Watsonville First United Methodist Church

Watsonville, CA

Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 10:00 am

You are invited to the World Communion Sunday on October 6th at 10 am. The bulletin for this Sunday is available for viewing HERE.

You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441      Meeting ID: 965 881 6441

You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.

World Communion Sunday
Sunday, October 6, 2024, 10 am

[The World Communion Special Sunday offering envelopes are available in the narthex. Your gifts support racial and ethnic students in achieving their educational goals while also transforming communities. 50% percent of the offering provides scholarships for graduate students from the U.S. and other countries. 35% percent supports ethnic scholarships for undergraduate students. 15% percent funds in-service training programs for racial and ethnic persons.]

Children’s Time: “How to Be a Good Listener” by Pastor John

Message: “Ministry of Listening”  by Pastor John 

Seven Topics that will be covered:
1.   Create Safe Space
2.   Maintain Confidentiality
3.   Slow Things Down
4.   Withhold Solutions
5.   Avoid Hijacking
6.   Practice “Slow, Silent, Stupid”
7.   Trust Your Intuition and Inner Knowing

“Not to speak is to speak.”
~ Dalaina May, lives in the jungles of Peru among the Caquinte tribe

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“Attention is the purest form of generosity.”
~ Simone Weil, a mid-20th century French philosopher and mystic

Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, September 29, 2024 at 10:00 am

You are invited to the Worship Service on September 29th at 10 am. The bulletin for this Sunday is available for viewing HERE.

You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441      Meeting ID: 965 881 6441

You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.

Ordinary Time
Sunday, September 29, 2024, 10 am

This Sunday is Sunday School with Joan!
First, children will be in worship. Following the Special Music,
the teacher, Joan Culbertson, will lead our children to the Nursery Room.

Children’s Time        “How to Be a Good Listener”            Pastor John

Choir Anthem                              God Hath Not Promised 
Words by Annie Johnson Flint; Music by Alfred B. Smith

Message: “What’s One Thing That Will Change Everything in Your Life”  by Pastor John

“My perception is always a diminishment of the other and a distortion of reality.”
~ Thomas Hübl, an Austrian teacher, author, and mystic

“To observe without evaluation and judgment
is the highest form of human intelligence.”
~ Krishnamurti, a mid-20th century Indian philosopher

We see through the “eye of flesh”, the “eye of mind”, or the “eye of spirit.”
~ Ken Wilber, an American theorist on transpersonal psychology and integral theory

“Attention is the purest form of generosity.”
~ Simone Weil, a mid-20th century French philosopher and mystic

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, and teacher of mindful living

“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing personal opinion.”
~ Proverbs 18:2

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.”
~ James 1:19

“So pay attention to how you listen…”
~ Luke 8:18a

October Pastoral Letter

Practicing Courageous Love

The word “courage” comes from the Latin “cor”, which means heart. Vibrant, truth-filled intimate relationships take courage. And a whole lot of it! What I do know is that when you suppress truth in relationship, it comes out as drama. It takes courage to speak up about something we need when we aren’t sure how our request will be received… courage to admit our mistakes and apologize in a genuine way… courage to share the fullness of our hearts with someone else. Carol Gilligan, an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist, wrote, “Democracy is like love. It only works when everyone has a voice.”

Do you have a voice in your relationships? Or do you sometimes hold back from saying what you really feel? The reason why that is important is that when you withhold from speaking your truth to your partner the consequence is not good for the relationship. Here is a rule of thumb: When you suppress your truth, it comes out as drama. What I learned over the years is that when you suppress your truth in a relationship, it creates a distance, disconnection, and resentment. For our relationships to remain authentic, vibrant and alive, we need to “Speak the truth in love” as St. Paul instructed. (Ephesians 4:15)

Sir Walter Scott, 19th century Scottish author of novels and plays, famously wrote:

Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive.

