of difference. At the same time, faith communities – like any gathering of people – can also be places where we avoid hard conversations and discomfort, instead of leaning into vulnerability, risk, and the authentic relationships we need.

The People’s Supper is an adaptable resource that provides an opportunity for communities from all religious traditions to do what they do best: bring people together for fellowship, renewal, good food, and the chance to go beneath the surface to explore the struggles and stories that make up our lives.

Pastor Rhonda Newby-Torres at Luther House UNM and CNM noted in a recent letter about this community that Luther House participants are people who have been historically marginalized.

Join us on Wednesday, December 6^th at 6 pm, bring something to share (homemade or store-bought is just fine), and be ready for faith sharing questions that explore differences and common ground around our Christian faith over a shared meal together.