You are invited to the in-person Worship Service on Nov. 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 or 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.

Christ the King Sunday
Sunday, November 26, 2023, 10 am

Children’s Time                        “Who Is Jesus Christ?”                        Pastor John

Special Music                                                            Marina Thomas, Piano Solo

Message              “A Reflection on the Christ the King Sunday” Rev. John Song

On this Christ the King Sunday, we will take this opportunity to explore the meaning of Christ’s event in history. What is the significance of the Christ event and what it means for us and the world?

Colossians 1:15–20
The Universal Salvation of All Creation 
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” 

You are invited to the in-person Thanksgiving Service on Nov. 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 or 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.

Thanksgiving Sunday
Sunday, November 19, 2023, 10 am

Children’s Time                “Most Beautiful Words You Can Utter”                    Pastor John

Choir Anthem                      Praise Ye the Lord (based on Psalm 106:1) 
Words : Elsie Duncan Yale & Henry Downton, Music: Stewart Landon
Introducing the tune “Posen” by George C. Strattner

Message               “A Meaning Behind ‘Thank You’ ”                          Rev. John Song

We will investigate a deep theological and spiritual meaning behind the words “Thank You”.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order,
confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home,
a stranger into a friend.”
~ Melody Beattie

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘Thank you,’ that would suffice.”
~ Meister Eckhart, the 14^th century German mystic and theologian

You are invited to the in-person Worship Service on Nov. 12 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 or 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 12, 2023, 10 am

Children’s Time                     “Keep Your Eye on the Ball” Pastor John

Special Music                    Beautiful Isle Over Somewhere                   David Rios, trumpet
Great Is Thy Faithfulness

David Rios is a local musician who was written about in the Santa Cruz Sentinel for playing inspirational music on the trumpet at the Seacliff State Beach. I serendipitously met David Rios when he was playing the trumpet in the setting sun at the Seacliff State Beach in Aptos. I was mesmerized and drawn to the beauty and power of his trumpet. Well, we’ll get to hear his music this Sunday.

David sees himself serving God through his trumpet. His paternal grandfather, Reverend Jesús Ríos, was the pioneer for the Confraternidad Hispana Bautista de California in the 1940’s. His maternal grandfather, Filiberto Alvidrez (graduating from the Methodist Seminary in Mexico City), was an ordained minister in the 40’s, early 50’s.

Several years ago David began arranging hymns out of the hymnal in cooperation with Christians living in Cuba with the first CD recorded in 2009 and now more songs are being arranged. He plays many traditional hymns as well as all kinds of music on his trumpet for services and venues.

Message      “Is it really true, One Bad Apple Spoils the Whole Bunch?”     Pastor John

You have heard the familiar saying, “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch” or “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel.” This idiom means it only takes one person, thing, element, etc., to ruin the entire group, situation, project, etc. Refers to the fact that a rotting apple can cause other apples in close proximity to begin to rot as well.

Well, is it really true or should it be? Often one bad experience can stop us from experiencing a whole bunch of wonderful experiences. Come and learn how we can limit this kind of thinking that prevents us from living the “abundant life” or the “fullness of life” that Christ has come to give us.

John 10:20
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Old Irish Blessing
 May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and abundance bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring joy and deep satisfaction.

You are invited to the in-person Worship Service on Nov. 5 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  or 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 5, 2023, 10 am

Children’s Time                “Why Do We Call Them Saints?”                 Pastor John

Special Music                                Tears In Heaven                                  Jesse Martinez
by Eric Clapton, 1992

Spirit in the Sky
by Norman Greenbaum, 1969

Death of King Arthur

Message                             “What Makes Us Afraid of Death?”                      Rev. John Song

“Practice dying.” This was Plato’s famous final lesson to his disciples, given just before his own death. 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? 

Facing death is our last important life initiation in earthly life. Although our culture associates death with suffering, tragedy, and loss, and sees it as something to dread, we as people of faith 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.

“God is a presence that protects us from nothing, yet unexplainably sustains us in all things.”
~ James Finley

Romans 8:35, 37-39
³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Annual Japanese Floating Lantern Festival to honor the dead.

You are invited to the in-person Worship Service on Oct. 29 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 or 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 29, 2023, 10 am

You are invited to this special Día de los Muertos/ The Day of the Dead Celebration this Sunday October 29 at 10 am based on the traditional Mexican holiday. We will again create an altar to honor those who have gone before us in the faith. You are invited to bring photos of your loved ones and/or someone you’d like to honor to be placed on the altar. They will be up through the All Saints Sunday, Nov. 5^th. Let us remember members of our family, friends and church who were important to our lives.

The Veils Are Thin: Connecting to the Other Side

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.

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.

Children’s Time                “God Wants Us to Have Some Fun”                    Pastor John

Special Music: Children’s Piano Recital
Ethan, Elizabeth, Isaiah and Allyson
(Under the tutelage of Marina Thomas)

Message                  “A Message from the Other Side”                 Uninvited Visitor

Rumor has it that the “Uninvited Visitor” got a facelift and is eager to show off its new look. 
Oh, by the way, it has a new message to deliver from the other side.