Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 10:00 am
You are invited to the in-person Sunday Service on March 17 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 of Lent
Sunday, March 17, 2024, 10 am
Following worship there will be a St. Patrick’s Day lunch with corn beef and cabbage prepared by Marjorie and Marieta for our enjoyment this Sunday. You are invited to wear something green for the occasion.
Children’s Time: “St. Patrick’s Day” by Pastor John
Special Music: I Believe in a Hill Called Mt. Calvary by Carmelita Abenoja, solo
Words by Dale Oldham, Gloria & William Gaither,
Music by William J. Gaither Arranged by Joy T. Nilo,
Incorporating “The Old Rugged Cross” Words & Music by George Bennard
Message Past Is Prologue Rev. John Song
Part 2) “Implication for the Collective Life”
“What’s past is prologue.”
~ a quotation of William Shakespeare from his play The Tempest
The phrase “What’s past is prologue” means that history sets the context for the present. For this reason, we can’t forget the lessons of history because the past is a preface to the future. By knowing what has happened in the past, we can determine appropriate courses of action for creating a better present and future.
This Sunday in the second part of the “Past Is Prologue,” we will examine the application of the meaning of “What’s past is prologue” at a societal level.
“Learning history is an antidote to the hubris of the present.”
~ David McCullough, the 20th century American historian
“The headmistress of my girls school many years ago said to us, ‘Have the courage to be disturbed, to learn about the Holocaust and see what evil can mean, to learn about slavery and think about exploitation that is empowered by an ideology of race that we haven’t entirely dismantled. Understand what people did in the past so that you can, in the present, better critique your own assumptions, your own blindnesses, and make a world that’s a better world.’ If we don’t acknowledge those realities, we are disempowered as human beings.”
~ Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard from 2007-2018, warning against white washing history
“Who we are now is where we come from. The past is with us. We can’t pretend that it’s not, even as we misrepresent it or try to erase it. How do we have history that’s not uncomfortable? How do we have any kind of education that doesn’t make you in some way uncomfortable? Education asks you to examine the truth and make changes for better present.”
~ Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard from 2007-2018, warning against white washing history
“Who controls the past controls the future.”
~ George Orwell
“The truth will make you free.”
~ John 8:32
Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 10:00 am
You are invited to the in-person Sunday Service on March 10 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 of Lent
Sunday, March 10, 2024, 10 am
*Spring Forward/ Daylight Saving Time begins on March 10
Remember to set your clocks 1 hour ahead on Saturday evening before going to bed!
UMCOR Sunday Offering – March 10, 2024: 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 your 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: “Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things” by Pastor John
Special Music: Open Rolling Hills by Brandon & Trisha Kett
Words & Music by Brandon Kett
I was inspired to write “Open Rolling Hills” while hiking the hills above the Pajaro Valley that spreads out below where I live. It was inspired by a hike up into the hills of a cattle ranch above Carlton Road east of Watsonville in 2021. The song is about while walking in nature, one looks back on life and reflects on memories and how aging reminds us that we will have to leave someday.
“What is past is prologue”, inscribed under the statue Present (1935, Robert Aitken)
located on the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
Message: “Past Is Prologue” by Rev. John Song
“What’s past is prologue.”
~ a quotation of William Shakespeare from his play The Tempest
The phrase means that history sets the context for the present. For this reason, we can’t forget the lessons of history because the past is a preface to the future. By knowing what has happened in the past, we can determine appropriate courses of action for a better future.
We will examine the application of the meaning of “What’s past is prologue” in both the personal and societal levels. How can this wisdom qualitatively improve our personal lives and the shared collective life in society?
“Risking honesty with yourself is a sacred act.
It takes courage to disclose truth, even to yourself.”
~ James Finley
“The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.”
~ Pema Chodron, an American Tibetan Buddhist nun
“All of our regrets come from a lack of courage.”
~ Bronnie Ware
“Who we are now is where we come from. How do we have history that’s not uncomfortable? How do we have any kind of education that doesn’t make you in some way uncomfortable? Education asks you to examine the truth and make changes for a better present.”
~ Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard from 2007-2018, warning against white washing history
“Who controls the past controls the future.”
~ George Orwell
Morning Workshop Free to Public ~ Un-Clobbering the Bible: What Does the Bible Really Say about LGBTQ+ Identities?
REGISTER HERE!
Join us for in-person worship this Sunday, March 3, 2024 at 10:00 am
You are invited to the in-person Sunday Service on March 3 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 with Holy Communion
Sunday, March 3, 2024, 10 am
Children’s Time: “Flaco, The Call of the Wild” by Pastor John
Message: “What Flaco Taught Us About Ourselves” by Rev. John Song
Flaco, a wild Eurasian eagle-owl, is an Exodus story and Easter story wrapped into one. Born in captivity, Flaco lived a dozen years in a comfortable cage in the Central Park Zoo. But Flaco’s life at the zoo was unremarkable. Only after he was freed from the Central Park Zoo by a vandal in February 2023, he began to inspire true awe. For little over a year before his untimely death, Flaco was able to live the life he was created to live, in freedom and to his true nature. Why were we so captivated by Flaco and what we have learned about ourselves?
“It’s not how much time you have in life but how much life you have in time.”
~ Hong Kong activist who was fighting for democracy while dying of cancer
“I am the resurrection and the life.
~ John 11:25
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
~ John 10:10