You are invited to the Sunday Service on November 16 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.

Kingdomtide
(Kingdomtide is a liturgical season that is observed in the autumn by the United Methodist Church.)
Sunday, November 16, 2025, 10 am

Signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 by an American artist John Trumbull

Children’s Time     “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”     Pastor John

Special Music                   Through My Window                 Brandon & Trisha Kett
(A Song for My Muse) by Brandon Kett

I composed this song in April of this year. It was inspired by a beautiful sound that the wind made when I had inadvertently placed my harp in front of an open window. I also named it “A Song for My Muse” in recognition of the creative side that is in us. A definition of a Muse is: “” spiritual force of artistic inspiration.” The harp dates back to 3000 BC in Asia, Africa and Europe. It is mentioned dozens of times in the Bible, mostly as David being a skilled player in The Psalms. ~ Brandon Kett

Message                     “The American Revolution”                    Rev. John Song

Ken Burns’ highly anticipated documentary series “The American Revolution”—a six-episode exploration of the nation’s founding—premieres on PBS this Sunday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. The film traces and examines the birth of the American Republic. Burns and his collaborators spent nine years creating this landmark project, timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the nation in 2026. Arriving amid fierce debates over how we remember our past, its release feels especially urgent. The documentary is a gift to America in that it challenges us to celebrate the American Revolution with “the good, the bad, and the ugly” in all its complexities.

The founders inscribed lofty ideals on paper but left it to future generations to realize and defend them. This film invites Americans to broaden and deepen our understanding of our origins and the ideals that continue to shape and bind us together.

“When you control how people discuss the past,
you control how they see the present and imagine the future.”
~ paraphrased from George Orwell’s 1984

“A country that cannot acknowledge its history,
“the good, the bad, and the ugly”,
is by definition not “great.”
~ Jason Stanley, the author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future

“A healthy society is able to look at history and the present as a whole, as opposed to running away in disgust or bowing one’s head in guilt — saying ‘yes’ to all that has been, in full acknowledgement; saying ‘yes, all of those things convene in me…”
~ Saul Williams

“Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.”
~ George Santayana, a Spanish-American philosopher, from The Life of Reason (1905)

“Democracy dies in darkness.”
~ Washington Post’s slogan (before Jeff Bezos bought the paper)

2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Luke 1: 52-53
“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.”

You are invited to the Laity Sunday Service on November 9 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.

Laity Sunday
Sunday, November 9, 2025, 10 am

What Is Laity Sunday?

Laity Sunday is the celebration of “the priesthood of all believers.” It serves as a reminder that every Christian is called to ministry, not just clergy. This is a Christian doctrine that states that all Christians are part of a common priesthood and have direct access to God through Christ. This doctrine was a central principle of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and introduced a democratic element to the church.

Laity Sunday is a special day in many Christian denominations—especially in the United Methodist Church and other Protestant traditions—set aside to recognize and celebrate the ministry of laypeople (that is, all church members who are not ordained clergy). Laity Sunday honors the important role of lay people play in the life, mission, and ministry of the church and the wider community.

Choir Anthem: Rise Up. O Church of God with Revive Us Again
Words:  Wm. Merrill & Aaron Williams
Music: Wm. Mackay & John Husband

George Westbrook is the third person from the left with the UM Volunteer In Mission Team on the assignment to help rebuild community following the Paradise Fire in 2024.

Message                      “Called to Service”                    George Westbrook

George Westbrook and his wife Rosemary are members of our church. Since George retired he found his new calling in volunteering for the UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteer In Mission). He has gone to numerous places with the VIM Team to help rebuild in distressed communities. This week on Nov 2 – 6, UMVIM Team has been staying at our church for their work in our area. They will again return to our church on November 16 – 20. George will share his faith journey and how he found his new calling in retirement.

“Love has to be put into action and that action is service.”
~ Mother Teresa

Ephesians 2:10
“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.”

 Galatians 6:9-10
“So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 
So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the
good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.”

You are invited to the All Saints Sunday with Holy Communion on November 2 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.

All Saints Sunday
with Holy Communion

Sunday, November 2, 2025, 10 am

Meaning of All Saints Sunday

All Saints Sunday is an annual reminder that Christian faith is a gift that is passed on from generation to generation. All Saints reminds us that we stand on the shoulders of all those faithful witnesses who have gone before us; the living and the dead.

The feast of All Saints teaches that grace is relational. We know and experience God’s love through the people God gave us in the past, God gives us in the present, and God will continue to give us in the future. God’s steadfast presence is revealed and made real through people who love God enough to allow God’s grace and light to flow through their lives that gives hope to the world.

