Sunday Morning Worship:
Our main weekly worship service is held at 10 a.m. in the Sanctuary, upstairs, year-round. You are invited to follow in the Way of Jesus and encounter the ancient but always-fresh word of God with us in community. Music, prayer, preaching and testimonial by our gifted roster of lay liturgists mark this time together. Coffee hour follows worship, with an opportunity for further welcome and a hearty feast. Sermon digestion and discussion mingles with munching upon the fabulous spread.

Rest & Bread:
Rest and Bread is our new, mid week service of prayer and communion. It begins at 6:15 in the chapel, and lasts about half an hour. You are invited for quiet mediation at 6:00 pm, and the service itself is simple and deep - a balm, and time of reflection, prayer, and communion. Neighbors and friends are especially welcome.

Communion:
First Sunday of every month. People of ALL faiths are welcome to participate!

Sunday School:
Church school is available for children every Sunday durring our worship time.

Coffee Hour:
Snackables and Equal Exchange fair trade coffee served every Sunday after worship, downstairs in Duhamel Hall.

Holy Days and Holidays:
At First Church we love to celebrate, and really live into the seasons with special worship that employs all the senses. Some of our services have included a Blues Christmas for the Dark Days, an outdoor Winter Solstice service, Passover Seder for Holy Week, Animal Blessings, Jazz Worship and World Music Sunday for Earth Day.

To find other services and programs at First Church, visit our programs page.


Worship Style at First Church

The United Church of Christ, as a non-hierarchical “free church” tradition, has no set liturgy: no words that we must use in worship week after week. We have a lot of freedom in how we worship, and as such use our flexibility to be playful, creative, and to respond to the specific spiritual needs of the congregation as well as to current events and themes in the larger culture. Still, we usually follow a basic order of worship, in order to provide a familiar structure within which to worship God and model our lives on the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Above all, we believe that worship is liturgy, from the Greek, leitourgia, “the work of the people.” Each of us is given by God a unique mind, heart, conscience and life experience. It is our responsibility to bring our ideas and experiences before one another, as together we interpret God’s word. Lay liturgists at First Church play an essential and significant role in every service of worship, leading prayers, preaching occasionally, and offering mission moments and testimonials.

No one individual has a monopoly on God’s truth. The revelation of God is ongoing, and our life experiences help break scripture open again and again in new ways. This is our work (and play!) each Sunday morning. Hear this quote from one of our forebears in the faith, Rev. John Robinson, addressed to the Pilgrims as they arrived in this country to inaugurate a more democratic, open way of being church: “There is more truth and light yet to break forth from God’s word!”