Rooted in Faith, Growing in Service
Join us on Sundays
at 10:00 am
Welcome to Holy Cross Lutheran Church
What We Believe
You may have had a bad experience with church or religion when growing up. We welcome skeptics and those who struggle with faith or organized religion. It can be hard to move beyond childhood religion to one that makes sense in today’s world. Wherever you are in your spiritual life, you are welcome at Holy Cross.
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Our theology reflects the Lutheran emphasis on grace, and the need for continuing reformation of the Church as it seeks ways to speak the gospel powerfully to contemporary culture. God’s love is an unconditional gift for all people. Through the work of Jesus Christ – his life, death, and resurrection – the shackles of guilt, shame, and death no longer have a claim on our personhood and our identity. In Jesus, we are beloved children of God, cherished by our Creator and sustained each day through the care of the Holy Spirit.
We live in the physical world and God speaks to us through physical ways. Not surprisingly, God chose very physical ways to share the grace with us:
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Jesus is God’s Word, God’s living message to us all. When we, as embodied people, proclaim Jesus’ good news, we continue to pass on that message for all people. The Bible also points to this good news, as it leads us to Christ.
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God also speaks to us through the physical messages of the sacraments. Baptism (water + the promise) and Holy Communion (bread & wine + the promise) are both physical reminders of God’s grace and places where Jesus promised to be present for us in a saving way.
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The people of God, imperfect as we are, form a community where we can also experience this grace of God. In welcome, compassion, and fellowship, we strive to live out Jesus’ example of embodied love.
Holy Cross Lutheran Church follows the doctrine set by the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in America
The ELCA confesses the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In our preaching and teaching the ELCA trusts the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
ELCA teaching or theology serves the proclamation and ministry of this faith. It does not have an answer for all questions, not even all religious questions. Teaching or theology prepares members to be witnesses in speech and in action of God’s rich mercy in Jesus Christ.
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Scriptures, Creeds and Confessions
The ELCA’s official Confession of Faith identifies the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (commonly called the Bible); the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds; and the Lutheran confessional writings in the Book of Concord as the basis for our teaching. ELCA congregations make the same affirmation in their governing documents, and ELCA pastors promise to preach and teach in accordance with these teaching sources. This Confession of Faith is more than just words in an official document. Every Sunday in worship ELCA congregations hear God’s word from the Scriptures, pray as Jesus taught and come to the Lord’s Table expecting to receive the mercies that the Triune God promises. Throughout the week ELCA members continue to live by faith, serving others freely and generously in all that they do because they trust God’s promise in the Gospel. In small groups and at sick beds, in private devotions and in daily work, this faith saturates all of life.
Teaching for a Life of Faith
This connection to all of life is the clearest demonstration of the authority that the canonical Scriptures, the ecumenical Creeds and the Lutheran Confessions have in the ELCA. The Holy Spirit uses these witnesses to create, strengthen and sustain faith in Jesus Christ and the life we have in him. That life-giving work continues every day, as Martin Luther explained in the Small Catechism: the Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”
Join Our Community
Interested in learning more about to join the community of faith at Holy Cross Lutheran Church?