'Easter' Tagged Posts (Page 2)

'Easter' Tagged Posts (Page 2)

February News

First Church Family:               Happy New Year! It seems almost too late to share that, doesn’t it, as we are already well into 2023. But the happiness I wish for you is the happiness that Jesus talked about in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) – the passage on which we will focus in worship over the coming weeks; for the term “blessed” that Jesus used really means “happy,” though in a different way that we usually think about it. Please be…

Easter Announcements

First Church Family: What a blessed Lent we have had, through the Palm Sunday’s “The Last Supper Tableau”! Tonight at 6:00PM, we will continue to walk with Jesus to the Cross, as we participate in a Maundy/Holy Thursday Communion Service. For the first time in two years, you will have the opportunity to receive elements of bread and juice from the pastors. (The cellophane, pre-packaged wafers and juice will also be available, should you prefer that.) Then tomorrow, we will gather at St. Stephen’s…

Holy Week

First Church Family:      After church on Palm Sunday, I sat in my office after experiencing our Last Supper Tableau program. I was exhausted but fulfilled, having had the privilege of serving with fellow followers of Christ during the program.      At the close of the service, each one of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him, leaving Him with the weight of the world on His shoulders. Can you imagine the darkness, pain, and discouragement He experienced, having everyone betray, deny, and…

Spring Is Coming

First Church Family,     I pray that you are enjoying seeing March flowers bloom. Spring will be here soon!     Our Lenten worship theme is “The Bible: Full of Failures”, with a special focus on those who failed Jesus leading up to His Crucifixion.     All of our worship will be directing us to a powerful experience of Holy Week, beginning on Palm/Passion Sunday, and extending through Easter Sunday, April 17.     Please put the date of Palm/Passion Sunday, April 10, on your calendars…

In-Person Worship

First Church Family, What a glorious Easter season we enjoyed at FUMC! Easter Sunday was the first Sunday we didn’t rigidly limit the number of people in our Sanctuary, but we were well under our maximum of people limited by COVID protocols. And what a great feeling it was to be together! Our total worship attendance (including those worshiping with us online) was well over 400 persons. Many thanks to staff and volunteers who worked together to ensure our safety as they encouraged COVID-19…

Easter Week

Dear First Church Family, Holy Week blessings to you! What a difference in mood we experience during this sacred time of year. Last Sunday, we began worship with Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem, amid shouts of “Hosanna.” In fact, things were going so well that John says the Pharisees murmured: “Look! The whole world has gone after Him!” (John 12:19) Everything seemed wonderful! But Jesus knew it wouldn’t last. He knew how fickle crowds could be. He knew that the faces of people inside…

April Message

First Church Family, I continue to pray for you as we begin to move through spring. I pray that your life is being renewed just as our surroundings are. Something we don’t often talk about is the many miles Jesus walked during his ministry. There were no trains, planes, or automobiles to help in His transportation. And walking was a slow process. Interestingly, though, He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a donkey. He only rode it a couple…

Passion Sunday

First Church Family, I pray you are enjoying some of the signals that spring is here, arriving this past weekend. And God’s creation is alive with new life: blooming daffodils and  jonquils, budding and flowering trees, Hostas breaking the surface of the ground, and the like. Last Sunday we gave in-person worship a trial run in our Sanctuary with a  limited number of people. And things couldn’t have gone better. This coming Sunday, Palm/Passion Sunday, we will hold in-person worship at  10:00am in our Christian Life Center.…

Resurrection Greetings!

March 22, 2021 Resurrection Greetings! Here we are again at that beautiful time of year we know as Easter. Many have rightly called it the “Season of Resurrection,” because it highlights the most amazing event in all of human history: the moment God raised Jesus from the grave! As we enter this blessed season, I’m reminded that things are different than they used to be. We are still cautious about our comings and goings, even though we are beginning in-person…

March Message

Who Has You? One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat…

Lent and Pastor Dave Up-Date

First Church Family, I pray you are doing well this week. We have entered the season of Lent together and are bound together through the daily devotions provided by many individuals in our church and produced so masterfully by our Sheila Triplett Brady, Sarah Sponenburg, and Ivey Deitz. Please make it a practice in your family to read and meditate over those daily. In that way, we will be in unity of spirit during this Holy season. Lent is the forty days that precede Easter.…