Advent Lutheran
All people,
with no exception,
are welcomed to the full life of this community of faith.
Services at Advent generally follow the historic liturgy of the church, and Advent uses a wide variety of liturgies for worship: both new and “classic” settings from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, including the Spanish of setting 7, Now the Feast and Celebration by Marty Haugen, the Earthkeeping liturgy by Dakota Road, Heartland by Jonathan Rundman, the old favorite Chicago Folk Mass, 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.
Upcoming in Advent
Advent Liturgy
For the season of Advent (Sundays in December before Christmas), our main liturgy is shaped around the theme “Fear Not.” It will be sung on our lips as we light the Advent wreath, welcome Bible readings, and are sent with encouraging words from Desmond Tutu. Other parts of the liturgy will remind us of places of authoritarian oppression and violence, like the border, Gaza, and more.
Women’s Lectionary
For the 2025 church year, we will return to the Women’s Lectionary by the Rev. Dr. Wilda Gafney. Built around the Gospel of Luke, the Bible readings for the year are selected to enhance a Womanist theological perspective, from Black women’s liberation experience.
Sermons
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 here. Or watch past services on our YouTube channel.
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/
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.