You are invited to Mother’s Day Sunday on May 11 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.

Mother’s Day Sunday
Sunday, May 11, 2025, 10 am

Today 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 Sunday School room.]

Children’s Time                 Lay Your Heart On My Soul                     Pastor John

Lay your head on my pillow, um – uhm.
Lay your heart on my soul.
[A song from the African-American slaves. A mother grieving over her child
when they were separated from the slave trade.]

Choir Anthem: A Tribute to Mothers
Words by Herman von Berge
Music: Viennese Melody. Arr. By I. H. Meredith

Message                     What Is Good Mothering?”                   Rev. John Song

We will explore some fundamental principles of parenting and learn important skill sets for your children to become themselves and flourish.

Deuteronomy 32:11-12
God described as a Mother Eagle
“Like the eagle that stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young, 
God spreads wings to catch you, lifting them into the air, teaching them to fly.”

On Children
by Kahlil Gibran from The Prophet published 1923

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, 
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 
and He bends you with His might 
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Marlo Thomas with her two Children

You are invited to the Worship with Holy Communion Service on May 4 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.

Resplendent Quetzal from Costa Rica

Third Sunday of Easter
With Holy Communion

Sunday, May 4, 2025, 10 am

Red-eyed Leaf Frog

Children’s Time              “More Costa Rica Please!”                  Pastor John

This will conclude the slide presentation of Costa Rica with butterflies & insects, bats & frogs, puma & honey bear, reptile animals such as iguanas, crocodiles, and river turtle. We’ll cap off with the holy grail of all birds in Costa Rica: Resplendent Quetzal.

Resplendent Quetzal & Sloth

Message                       “My Peace I give Unto You”                Rev. John Song

Our world is in a time of deep change, and on the surface we can feel tossed about by the many challenging circumstances. Where do we find refuge when the world feels like too much? What anchors us when life feels uncertain. In a time when the world feels loud, fast, and filled with uncertainty, many of us are searching for a way to slow down, unwind, and find a deeper sense of peace. We are invited to find a deeper peace underneath all of that outer turmoil, which sustains and abides with us through turbulent time.

After his resurrection, Jesus entered a room full of frightened disciples who had been in hiding since his crucifixion and said, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) These words were not a greeting, like saying good morning or good afternoon. His words were a profound prayer and expression of abiding peace that this world cannot give nor take it away. 

John 20:19-22
Jesus Appears to the Disciples

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

John 14:27, 16:33

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

“Still waters run deep.”
(The phrase entered English usage during the 16th century Renaissance, a time when 
Latin proverbs were commonly translated and adopted into English literature.)

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
~ Julian of Norwich, the 14th century Medieval Christian mystic 
(from Revelations of Divine Love, 1393 A.D.)

You are invited to Earth Day Sunday: Festival of God’s Creation on April 27 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.

Earth Day Sunday
Festival of God’s Creation

Sunday, April 27, 2025, 10 am

Children’s Time               “Can You Go Any Slower?”                  Pastor John

Instead of running from predators, sloths rely on stealth. Their slow movement helps them blend in with the trees and avoid being noticed by things like eagles, jaguars, or humans. They even grow algae on their fur, which adds to their camouflage.

Choir Anthem: Praise the Lord! O Heavens, Adore Him
Words from Psalm 148 and by Edward Osley
Music by Hal H. Hopson
Based on the tune, HOLY MANNA, Southern Harmony, 1835

Resplendent Quetzal

Message                            “All Things Costa Rica”                      Rev. John Song

You are in for a treat! This Sunday you will indeed see the Festival of God’s Creation as we celebrate the Earth Day Sunday. Pastor John will give a slide presentation of all the fascinating creatures he saw from his recent trip to Costa Rica. Be sure sit near the screen to see the wonders of God’s creation.

Psalm 104: 24-25
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, great and wide;
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.

Romans 1:20
“Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature,
invisible though they are,
have been understood and seen through the things God has made.”

Reverence and Relationship with the Earth
“The earth is not broken, but our relationship to the earth and
one another is broken. Restoring the earth without restoring
our relationship with the earth is an empty exercise.” 
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass

“In this light my spirit saw through all things,
and I recognize God in all creatures, grass and plants.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi

“Every creature is the word of God.”
~ Meister Eckhart

Red-eyed Leaf Frog

You are invited to the Easter Sunday Service on April 20 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.

Easter Sunday with the Reception of New Members
Sunday, April 20, 2025, 10 am

You are invited to the celebration of Reception of New Members:
Helene Nakano, Lorrie Rubio, Tony Rubio

Children’s Time          “Why Christians Celebrate Easter?”           Pastor John

Choir Anthem: He Is the Risen Lord
Words and Music by Joseph M. Martin

Easter Message                  Harrowing of Hades:                      Rev. John Song
“He Descended into Hell”

What really happened when Jesus was entombed in the cave during those 3 days between his death and resurrection? What is the cosmic significance of the Holy Saturday? We Protestant Christians don’t talk much about, if at all, the work of Jesus while he was entombed. We will explore the Paschal Mystery of Jesus where he underwent the transformation of death and resurrection that continues to reverberate throughout the universe. We will delve into its implication for our own salvation and transformation.

Ephesians 4:9-10 ~ When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.

“Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead! The earth trembled and now is still, because God has fallen asleep in the flesh, and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hades trembles with fear.” ~ St. Melito, the Bishop of Sardis in the late 2nd century AD

Joint Good Friday Contemplative Taizé Service
with Lutheran Church

Friday, April 18
3:00 pm in-person worship service, Sanctuary