First United Methodist Church

You are a chosen people, chosen by God, to speak and do wonderful things to reflect God’s light (1 Peter 2:9)

One of the most powerful scriptures we draw upon during Lent is the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:1–11. Forty days he walked through the wilderness while the devil (Greek, diabolos = accuser, enemy, adversary) tempted him with food, security, and power. Later, the religious and self-righteous folks of his day would tempt Jesus with malice. In many ways, we all face these temptations.

Yet, these are often subtle temptations. They’re not as bold as the devil who comes to us and offers us something we want. No, they are more like pricks, pokes, prods that tempt us to act out in ways that betray our Christianity.

Jesus offers us a better example. Each time he was tested, he turned to a reliance upon God demonstrating the greater laws of mercy, kindness, humility, and love.
In the same way, in our time of pain or turmoil, we can turn to God and ask for guidance. We can meditate on the scriptures, seek the wise council of a friend, or study how someone else handled it – good or bad.

Then, we ask ourselves, how can my response demonstrate the greater laws of the Kingdom of God? How can my response be one of mercy, kindness, humility, and love? How can my response reflect the wonderfulness of God and God’s light?

When it comes down to it, we are evangelists. You are an evangelist. What you do conveys what you believe about God.

We are in a critical time for the church. Now, more than ever before, we must reflect that light, love, and the goodness of God.

Every day is a new opportunity. Even when we don’t feel like being kind, that’s the most important time to be kind, humble, merciful, or loving. That’s the nature of the gospel.

I once heard an old friend say, “Each one can reach one.” That means each one of us can reach one other person. That when we share God’s love, we can share it with one more person. We can invite one more person to church. We can tell one more person about Jesus. We can be kind to one more person. Each one of us can reach another person. If we all did this, and brought them to church, our church would double in size overnight and the kingdom of God would grow.

That’s really what Jesus came to do. He offers us all a chance to be a part of and grow the Kingdom of God. If we go out and do that, then those who might tempt us won’t stand a chance and the gates of hell will not prevail.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Daniel

Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter from Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday. At FUMC the week is full of impactful events to enrich your experience leading up to Easter Sunday. Each year, we start the week with a palm processional by our childern & youth at both services on Palm Sunday! It's great to see the young people of our church remembering and celebrating Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem! This year the children will also be singing on Palm Sunday! Wednesday, you are invited to a Service of Prayer & Healing. This will be a special time for prayer and anointing with oil as we seek healing and wholeness approaching Easter. Thursday we will have our Maundy Thursday Service as we remember Jesus' time with the disciples in the upper room as he washed their feet and broke bread with them. Then on Friday we will have our Tenebrae service. This is a solemn and powerful service. The gradual extinguishing of candles symbolizes the approaching darkness of Jesus' death and the hopelessness in the world without God. The service concludes in darkness. We leave in silence to ponder the impact of Christ's death and await the Resurrection. Saturday is our Easter Extranza Family Event. It has always been important to this church to provide an Easter event for children that focuses on Jesus and the true meaning of Easter. Then comes Easter Sunday! He is risen, we proclaim as we celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection!

Too often most of our culture wants to go from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, and they don't want to encounter the pain and suffering that Christ went through in order for us to get to where we are today. The difficult days leading up to Easter Sunday are so very important. Yes it’s dark, but the days like Good Friday are there to remind us of our brokenness, our humanness, and our need to encounter the cross today. Experiencing all the days of Holy Week really helps us to understand and feel the immense joy of Easter Morning! For this reason, we encourage you to try to attend as many of these events as you can.

This Easter, let’s consider the wonder of God's power and His love for us. He made the ultimate selfless sacrifice for us that we may live forever. He did this because He loves us. He knows us. He knows what we have done. He knows what we are going to do. But He loves us regardless. God doesn't need our praise or our service to Him; He desires it. It’s not what we do for God that gets us into heaven and gives us a right relationship with Him. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are able to experience these things.

March 24: Palm Sunday Services 9:00am & 11:00am

March 27: Holy Wednesday • Service of Prayer & Healing 6:00pm

March 28: Maundy Thursday Service 6:30pm

March 29: Good Friday • Tenebrae Service 6:30pm

March 30: Easter Extravaganza Family Event 11:00am - 1:00pm

March 31: Easter Sunday Services 9:00am & 11:00am

Hello Families!

We have had some crazy weather these past couple weeks but Spring is on the way! Thank you for your patience these last couple Wednesdays while we were a bit misplaced to accomodate the voting in the UMAC. We will be back to our usual placement this Wednesday. We will also be having a fellowship dinner this week and you and your family are invited to join us when you pick up your kids at 5:15.

As we continue through Lent, we are making plans for Holy Week which gives us an opportunity to help and encourage children to understand the significance of the days before Christ's crucifixion and the resurrection. Holy Week, also known as Passion Week, is the week before Easter, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending on Easter. I am including an 8 day Easter family devotional which will help you prepare for Easter. It begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. I hope you will use this tool with your kids. You can access it with the button below. The church has seceral events planned that week and I encourage to attend as many as you can. You can details on the Holy Week events in this newsletter.

Speaking of Holy Week, the children will be processing with palms and singing on Palm Sunday, March 24th at both the 9:00 and 11:00 services. We have been preparing our song and the kids are doing a great job and are ready to do it for all their friends and family! Please have your kids here by 8:50. at the back of the Crossroads worship space. Then before 11:00 we woill meet in the Narthex just outside the sanctuary. If you wish, you may leave after the kids sing at 11:00.

One of the Holy Week events we have planned is our anual Easter Extravaganza! This is an Easter Event for familiues on Saturday, March 30th from 11:00 to 1:00. There will be special Easter games, snack and other activities including an Easter Escape room. Don't forget your baskets because we will end the event with an Easter Egg Hunt!

Have a blessed month of March and Happy Easter!

Hello 605 Friends and Family,

This past month has been so filling and absolutely crazy.

We attended Veritas at the end of the month and it was a blast. We worshiped, got to share in the word with an amazing keynote speaker who talked about how pressure can make us better and God calls us to be the only you there is. We were encouraged to pray and sit with God through the pressure and allow it to shape us, strengthen us, and create us into our original selves because God doesn’t make copies. We also got to experience some fun times of learning some new skills, playing games with each other, and meeting other students and leaders within the conference. We were so grateful for the time that we got to spend together at Veritas.

We also spent the month of February talking about Love. We have learned about the different kinds of love throughout the Bible and about how God is love and calls us to be love to one another. We learned how to love your neighbor, how God loves us unconditionally and through intense loyalty, and how Jesus modeled the perfect kind of love through service.

In the month of March we will be exploring Jesus’ life, the events leading up to Easter event, and what all of this means for us.

We also have some awesome events coming up:
• Winter Jam is Friday March 15^th. Join us as we travel to Springfield for an awesome night of worship and Fellowship.
• Young Christians Weekend is coming April 6-7^th.
• OMP Registration will be happening this month. Please keep an eye out for more information in your email and being announced in church! We would love to have your students join us for this awesome week of service at the end of June.

Thank you all so much for your support of the Youth Ministry and continuing to help us grow.

Blessings,

Kyra Anthony

VERITAS 2024