Worship at LPPC
We offer two different opportunities for worship on Sunday mornings, September through May. We encourage church members and friends to choose whichever service they desire to attend. Child care for infants through age 5 is available in our Nursery from 10:30 am until noon.
Early Service at 8:15 am
An informal early service is held at 8:15am in the Upper Room of the church. This early service is shorter in length, without a choir, and does not have greeters. It's a simpler and more intimate service. Just come on in and join us. The Upper Room was recently renovated back to a chapel and meeting space. It was the sanctuary of the church built in the 1930s to replace the old Mission School, and was used for that purpose until the building of the current sanctuary in 1984.
Formal Service at 10:30 am
The formal worship is held at 10:30 am in the sanctuary. This service is longer than the Early Service, with the Chancel Choir performing. Children are welcome to join us. After the Children's Sermon, the older children will be invited to go to Sunday School and our young ones under age 5 to the nursery.
Communion is served the first Sunday of every month at both services. We serve grape juice instead of wine so that all may partake.
Summer Schedule: During the summer months of June, July and August, we hold one service at 9:15am in the Sanctuary with special music provided by guests, as the choir is on summer break. Check the calendar for exact dates.
Missed a service? Going out of town? The Sunday service is recorded each week and edited onto a CD. Most sermons are located on this website (click here) or there are free copies of recent worship services on a table in the Fellowship Hall, or you may use a sign up book to receive past or future dates of your choice.
For the Hearing Impaired: Our sanctuary is equipped with a public address system for the hearing impaired. It operates on a radio frequency which is transmitted to special assisted hearing devices that are available for use during the service. Please ask the greeters or sound technician for this equipment as you enter the sanctuary.
Our Spanish Heritage: In honor of our congregation's Spanish heritage, we include Spanish elements in the liturgy in every service. The Spanish hymn is usually from the red hymn book. An English translation of the lesson read in Spanish is printed in the bulletin.
Outdoor Worship: Once a year, we try to hold a Sunday morning worship service at the Sandia Conference Grounds up in the Sandia mountains, weather and fire hazard permitting. Afterward everyone stays for a picnic lunch. Please watch this page for the scheduled Outdoor Worship service for this year!
Lenten Season
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the 40 days that precedes Holy Week and Easter. In the Christian Scriptures the number 40 relates to the period spent in the Ark by Noah, the period spent by Israel seeking the Promised Land after the Exodus, and the amount of time Jesus was in the Wilderness after his baptism and prior to beginning his ministry.
For us, the Season of Lent is an invitation to 40 days of renewal ("Lent" means "spring"), 40 days to prepare ourselves to take in the Good News of Easter. The three traditional practices to be taken up for renewal during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbor). Today, people give up something they enjoy, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to the church or other organizations.
We will use the Lenten Season to review “Learning Forgiveness", a Lenten Bible Study during Adult Forum, Sunday mornings beginning February 21 through March 2 at 9:15 am. Pastor Elizabeth will be leading a five part study on the nature of forgiveness
Easter and
Holy Week Services
March 28: Palm Sunday with Traditional Palm Sunday procession begins outside at 10:15 am, followed by worship with communion. The Chancel Choir will perform special music. The Youth will be delivering their previously ordered Sees Candy, supporting their Mission Project.
April 1: Maundy Thursday Communion & Tennebrae Service, 7:00 pm.
April 2: Good Friday Prayer Service, 12:00 pm noon in the Upper Room.
April 4: Easter Sunday
Please join us at one of our Worship Services on Easter Sunday morning - the "One Great Hour of Sharing" offering will be received
6:30 am Sunrise service
8:15 am Contemplative service
10:30 am Traditional service (including Dressing of the Cross)
11:30 am Easter Dinner immediately follows main service. Ham will be provided - please bring a potluck (casserole or salad) to share. The children's Easter Egg Hunt will take place immediately following.
Eco-Palms on Palm Sunday:
On Palm Sunday, March 28, we will be again using Eco-Palms—a way of protecting vital rainforests in Guatemala and Mexico. It also means increased family and community income, health insurance for harvesters, scholarships that allow young women and girls to attend school, vendors that bring nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables, and healthcare providers that give much needed medical care.
Palm fronds come from the rain forests of southern Mexico and Guatemala, gathered by xaterros, workers from small indigenous communities who walk many miles into the forests to gather palms. Typically they are paid by the volume, which means they go through the forests and gather as many palms as they can, regardless of quality. It results in over half of the palms eventually being discarded.
