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.”
