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.”

You are invited to the Sunday Service on February 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.

First Sunday in Lent
Sunday, February 22, 2026, 10 am

An Invitation to Lent: The word “Lent” is related to Latin cognates meaning long and slow (“lente,” “lento”). Like Advent, Lent is a speed bump in the year, inviting us into reflection, confession, and prayer, a time of remembering God’s costly love for us. Lent is a time of reflection and soul-searching as we find our way back to God and discovering God’s great love for us and our aching world. In these 40 days of Lent, we discover how grace flows through our hearts and hands to the world, the world which God loves so dearly that he gave his only begotten son that we might live. “God so love the world He gave his only begotten son.” (John 3:16)

Children’s Time              “What Alysa Liu Teach Us?”               Pastor John

Alysa Liu is now an Olympic figure skating champion. At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, she won the gold medal in the team competition and the gold medal in the women’s singles figure skating event, becoming the Olympic women’s singles champion and the first American woman in 24 years to win that title. Her personal journey is compelling and inspiring. It is a story of lost and found. She walked away from skating in order to find herself. When she found herself, she returned to skating with joy and freedom.

Choir Anthem
I Believe In A Hill Called Mt. Calvary
Words by Dale Oldham, Gloria and William Gaither
Music by Wlliam Gaither. Arranged by Joy T. Nilo
Incorporating Refrain of “The Old Rugged Cross”

Message                    “What Babies Teach Us?”                  Rev. John Song

Why are we enthralled when we see babies smiling back at us? If you stop to think about it, a baby is quite useless and helpless. They can’t feed themselves, clean up their own mess, or help with any of life’s responsibilities.

And yet, if a baby was trapped inside a burning house, we wouldn’t hesitate—we would risk everything to save that child. We wouldn’t question whether it was the right thing to do. We would simply know it was worth it.

Babies have something to teach us that we have lost along the way. Who was I before I lost myself?

1 Peter 2:1-3 (The Message)

“So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure love. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.”