about... our Worship
Plan a visit! - - - 10:30am Sundays
This church is like family. The feel here is informal and relaxed. After every service most people linger to talk while eating the day's snacks and drinking coffee.
In our worship time you'll hear reading from the Bible and guidance for understanding and applying the word. We take time for prayer. People are often invited to share their ideas and experience, but there's no pressure to do so. We sing a mix of classic hymns, familiar praise choruses, and new songs. On 1st & 3rd Sundays we share Communion, the Lord's Supper, for all who want to receive.
Gatherings for worship happen to sustain the scattered mission of the church outside of the large gathering. Regular and rhythmic times of congregating remind us of the bigger story we are in, reinforcing why we live the missional life we do.
about... our Pastor: Craig Nissen
Pastor Nissen answered the call to serve at Calvary in 2019, along with his wife and two youngest sons. This is Craig's third call after previously serving congregations in Iowa and Minnesota. Prior to being ordained as a Lutheran Pastor in 2008, Craig had a long career in youth & camp ministry.
As a preacher he aims to be down to earth, connect conversationally, and let the Bible speak. You will find him out in the community and (in summer) often working in the community garden behind Calvary's building. In winter, most of his free-time goes to supporting (and feeding) his young hockey playing sons. Year-round he keeps dating his best friend and beautiful wife, Christen.
about... What We Believe
We are Lutheran, and are clearly taught by that theological and cultural tradition. At the same time we do not claim that we, or the Lutheran tradition in general, have the perfect understanding or presentation of the gospel or the mystery of God. We prize our heritage and aim to prioritize what is merely Christian by working cooperatively with all who follow Jesus.
This congregation confesses the Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This congregation confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
We humbly confess that we are bound to sin and cannot free ourselves. We sin against God in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by things we have left undone. But on account of the Son, Jesus the Christ, we ask God to have mercy on us. We trust God to forgive us, renew us and lead us.
This congregation accepts the canonical scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.
This congregation accepts the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of this congregation.
This congregation accepts the confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.
We believe the Church is the universal assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. The Church exists both as an inclusive fellowship and as local congregations gathered for worship and Christian service. Congregations find their fulfillment in the universal community of the Church, and the universal Church exists in and through congregations.
For more information about what Lutherans believe, click here (Luther House of Study), or here (Patheos Lutheran page).
Pastors can teach theology and faith practices, explain church history, and certainly be a significant mentor; but a family shows a child what it is to be a Christian, and it takes a congregation to teach what it is to be 'church.' All members of Calvary, when they joined or were confirmed in their faith, confess these intentions: "to live among God's faithful people, to hear his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth." We fail at this, we confess that, and trust God to forgive us, renew us, and lead us - so that we can delight in God's will and walk in Jesus' ways to the glory of God.
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who produces them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good," (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).
about... our name: Calvary
The significance of the name Calvary, for our church, is the association with the cross, and the death of Jesus Christ. We are called to be people of the cross as well as people of the resurrection. Jesus told his followers to "take up your cross and follow me." We believe the way of the cross is a life of obedience: sacrifice, service to God, putting others first.
The name Calvary occurs only once in the Bible, and only in the King James Version, which reads "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him" (LUKE 23:33). Other versions of the Bible say "the place which is called The Skull" — κρανιον (kranion).
The other gospels also call the place where Jesus was crucified The Skull, but they additionally offer the Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent: Golgotha (MATTHEW 27:33, MARK 15:22, JOHN 19:17). The crucifixion of our Lord took place outside the city walls ( Hebrews 13:11-13 ) and near the public thoroughfare. "This thing was not done in a corner."
The name Calvary is a transliteration of the Latin word calvaria, as used in the Latin version of the Bible. It has the same meaning as the Greek word κρανιον (kranion), namely that of skull (of a human or an animal — hence our English word "cranium").
The Hebrew noun גלגלת (gulgoleth), from whence comes the name Golgotha, also means skull or head.
There is so much more to say about this, but we offer these Bible verses for starting points:
1st John 4:10
In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped [held on to for advantage], but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Mark 15:37-39
And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”