Category: Worship

The Season of Advent

Cheri Simonet
Advent

Join us as we prepare our hearts during this Advent season for the coming of Christ—Emmanuel, God With Us. Our Sundays will follow the ancient rhythm of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love as we light candles on our Advent wreath and focus our attention on God’s promises for us.

The Psalm readings for this season invite us to see the brokenness of the world as it is, with a growing hunger crisis made worse by climate crisis and violent conflicts around the world that disrupt food systems, force migration, and disproportionately impact marginalized communities. The Psalms also remind us that we can trust in God’s promises of restoration of the world. We stand together in hope, peace, joy, and love to keep us grounded in these promises.

The four Sundays of Advent welcome us into prayer and reflection as we wait in anticipation for the One who brings hope, peace, joy, and love to this broken world.

May Christ’s light bring us on the path toward justice and righteousness for all.

2023 Blue Christmas

Cheri Simonet
Blue Christmas

December 19th at 6pm

For any of us who have experienced loss or are in the midst of struggles, the holidays can be a particularly painful time, stirring up grief in acute ways. As a result, churches of every denomination and style have adopted the practice of a “Blue Christmas” service. We continue this tradition with a Blue Christmas service on Tuesday, December 19th at 6:00pm in the sanctuary.

This time of worship is designed to provide space for prayer, reflection, and remembrance in the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle. It will include special music, candle lighting, and the sacrament of holy communion. All are welcome to join us for this contemplative service of worship. A dessert reception will follow in the Fellowship Room. Invite a friend or neighbor!

2023 Christmas Eve Worship Service

Cheri Simonet
Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th and all are invited to join us for a special service of worship at 6:00pm in the sanctuary.

We are thrilled that our organist Michael Raught is pulling together a choir to sing several pieces in the service. This group will practice after worship in the choir room on December 3rd and 17th, and all are welcome to join.

The Christmas Eve service will feature special choral music, an extended message for the children present, and candle lighting. While we can’t promise the full-fledged pageants of old, we do hope to recreate the nativity scene with costumed characters and familiar carols. Bring your family and friends for a special evening together.

Worship Service November 26, 2023

Cheri Simonet

On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we’re pleased to have some members of our Confirmation class doing a reader’s theater skit in worship called “What We’re Thankful For.” Our scripture focus will be on Deuteronomy 8: 7-18 https://bit.ly/47ovwye and several different members of the church will offer reflections on gratitude in their own lives.

Worship Service November 19, 2023

Cheri Simonet

On this 25th Sunday after Pentecost, we continue our consideration of end-time themes here at the end of the church year with a focus on 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 https://bit.ly/3srLbxD. Pastor Katie will reflect on “Time in the Light.”

Worship Service November 12, 2023

Cheri Simonet

On this 24th Sunday after Pentecost, our reading Matthew 25: 1-13 https://bit.ly/3SsZ0GB will focus our attention on Jesus’ story of the wise and foolish bridesmaids as Pastor Katie reflects on “In the Meantime.”

All Saints Sunday 2023

Cheri Simonet
All Saints Sunday

For all the saints, who from their labors rest…

November brings us to a season of thanksgiving, and we are surely thankful for all the “saints” of this congregation and throughout our extended families who have gone on to their heavenly homes in the past year.

On Sunday, November 5 we will celebrate All Saints’ Day in 10 am worship, remembering especially Ginney Amen, Allen Collins, Karen Walker and Joanne Herman. We have reached out to surviving family members, inviting them to participate in this special celebration. We are looking for a picture or two of each deceased member to project during the worship service. As those photos are projected, we will join in prayer for all the saints and remember each name. As the names are read, a family member or friend will come forward to light a candle for each one. Following the recognition of all our members, others will be invited to come forward and light a candle for a friend or family member they have lost in the last year as well.

We remember and give thanks for all those who have gone before us to show us the way—don’t miss this special worship experience.

2023 Advent Bible Study

Cheri Simonet
Holy Disruption Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark

Begins November 29th & 30th

Where’s the baby?! The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have a nativity story—so where’s the Advent message? It’s in every aspect of Jesus’ life, to his death and beyond. The incarnation—God’s coming to earth in human form to be baptized, teach, heal, eat, and die—is what we celebrate at Christmas, and Mark shows us just how radical and celebration worthy it is.

Holy Disruption presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded not in a conventional, cozy Christmas message but through Mark’s disquieting Gospel, which invites its readers to experience God’s disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.

Join us on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30pm via Zoom or on Thursday mornings from 11:00am to noon in the Fellowship Room. The lesson is the same for each group, so you may move back and forth as your schedule necessitates. Books will be available by mid-November in the church office or from Pastor Katie.

FUPC 2023 Thanksgiving Dinner

Cheri Simonet
FUPC 2023 Thanksgiving

November 18, 2023

Our sisters and brothers in Christ at First United Presbyterian Church in DePere have invited us to join them once again for a special worship service celebrating Thanksgiving followed by a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, November 18.

Worship will be at 4:00pm and Pastor Katie will preach the sermon this year. Pastors Meggan and Luke Farwell will also participate. Choir Director Andy Parks is assembling singers from both churches to comprise a choir, so all are welcome to join in. A delicious Thanksgiving dinner will follow the service, and is open to the community.

Let’s have a big showing from our congregation in response to this gracious invitation—we ALL have so much to be thankful for.

Worship Service October 22, 2023

Cheri Simonet

On this fourth Sunday of October, we wrap up our “I’m in!” Generosity theme and encourage everyone to bring 2024 pledge cards to worship. Pastor Katie will focus on Matthew 22: 15-22 https://bit.ly/3rMFudm with a message of “In Over Our Heads.” Following worship, everyone is invited down to Banner Hall for a celebratory spaghetti lunch.