You are invited to the Palm Sunday Service on March 29, 2026 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.

Palm/Passion Sunday
Sunday, March 29, 2026, 10 am

Children’s Time               “The Ten Commandments”                Pastor John

Ten Commandments for Kids

1. Make God the most important thing in your life. Therefore, seek first God and his kingdom and everything else will fall into rightful places.
2. Don’t let anything take place of God.
3. Don’t dishonor God with hateful speech and hurtful actions. Be thoughtful and kind in speech and actions.           
4. Honor the Lord by setting aside one day a week to rest and commune with God, the Creator, the Source of everything.
5. Love and respect your parents.
6. Do no harm to others through words and deeds, speech and actions.
7. Be faithful to each other by keeping your marriage promise to love one another.
8. Don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to you. If you want something, ask.
9. Always tell the truth. Commit your life to speaking the truth in the service of love.
10. Be happy with what you have. Don’t desire other people’s things. Don’t let jealousy or envy of others take away the joy of God’s blessings and continuous, generous outpouring of God’s love on you. 

Choir Anthem: Sing Hosanna!
Words by Dorothy Abbot, Music by Ellen Jane Lorenz

Message                         “Desire: Satan vs Jesus”                       Rev. John Song

This is a continuation of the message from last Sunday on “Desire: The 10 Commandments.” What is desire? According to Girard, Satan manipulates the desire to sow chaos and violence to rule his worldly kingdom. Jesus, on the other hand, offers us an alternative desire that leads to the cessation of wants that leads to peace with ourselves and with our neighbors. 

[René Girard (1923 – 2015), an eminent French historical anthropologist and philosophical theorist. He revolutionized our understanding of ourselves, of human origins, and of the risks and promise for our future as a species.]

You are invited to the Sunday Service on March 22, 2026 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.

Fifth Sunday in Lent
Sunday, March 22, 2026, 10 am

UMCOR Sunday Offering: This Sunday is our special offering for UMCOR (the United Methodist Committee on Relief). UMCOR envelopes are available next to the bulletins in the narthex. Your gifts ensure UMCOR can respond swiftly to disasters around the world and as a source of hope and healing for those left most vulnerable. Please make the check to “Watsonville First UMC” and mark “UMCOR” and place it in the offering plate or mail it to the church. Thank you!

Children’s Time                “The Ten Commandments”                 Pastor John

Special Music                                                   Duet: Trisha and Brandon Kett

My Shining (for him)
by Trisha O. Kett 2014

Skies of Gray (for her)
by Brandon Kett 2018

Today is Trisha and Brandon’s 46th wedding anniversary. Trisha wrote and recorded her song for Brandon in 2014 as a surprise anniversary present. Brandon composed his song 4 years later as a recognition of how playing music with Trisha (and others) brightens his mood.

Brandon and Trisha put out 25 CDs of their songs back in the narthex for you to take for free. There is also a basket, if you wish to make a free donation to go towards our “Coffee Hour Refreshment Program.”

Message             “Desire and The Ten Commandments”           Rev. John Song

René Girard (1923 – 2015), a French historical anthropologist and philosophical theorist, revolutionized our understanding of ourselves, of human origins, and of the risks and promise for our future as a species.

What is desire? According to Girard, desire is not innate but learned from desiring other people’s desire. This is the primary reason for causing enmity with others that leads to committing violence against each other. It is telling why the last five precepts of The Ten Commandments are about caution against desiring what your neighbors desire. According to Girard, Satan manipulates desire to sow chaos and violence in society. Jesus, the human face of God, reveals once and for all on the Cross the fallacy of Satan’s work in the world. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, offers us the Way of saving from ourselves, individually and collectively.

Exodus 20: 13-17

You shall not kill (murder).
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey,
or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

You are invited to the Sunday Service on March 15, 2026 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.

Fourth Sunday in Lent
Sunday, March 15, 2026, 10 am

Remembrance of Pastor Robin will be held next Sunday, March 15, 10 am Service during “Joys & Concerns”. This will be an opportunity for those who would like to share their thoughts, appreciations or stories about Rev. Robin Mathews-Johnson.

Pastor Robin served the California-Nevada Conference, pastoring at Watsonville First United Methodist Church from 1999 through 2021 for 22 years, and Fresno Wesley UMC until December 2024. After a battle with cancer, Rev. Robin Mathews-Johnson died on November 14, 2025. A memorial service was held on January 17, 2026, at Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula.

Children’s Time     “When You Lose Someone You Love”       Pastor John

Special Music          Han-O-back-nyon (500 Years of Sorrow)          John Song
(Traditional Korean folk song of lamentation)

Message            “Living Through Loss and Grief”            Rev. John Song  

To be human is to know grief, whether for the loss of a relationship, a loved one, or your health. Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. Grief happens. It has many forms and we all experience it differently. We will explore together “Living Through Loss and Grief.”

“Anything that is worth loving will break your heart.”
~ David Whyte, Irish poet

“Grief is a last and final translation of an act of love.
Grieving is the last act of loving someone.
And this last act never ends because you can never stop loving the other.”
~ Ocean Vuong, the Vietnamese-American poet, essayist and novelist

Psalms 130:1-2
Help, God—I’ve hit rock bottom!
Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
Listen to my cries for mercy.

Psalms 13:1-3
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

You are invited to the Sunday Service on March 8, 2026 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.

Third Sunday in Lent
Sunday, March 8, 2026, 10 am

Children’s Time                     “The Pilgrim’s Tale”                  Pastor John

The Way of a Pilgrim or The Pilgrim’s Tale, is the English title of a 19th-century Russian work, recounting the narrator’s journey as a mendicant pilgrim in search of “pray without ceasing” as St. Paul instructed. The pilgrim’s travels take him through southern and central Ukraine, Russia, and Siberia where he discovers the power of the Jesus Prayer.

Choir Anthem
I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked
Words: Daniel S. Twohig , Music: Geoffrey O’Hara, Arr.: Kenneth Downing

Message             “The Jesus Prayer: Prayer of the Heart”          Rev. John Song

As a Lenten practice, I am going to introduce an ancient Christian prayer known as the “Jesus Prayer” or “Prayer of the Heart” that was used starting from the 3^rd century. They believed that simply invoking the precious name of “Jesus” had a powerful effect. This practice is closely associated with the spirituality of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the mystical tradition called Hesychasm, which emphasizes inner stillness and continual prayer.

Luke 18:1-14
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector 

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Thessalonians 5:17
“Pray without ceasing.”   

You are invited to the Sunday Service on March 1, 2026 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.

Second Sunday in Lent
With Holy Communion
Sunday, March 1, 2026, 10 am

Children’s Time               “What Is Confirmation?”                 Pastor John

Message          “The Fifth Season: Age Like a Meteor”          Rev. John Song

The message is on aging and entering the “Fifth Season” of our lives. The metaphor of entering into late autumn and winter season of life is associated with losing all our leaves and we wither. It’s dark and barren, and then we die before we get to have another spring.

I would like to offer you another metaphor. And that is a meteor. So we all know that meteors, they become brighter and brighter till there’s nothing left but light. And what struck me is that this is a wonderful metaphor for the journey of a spirit in a body on earth through a lifetime. Over a lifetime, while our outer casing flakes off, we get brighter and brighter. Very few meteors ever reached the earth because most of them flake off as they enter the atmosphere through frictions. And they become brighter and brighter till there’s nothing left but light. Everything turns remarkably brilliant.

Luke 5:4
“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
‘Cast your net out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’”

John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”