In-person worship: Sundays at 10:00 a.m.

Our doors are open for in-person worship each Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Masks are currently optional. We will continue to offer for our remote members and visitors the live stream service, listed below.

Online Live Stream Worship Service: Sundays at 10:00 a.m.

Click here to live stream our Worship Services or view our Progressive Christian Bible Study.

With the support of the Ithaca Sanctuary Alliance (ISA), the First Congregational Church of Ithaca (FCCI) in July 2020 welcomed a teen mother and her young daughter into the apartment they built to provide sanctuary for immigrants at risk of deportation. Drucila Francisco Mateo and Jessie lived at the church for more than two years, moving out in September, 2022.

For more information on our Sanctuary Ministries, please click HERE

Prelude: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers, Wake) (J.S. Bach)
Preaching: Rev. Barbara VanOlpen, Associate Conference Minister (guest preacher)
Anthem: Verses for Advent (Thomas Tallis, arr. W.C.)
Sermon: “Finding Hope in a Crazy World”
Postlude: Fughetta in C Major (J.S.Bach)
Bulletin: LINK

After Service Events:

• Coffee and conversations
• Church Christmas decorating

There is a new feature on YouTube for watching recent sermons. Go to Playlists on FCCI’s YouTube page and you’ll find recent sermons. Share the links with your friends and on your social media.

Rev. Dr. Kaden has begun writing “insights” from the Daily Lectionary Bible readings and posting them to Facebook. FCCI’s Facebook account is tagged. These are short observations about a scripture reading and they include an “application” section. Like, comment on, and share them with your friends!

FCCI is committed to doing what we can to help our neighbors. We have been asked again this year to cook meals for the Code Blue shelter. A Code Blue shelter is a temporary shelter that opens during extreme cold (below 32 degrees). Our commitment will be a hot dinner every Monday through the winter months ( November 24 – April 15). The need is much larger this year, so your donations and willingness to pitch in (delivery or assisting with cooking) when you can will play a crucial role. you for the amazing support for the Adopt a Cabinet Program.

To learn more about the program as we move into the winter months, please visit the Adopt a Cabinet page or email neighborhoodconnection@fccithaca.org.

Click here to DONATE and/or click here to VOLUNTEER.

During the holiday season we will support four non-profit organizations: Family and Children’s Services, The Learning Web, O.A.R. (Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources) and the Beechtree Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing.

We will have a big tree in the lower Narthex. Gift tags will be available to select from the Giving Tree starting on Sunday, November 23rd and the following Sunday, November 30th. Suggested spending is no more than $25 per gift. Gifts are due on Sunday, December 7th.

For Advent, FCCI’s Adult Education ministry is creating an opportunity to reflect on the way our cultural obsession with MORE STUFF still overwhelms the central message of Christmas. Join us on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:00 PM in the FCCI Chapel when we will screen Morgan Spurlock’s film “What Would Jesus Buy?” featuring Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping Choir. This will be followed by “Christmas Stuff: the Meaning Meets the Materialism of Christmas” an Afterword on Dec. 14, led by Michael Smith, to consider the value of a “dematerialized” Christmas.