Worship

Worship is central to our life at First Congregational Church

In worship, we often laugh and sometimes we cry together. We sometimes experience challenge, sometimes comfort and sometimes both at once. And we always have music and welcome. We always share in prayer and hear God's word. We always seek to connect with our most authentic selves, one another and God's Spirit that is already around, among and within us. We seek to share in worship that is spiritually nourishing, challenging and even transformative. We hope that, by worshiping together, we are better equipped to follow Jesus' way of love, peace and justice as individuals and as a community.

We come just as we are to worship -- doubting or certain, delighting in God's love or unsure if God's love really includes us, feeling spiritually hungry and sometimes physically hungry, too. Some of us grew up in this congregation, some of us came from other Christian traditions and some of us discovered this as a place where we could ask our questions about spirituality, faith, God, Jesus and just about anything else you can come up with. So come, whatever you believe. Come, whatever your background. Come, whatever your questions. Come, whatever your age. Come, because God is love and you are God's beloved.

In worship, we seek to live out our 5 Core Values:

Extravagant Welcome

Lifelong Journey

Engaging With the World

Ministry of All Believers

Authentic Community

SEASONAL WORSHIP

Read About Autumn 2020 Worship Here

We organize our worship into seasons, and worship in each season is planned and prepared by a Seasonal Team. This seasonal team (generally composed of 5-12 people) chooses a theme to help us explore a particular part of our relationship to God and each other as well as different ways of worshiping together. They design our worship and prepare our sanctuary so that it will invite us into the spirit of the them. If you would like to participate in a Seasonal Team, please contact our Pastor.

Our Winter Season includes Advent (the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas when we prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of Emmanuel, God with us), Christmas and Epiphany (when we remember the journey and gifts of the wise people who came to honor the baby Jesus).

Our Spring Season takes us through the 40 days of Lent. We journey with Jesus and the disciples through Holy Week (Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) and into Easter. Our Spring Season continues through our Easter season and generally concludes around Memorial Day weekend.

Our Summer Season often begins with Pentecost Sunday when we celebrate the Holy Spirit being poured out on the early followers of Jesus. The season continues through the Sunday before Labor Day. Our summer season tends to be less traditional and offers us a time to explore different ways of worshiping together. The choir and many of our church's committees take the summer off as people travel and rest. (See what we did for Summer 2020 Worship.)

Our Autumn Season takes us through the school year and generally includes celebrations of World Communion Sunday, our Stewardship campaign, All Saints Sunday and Thanksgiving.