Advent Offerings

Advent Series — What Can't Wait?

We dedicate the four Sundays before Christmas as a time to focus on the birth of Jesus. It is a season of waiting, just as we wait for the birth of any child. It is a time we reflect on what can, and will be, birthed with a new life. However, we also know that while we anticipate a new birth, there are things that cannot wait. While we wait, daily and unexpected needs must be addressed, and now!

Therefore, we ask the question, What Can’t Wait? This is the theme the staff has chosen for Advent 2024. In preparation for the coming Messiah, we wonder together—what can’t wait? What demands our immediate attention? What requires our work and preparation? What is it that God can’t wait for? Is it our praise, reconciliation, and proclamation? Is it the end of suffering, isolation, and fear? This Advent, we invite you to join us in imagining, prioritizing, and preparing. As we wait, what can’t? 

December 1: First Sunday in Advent — Hope (God’s Promised Day)

December 8: Second Sunday in Advent — Peace (Repentance)

December 15: Third Sunday in Advent — Joy (Delight)

December 22: Fourth Sunday in Advent — Love (Courage)

Advent Organ Reflections

Wednesday, December 4 | 7:00 p.m. | Sanctuary
 
Join organist Zach Busch on Wednesday, December 4, for Advent Organ Reflections. In the darkened sanctuary, in a tapestry of starlight, organ music that illustrates the wonder and mystery of the season will mingle with familiar Advent and Christmas hymn tunes. Bring a blanket and pillow to lay on the floor as you listen. All ages welcome.

Advent Workshop

Sunday, December 8 | 11:00 a.m. | Dining Room
 

The spirit of the festive holiday season is upon us! The joyous elves of First Cong are busy preparing for this fun-filled event! Delight in the many craft tables to make holiday gifts and decorations for friends and loved ones. Enjoy a delicious and hearty boxed lunch from Jason’s Deli while you are creating wonderful Advent creations and treasures. No registration is required! If you would like to contribute to offset the expense to the church, a donation basket will be available. We look forward to celebrating the season of Advent together!

Poetry Reflection

Thursday, December 12 | 6:00 p.m. | Hearth Room
 

Join us for a brief time of spiritual reflection on some of the poetry offered in our Advent series “What Can’t Wait?” We will meet at 6:00 p.m. in the Hearth Room prior to Vespers. Light snacks will be available.

Vespers: A Time for Prayer and Reflection

Thursday, December 12 | 7:00 p.m. | Chapel
 

Vespers is a quiet time of worship that includes scripture, prayer, music, and reflection in keeping with our Advent theme of “What Can’t Wait? Participating in this service is a meaningful way to pause mid-week and focus on our Advent theme.

 Join us for cookies and tea in the Hearth Room following the service.

Blue Christmas

Thursday, December 19 | 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. | Chapel
 

We live in a world with personal and corporate pain. Recognizing “Blue Christmas” gives space and time away from the hype of Christmas and an opportunity to experience a sacred presence amidst our lives, which are
sometimes awkward, uncomfortable, and messy. The service is “come and go” where you can move to various “stations” in the Chapel for solitude and reflection from 7-8 p.m. Stations will include Remembrance Candles, Reflecting on Art, Communion, Scripture, Music. Cookies and quiet conversation around the fireplace will be offered in the Hearth Room throughout the hour.

Longest Night Homeless Memorial

Thursday, December 21 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. | Capitol Square

Houseless individuals, members of local faith communities and representatives from social service agencies as well as the general public will gather at 3:00 p.m. at the intersection of East Main, South Pinckney Street and King Street on Thursday, December 21, the longest night of the year, to remember and honor people who died without shelter in Dane County and elsewhere this year. The Memorial Service will include music, prayer, reflections and remembrances of our neighbors who have died this year and who were homeless. A processional around the Capitol led by a horse drawn hearse will follow.

Children and Youth Christmas Pageant

Sunday, December 22 | 6:00 p.m. | Sanctuary

Tying into the “What Can’t Wait?” Advent theme, First Cong youth and pageant playwright Avery Hagen decided to place the audience in a location where ALL have felt the anticipation of putting one’s life on hold… the waiting room of the DMV.  This unique, modern retelling of the familiar old Nativity story depicts ordinary people navigating the minutia of waiting for answers to their struggles, their fears, and their pain. What good are promises in a seemingly hopeless world? Who can we rely on when there’s nowhere to turn? Where can we find answers while we wait? First Cong children and youth will take you on a journey through these questions in “NO TIME TO WAIT: At The DMV.”

What's In The Box?

What’s In The Box? first kicked off the start of Advent in 2002 and has been going ever since. Each year, on the first Sunday of Advent, a gift box is presented to the children (and adults) of First Cong. A tree ornament representing God’s love is inside the box for each child. Following the anticipation and waiting Advent represents, the box will not opened till the last Sunday of the four-week Church holiday. 
 
Each week children receive clues and guess what object might represent God’s love. Previous What’s In The Box? objects have included flamingos, porcupines, pineapples, ladybugs, and even DNA! What symbol of God’s love is in the box this year?

Advent Devotional Guides

What Can’t Wait?

We hope this devotional might awaken you to the ways God can’t wait to create hope, peace, joy, and love. We invite you to carve out time each day to listen for God speaking to you through art, poetry, silent reflection, and embodied prayer. As we are called to action during this season, may we also be mindful of what can wait—for we are also called to rest and receive the gifts of Sabbath.

Daily Devotional booklets will be available on the table in the back of the Sanctuary or in the Lathrop entrance. Daily devotional prompts will also be shared on the church Facebook page.