Children’s Time: “When Forest Gump Goes to Heaven” by Pastor John

Message             “Evolutionary Journey of the Soul”              Rev. John Song

A few weeks ago, President Trump momentarily dropped the bombast and the playground insults and the self-congratulation to muse about his eternal soul. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he said. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.”

Prodded by a reporter this month to elaborate, he repeated the lament without much more explanation. “I’m being a little cute,” he said. But he went on: “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.”

Mr. Trump is hardly the first 79-year-old to dwell on what may come after he departs this mortal coil — or to wonder whether he has earned entry into the pearly gates. But it is so unlike Mr. Trump to express self-doubt that his public rumination has raised questions. What is on his mind lately that makes him fear his fate in the hereafter? What sins might he be regretting?

We will be reflecting on questions about life, death, and what may lie beyond. Does how I live and evolve in this life affect life hereafter? We will explore the ideas of the evolution of the soul towards ultimate perfection and merging with God. The concept is discussed in various spiritual traditions, with some identifying specific stages or cycles the soul progresses through. 

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 ~ “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”

John 14:1-3 ~ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me. In my Father’s mansion there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again to take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

You are invited to this special Día de los Muertos/ The Day of the Dead Celebration on October 26 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.

Día de los Muertos
The Day of the Dead Celebration

Sunday, October 26, 2025, 10 am

You are invited to this special Día de los Muertos / The Day of the Dead Celebration based on the traditional Mexican holiday. Today’s special Día de los Muertos altar is set up by Norma Luciano to honor those who have gone before us. You are invited to bring photos of your loved ones and/or someone you like to honor to be placed on the altar. They will be up through the All Saints Sunday, Nov. 2nd. Let us remember our family, friends and church who were important to our lives.

 
Children’s Time

“What Is Día de los Muertos & Why Do We Celebrate Halloween?”
by Pastor John

 
Special Music: Allerseelen (All Soul’s) by Richard Strauss
Dr. Emily Sinclair, Soprano

Dr. Emily Sinclair, soprano, has performed in opera and concert across the United States, including in the Bay Area. Emily received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy, and holds additional degrees from Northwestern University, Manhattan School of Music and Yale University. In Santa Cruz, she conducts Fiat Musica and the Temple Beth El choir, and teaches voice and vocal repertoire at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Message “An Uninvited Visitor Wants to Have a Little Word with You”

When you think about death, is it with reflection, curiosity, and ease? Or is it with trepidation and fear? Do you even contemplate this most significant passage of your life?

Nearly every culture has celebrated this time in their own unique ways! We will be honoring and celebrating Día de los Muertos / The Day of the Dead. Mexican culture celebrates the Day of the Dead by gathering around the gravesite to honor and remember the dead. They acquaint themselves with the reality of death as part of the fabric of life.

Facing death is our last important life initiation in earthly life. Although our culture associates death with fear, tragedy, and loss, and sees it as something to dread, we can choose to view it differently. We can explore our relationship with death as something that might even feel like some kind of wonder.

What if death were approached as a joyful transition of soul’s journey of how birth, life, and death are all parts of our soul’s experience of being human.

We invite you to pass the veils between the worlds. In this meeting place of “between” the world, the living and the dead meet to celebrate the mysterious and magical place of the Kingdom of God. The Christian belief in the “Communion of Saints” is an acknowledgment of the reality of the living communing with the ancestors.

You are invited to the Worship Service on October 19 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
In God’s Eternal Time

Sunday, October 19, 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 “The African King and His Close Friend” Pastor John

Special Music                        The Fields of Athenry               Brandon & Trisha Kett
by Pete St. John, 1979

“The Fields of Athenry” was written by Irish songwriter, Pete St. John, who researched the Irish potato famine of 1845. He composed this realistic ballad in 1979 to show how young men who stole food to keep their starving families alive were sent away on prison ships to Australia. They were imprisoned without a fair trial.

       

Message  Part 2) “5 Keys to Church Revitalization in the 21^st Century”   Pastor John

1.   Authenticity
2.   Vitality
3.   Transcendence
4.   Community
5.   Sacred Service & Activism

This is a conclusion of the 2-part sermon series that addresses universal human longing in an increasingly secularized society.

Isaiah 54: 2

“Make your tent bigger; stretch it out and make it wider. Do not hold back. Make the ropes longer and its stakes stronger because you will spread out to the right and the left.”

Mark 4: 26-29

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”