Lent at First Church
This Lent, First Church will spend time studying words that have been mis-used and mis-understood and learning what else they might mean.
Each week of Lent, we will explore redefining a different term:
- First Sunday of Lent: Sin
- Second Sunday of Lent: Grace
- Third Sunday of Lent: Community
- Fourth Sunday of Lent: Peace (be with you)
- Fifth Sunday of Lent: Little Faith
Here are some things you can explore this season:
- In the sanctuary, on the podium where Emily usually preaches, there’s a prayer book for you to write prayers you’d like named aloud in our service.
- On the altar in the sanctuary, there are candles for you to light if you feel so called. These are for the tender prayers of your heart that you’d like to be in the space but not named aloud. (Candles will also be on the table as you enter the sanctuary if you’d rather a hospitality member light one on your behalf.)
- Following worship each week during Lent (except for March 8), we are gathering for talkbacks in the sanctuary. After worship, you’re invited to get a snack downstairs and then meet in the sanctuary around 11:30 for discussion of the day’s scripture passage and sermon. Emily will be there to loosely facilitate, but really, it’s a chance to connect together as a church family, explore the topics more deeply, and get to know each other more fully as we do.
We also offer a bible study each Wednesday at 10 am where we explore the upcoming Sunday’s text together.
We’d love to have you join us on this Lenten journey, or any Sunday. See below for a full calendar of events and services for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter Sunday.
Lent & Holy Week Calendar
Lent Devotional
- Ash Wednesday, February 18
- Ash Wednesday service at 6 pm
- First Sunday in Lent, February 22
- Sunday worship at 10 am
- Talkbalks at 11:30 am in the sanctuary
- Second Sunday in Lent, March 1
- Sunday worship at 10 am
- Talkbalks at 11:30 am in the sanctuary
- Third Sunday in Lent, March 8
- Sunday worship at 10 am
- Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 15
- Sunday worship at 10 am
- Talkbalks at 11:30 am in the sanctuary
- Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 22
- Sunday worship at 10 am
- Talkbalks at 11:30 am in the sanctuary
HOLY WEEK
- Palm Sunday, March 29
- Sunday worship at 10 am, Palm Sunday Celebration! We wave palms together and cry “Hosanna” as we turn towards Jerusalem together.
- Talkbacks at 11:30 am in the sanctuary
- Maundy Thursday, April 2
- Bread making, 4 pm: Come make bread & “hear and taste the Exodus story.” Why Exodus? Because this is the story Jesus heard & told on Maundy Thursday!
- All Ages Soup Meal at 5:30 pm: All are welcome to gather for fellowship & dinner including bread baked by our teens & soup provided by some of our leaders.
- Maundy Thursday service, 7 pm: A reflective and contemplative Tenebrae Service of music, readings, and Holy Communion.
- Good Friday, April 3
- Good Friday service, 12 pm (tentative), a service of scripture, prayer, and music.
- Easter Sunday, April 5
- Sunrise Service, Knights Hill Beach, 6:10 am: We gather at the Knights Hill Beach in the first hours of the day as the sun rises over the water and we proclaim together, “Christ is Risen!”
- All Ages Outdoor Service & Easter Egg Hunt, 9 am, join us on the church lawn (rain or shine!) for a 10 minute child-focused service followed by an Easter Egg Hunt! (Don’t forget your basket!)
- Easter Service, 10 am, we gather in the sanctuary and online to celebrate resurrection and declare that love wins! Children are warmly welcomed to remain in the sanctuary for the whole worship service.
The Everything Happens Project’s Lent 2026 daily devotional, Bless the Lent We Actually Have, is available for independently guided study. A digital copy can be downloaded here.
From the devotional:
“Lent is our annual rehearsal of the cosmic moment when Jesus’ suffering and death and resurrection will change how we experience death. […] Jesus will walk with us through whatever kind of Lenten day you are having. The lovely one. The garbage one. The one that barely seems like it counted at all. As we toggle through every kind of emotion—boredom, devastation, happiness, irritation—we want to say: bless this Lent. This little guide is your invitation to bless whatever this season is actually bringing you. So let’s stop waiting. This is the one we have. Let’s bless it all.”
All you need to get started are the devotional and 20 minutes each day of Lent (February 18 – April 4).