Eco-Palms contracts directly with the xaterros and pays them by the quality of the palm fronds. So they gather less, which is good for the forests, and get paid more per palm, which is good for families & communities. In fact, xaterros who gather for Eco-Palms make 5 to 6 times more profit than those who contract with large floral companies.
Please click here for more information on Eco-Palms and PC(USA) work with Eco-Palms.
LPPC Music Program
Our Chancel Choir: There is no better location to listen to the outstanding performances of the LPPC Chancel Choir than the acoustically superb sanctuary of LPPC. Our Chancel Choir sings at the 10:30 am service every Sunday, September through May. They rehearse every Thursday night at 7:00 pm and before each service on Sunday morning.
Our new Music Director, Jeff Brown, began directing our choir in March 2010. The choir is accompanied on the piano our wonderful accompanist, Mindy Sampson. Everyone who wants to share their vocal talents with the congregation is welcome!
In addition to singing at 10:30 am on Sunday services, the Chancel Choir performs special programs including the Ellingboe Requiem Mass, The Seven Last Words of Christ, The Messiah, Vivaldi's Gloria, Fauré's Requiem, and Navidad Nuestra. Some of these performances are available on CD. Call the church office at 867-5718 for more information.
Christmas Season 2009
On December 20, 2009, the LPPC Chancel Choir performed "Christmas Cantata of Lessons and Carols" led by our Choir Director, Susan Passell and accompanied by Mindy Sampson on piano. Please click here to hear the performance and service from December 20th.
It was an outstanding performance by all who participated and a holiday tradition we are very thankful to have at LPPC. Thank you all for your incredibly hard work!
"In Recognition of the Choir'
Creating God, whose voice sang the world into being,
Who brought your people from bondage to the strains of Miriam’s song,
Whose prophets boldly sang the words of the Spirit in the face of power,
We thank you for creating, in this place, the Spirit’s song.
Compassionate God, who entered our world to the song of the angels,
Who chanted in the synagogue, amazing the teachers with your wisdom,
Who sang on that last night, a hymn with your disciples,
We praise you that in the ups and downs of life, your song is our example.
Breath of God, who fell in the sound of wind upon the Church,
Who composes for each of us a gift to offer to the world,
Who calls us forward toward the oneness of a choir of saints,
We worship you as your music flows through our lives in love.
And now, Singing God, especially for this group,
Who gather faithfully to strengthen and share the gift of song,
Who lift our spirits weekly with anthems of praise,
We ask your blessing upon this choir as they scatter for a season. Amen.
Special Music: LPPC is blessed with a congregation of church members who have incredible, musical talents! Many of them share those talents with us in vocal as well as multiple instrumental performances throughout the year. Periodically, we will have special women's choirs and men's choir join together for a special performance.
The Placitas Artist Series has performances throughout the year at LPPC on
scheduled Sunday afternoons. The sanctuary has wonderful acoustics, facilitating the enjoyment of
the beautiful voices and music these artists perform for the community.
All performances are open to the community and often have a reception for
the artist before the concert. Please check the church calendar or
click here for
the PAS website for their performance schedule.
Hispano Singers: The Hispano Religious Singers consists of several local folks who sing only in Spanish about every few months. Beside singing, Willie S. plays the guitar for the group. Their ministry has played a very important role in the history of our church and we are blessed they continue to perform for the community.
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Children's Choir: The children of LPPC give several performances led by Nancy W. For the holiday season, Nancy begins in November, working with the Sunday School students to teach them a song for our Christmas Pageant. Please click here for photos of the 2009 Christmas Pageant.
We are always in need of individuals willing to share the ministry of music with the younger members of our congregation! Please see our Children's Ministry page or contact the church office if you are interested at 867-5718.
Worship Flowers and Luminaries
Twice during the year, before Easter and Christmas, we decorate the sanctuary with potted flowers to celebrate the coming holiday: poinsettias decorate during the Christmas season and lilies grace the sanctuary on Easter Sunday.
In honor of New Mexico tradition, at Christmas, we also light luminaries
(small candles, stayed in sand within small paper bags) outside of the
church to symbolize the fires that were lit by shepherds to mark the path to see the
Baby Jesus.
Both the flowers and luminaries are funded by donations made by congregants who are purchasing the them in honor, in memory and in celebration of someone special or a special occasion. Costs vary from year to year. Please listen for announcements made regarding the upcoming holiday celebration!