Jesus taught “Let your Yes be Yes and No be No; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:35)

I am a partitional of Nonviolent Communication (abbreviated NVC, also called compassionate communication) is an approach to communication based on principles of nonviolence developed by late Marshall Rosenberg. One of the founding principles of Nonviolent Communication is when people don’t get their needs met, it leads to violence: violence to oneself (festering resentments that can leads to psychosomatic symptoms and even disorder) and violence to others (often in the hidden form of passive-aggressive behaviors or overt aggression). Other people are not fortunetellers, nor endowed with telepathic power to read your mind. This will require people learning how to practice healthy boundary and communicate their needs honestly. There is a saying in NVC, “If you can’t say ‘No,’ I can’t trust your ‘Yes’.”

Consequently, the greatest contribution an individual can make in a relationship or in a community is taking responsibility for one’s needs. If everyone takes responsibility for meeting one’s needs, it increases the feeling of trust and safety in relationships and the community.

Here is my 9 lists of freedoms to practice that I came up with:

The Nine Freedoms to Live By
1.  You have the freedom to be yourself.
2.  You have the freedom to be human and make mistakes.
3.  You have the freedom to laugh (ever loudly at yourself and at human condition).
4.  You have the freedom to ask for what you need.
5.  You have the freedom to say “No”.
6.  You have the freedom to think freely.
7.  You have the freedom to speak your truth and truth to power.
8.  You have the freedom to be great and powerful.
9.  You have the freedom to be happy.

May you know such courageous love that keeps relationship vibrant, healthy, authentic, and trustworthy. And it’s the only relationship that’s worth keeping.

John

Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 10:00 am

You are invited to the Worship Service on September 22nd at 10 am. The bulletin for this Sunday is available for viewing HERE.

You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441      Meeting ID: 965 881 6441

You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.

Ordinary Time
Sunday, September 22, 2024, 10 am

Children’s Time       “The Boy Samuel”       Carmelita Abenoja

Special Music                   Fuer Elize (L. Beethoven)             Marina Thomas, Piano


Message             “The Lord’s Prayer”         Carmelita Abenoja

Luke 11:1-4

11 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

“It’s been said that prayer is to the soul what breathing is to the body.
The most basic act of prayer is expressed in two words, ‘Thank you.’
When we’re struggling with guilt and shame our prayer is, ‘Forgive me.’
When we’re hurting or afraid, it is ‘Help me.’
Daily we might offer our lives to God praying, ‘Use me.’ ”
~ Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor of the UMC of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kansas

“Ultimately, the Lord’s prayer reveals more about how to live than how to pray.”
~ Dr. David Timms, Author, Pastor
Teacher of New Testament & Theology, Hope International Univ., Fullerton, CA

“The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer most used and least understood.
People think they are asking God for something. They are not. They are offering God something. The Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer to God to do something we want done.
It is more nearly God’s given prayer to us, to help Him do What He wants done.
The Lord’s prayer is not intercession… it is enlistment.”  
~ Dr. Frank Charles Laubach, (1884 – 1970)
Author, Educator, Congregational Missionary to the Philippines in 19115.
Founded churches in the island of Mindanao, the only American
missionary to be honored on a 30 cent US Postage Stamp.

Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 10:00 am

You are invited to the Worship Service on September 15th at 10 am. The bulletin for this Sunday is available for viewing HERE.

You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441      Meeting ID: 965 881 6441

You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.

Ordinary Time
Sunday, September 15, 2024, 10 am

This Sunday is Sunday School with Joan!
First, children will be in worship. Following the Special Music,
the teacher, Joan Culbertson, will lead our children to the Nursery Room.

Children’s Time       “You Are Precious”       Pastor John

Choir Anthem: No Other Song
Words & Music by John W. Peterson

Message                 “Spirituality of Brokenness”                 Rev. John Song

Psalm 51:17
“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
“But (Jesus Christ) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

 “If people can just stop being so defensive, they can be awesome.”
~ Rene Tillich, Clinical Psychologist

“Once you have accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.”
~ George R.R. Martin

“The price admission to 12 Steps is simply admit.”
~ John Song

“I am a sick man . . . I am a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts.”
~ Notes from the Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Risking honesty with yourself is a sacred act.
It takes courage to disclose truth, even to yourself.”
~ James Finley

“The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.”
~ Pema Chodron, an American Tibetan Buddhist nun

“True belonging only happens
When we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world.” 
~ Brene Brown

“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
~ Leonard Cohen