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Welcome to
Worship!
Opportunities for Worship
As these days prove longer and harder for many of
us, our congregation is striving to ensure you have lots of opportunities
for the comfort and reassurance of God’s good news to find you!
Weekly worship
opportunities include:
Sundays and Mondays are available (and archived) at:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AdventLutheranMCC
Wednesdays are available (and archived) at:
https://www.facebook.com/madisonchristiancommunity/live
There are additional devotional resources and
connections available in the weekly congregational email, plus the prayers
and encouragements through the week of “+nick notes”—contact info@theMCC.net
if you’d like to be added to those lists.
Upcoming Sunday Schedule -
10:15 am
For Sunday services streamed online from
YouTube, you shouldn’t need any app or passwords or anything to download.
The bulletin is posted in a link below the video. Click
here for the Advent “channel.” Share the link and invite others to
worship with you!
If you have prayer requests or announcements including birthdays to be
shared in worship, please send them to Nick no later than 9:30 am on Sunday
morning at nick@theMCC.net
Advent in Advent
During the season of Advent, Sunday services from the Blessing Room at 10:15
will be built around a simple liturgy featuring memorable and much-loved
music from Advent and Christmas.
Shared MCC Advent Evening Prayer
At 6:30 on Wednesdays in December, join a half hour of some seasonal music
(both carols and from Holden Evening Prayer), devotional reflections,
interactive prayer practices, and more. You can find it at
https://www.facebook.com/madisonchristiancommunity/live or watch for a
Zoom link.
Advent Communion: Monday
Is Jesus present or absent? How about each other? Monday at 5pm have bread
and/or wine or grape juice ready, and we’ll celebrate a very brief (about 10
minute) communion service. You can join other faces on screen at this Zoom
link
Meeting ID: 811 0058 1855
Passcode: 246715
or participate through YouTube
livestream.
If you’d like our usual communion bread recipe, you can find
it here. And if you want to bake and share with others, let Nick know!
Additional Chances!
Remember that, even though we most encourage you to gather in worship at
10:15, the videos remain available at our YouTube channels afterward, so you
can go back and catch Holy Week services you missed, or join in with our
partner congregation’s worship for an MCC experience! Here is the YouTube
channel link:
Click here.
You can find sermon manuscripts from Pastor Nick here.
 Advent Worship Services
10:15 am During the School Year
9:30 am Summer Schedule
Weekly worship at Advent Lutheran
is a vibrant experience, engaging our passions and concerns and faithful
pondering, yet in a fairly casual setting with the sounds of children
constantly bubbling around us. Our worship is enriched by a wide variety of
volunteer musicians on piano, guitars, handchimes, congas, tambourine,
flute, banjo, voice, and an occasional harmonica. Our beautiful and
adaptable worship space in the Blessing Room is enhanced by designs from our
Liturgical Arts Team.
Services at Advent generally follow the historic liturgy of the church, and
Advent uses a wide variety of liturgies for worship:
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both new and “classic” settings from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, including the Spanish of setting 7
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Now the Feast
and Celebration by Marty Haugen
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the Earthkeeping liturgy by Dakota Road
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the old favorite Chicago Folk Mass
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plus some of our own creations, like the African Song celebration (with drumming), a setting composed by our own Tom Hind, a Creation-oriented liturgy, one built around materials from the Iona Community, and more
 Also
about once a month, we share worship services with our partner congregation,
Community of Hope UCC. These services are typically a blend of styles and
formats and may include Holy Week services, Lenten and summer outdoor
midweek worship, festivals for Confirmation and celebrating Sunday School
students, the “God’s Work. Our Hands” day of service, ecumenical occasions,
and more.
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 What
is “Reconciling in Christ”?
The Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Program is for congregations and other
Lutheran organizations. Lutheran communities that publicly welcome lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people by having a statement affirming
this (specifically welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender
identities) are accepted onto the Reconciling in Christ Roster, which now
exceeds 700 settings. For more information, visit
http://www.reconcilingworks.org/
Sermons & Worship
If you’re wondering what preaching is like in our congregation, or if you
missed a sermon, or want to hear it again or share it with others, you can
find past transcripts and sound recordings
here.
Several Links for Worship
For a complete listing of the readings, visit
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
https://www.workingpreacher.org/
A website supported by Luther Seminary offers reflections on the weekly
readings.
Worship Resources from Working Preacher
http://elca.org/worship
Explanations and materials from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA)
http://textweek.com/ A
clearing-house website with myriad resources on the lectionary.
http://www.letallcreationpraise.org/
Pastor Nick helps administer this website on worshiping God with creation.
http://www.enterthebible.org/
Some good Bible background
 Transplanted for Mission:
A History of Advent Lutheran Church,
1960-2010
In the early years, Advent was modest by
necessity. Advent is now modest by choice because of its commitment to
supporting other ministries with its dollars. Advent, after thought,
conversation, study and prayer, has the courage to venture in new
directions. In many respects Advent has been a countercultural community and
for this reason the congregation will continue to draw people who have lost
faith in the false promises of the world into this community of believers in
the Triune God.
To download the full transcript of "Transplanted for Mission" click here.
The Larger Church
Besides our partnership with Community of Hope UCC, Advent Lutheran is
connected to the larger Lutheran church body. We are one of 138
congregations of the
South-Central Synod of Wisconsin
(https://scsw-elca.org/),
which is one of 65 synods or regional bodies in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (https://elca.org/).
The ELCA also stands in relationships with the
Lutheran World Federation (https://www.lutheranworld.org/).
Though Advent has much of its own character, you could still learn more
about us by exploring those pages for our broader relationships and larger
ministry of Lutherans.
Read The Whole Bible in a Year: 2020
To see the outline for the whole year, you can
click here.
"What Does This Mean?"
Having marked the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation when Martin
Luther nailed 95 points of discussion on the church door in Wittenberg,
Germany on Oct. 31, 1517, we proceeded through a “back to basics” of
Luther’s way of teaching the faith through his Small Catechism. You can open
a copy (click here) with
reflection questions that we printed in weekly bulletins of Advent Lutheran.
You can also download an app here.
(Luther would be all for it – he used the newest technology of his time and
had posters printed to be hung in family homes.)
Top Ten Things to Know About Advent
10. Advent is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
9. Advent Lutheran and Community of Hope, a United Church in Christ
congregation, are in a partnership called Madison
Christian Community.
8. A variety of worship settings are used and the congregation can sing
in
four part harmony.
7. The use of inclusive language in worship is valued.
6. Families with young children are welcome at worship and children
may receive Holy Communion at an early age.
5. Advent is a Reconciling in Christ congregation meaning we’re officially
registered as openly welcoming for the LGBT
community. We’re not only
“officially registered,” though, we’re a place that
people describe as the
most welcoming and comfortable church they’ve ever known.
More information about this at the top right of this page.
4. A "culture of commitment" is fostered by the practice of renewing
membership annually.
3. People of Advent are not threatened by change and seek new ways
of being faithful to God.
2. Members of Advent are scattered throughout the greater Madison area
1. Members of Advent are encouraged to identify their spiritual gifts
and use them in service.
Mission Statement
We, though many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members of one another. Having gifts that differ according to
the grace given to us, let us use them. Let love be genuine; hate what is
evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with filial affection;
outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the
Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be
constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice
hospitality.
Romans 12:5-6a, 9-13
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