You are invited to the Palm Passion Sunday Service with Holy Baptism on April 13 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 with Holy Baptism
Sunday, April 13, 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.]
You are invited to the celebration of Holy Baptism of Lorrie Rubio!
Children’s Time “What Is Baptism?” Pastor John
Matthew 3:13-17
The Baptism of Jesus
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Special Music: Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach
Marina Thomas, Piano Solo
Message Numinous Mystical Fire: Rev. John Song
Part 4) “Transfiguration of St. Seraphim”
St. Seraphim is one of the most renowned Russian saints and is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. He is generally considered the greatest of the 18th-century startsy (elder spiritual advisor). Seraphim extended the monastic teachings contemplation, and self-denial to the layperson. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was to receive the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst his devotees is “acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”
“In the times in which we live, we have reached such a degree of lukewarmness and lack of ardor towards communion with God, we have departed almost entirely from the true Christian life. Our lack of understanding of God results from the fact that we have departed so far from the primitive simplicity of Christian knowledge. As the soul soars upwards, the soul is reduced to absolute dumbness both of speech and thought.”
~ St. Seraphim of Sarov, the 18th century Russian saint (1754 – 1833)
Divine Light: Mystery of “Transfiguration”
“The divine light becomes the principle of our understanding;
in it we come to know God and ourselves.
The divine light manifests itself in this life in space and in time.
It is revealed in history, but it is not of this world. It is eternal.”
~ Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
Exodus 34: 29-30, 33-35
The Shining Face of Moses
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Transfiguration of St. Seraphim
