Menu
Menu
In the wake of all that is going on around us, in our world and even in our denomination, it seems especially important to use this Lenten season as a time to deeply reflect and consider who we are as a faith community.
Our 2019 Lenten Theme, This Is Us offers the opportunity for such deep reflection of what we value as a church, including diversity of worship experiences, community, growth in discipleship, compassion and generosity, and sharing God’s love with others. Each week of Lent 2019 there will be a value that we focus on together as well as an action item to actively express that value. Please join us in participating in all of these as you are able to deepen your experience of Lent and our churchwide This Is Us worship theme!
Learn more about this year’s Lent theme from Rev. Linda McDermottIn this special edition of CONNECT you’ll find stories, a weekly devotional, and a fully detailed schedule of all our 2019 Lent worship, study, and programming offerings. Pick up your Lent CONNECT (and grab a few for your friends and neighbors!) from the Welcome Center, Narthex, and Main Office.
read it online
WORSHIPGathering to focus on God together
A stirring arrangement of “Lord, You Give the Great Commission” by Marty Haugen will be presented by Choral Union.
Value: Evangelism
Action Item: Invite someone to come to church with you. Cards will be provided during worship to offer reminders and details to your guest.
“Great is Thy Faithfulness” will be sung by Choral Union in a rousing arrangement by Ovid Young.
Value: Discipleship
Action Item: Use the Healthy Plate Discipleship Check-In card provided in worship (or take the quick and easy assessment online) to evaluate the six areas of our Healthy Plate framework — worship, serve, give, learn, play, and pray — in your life. Your plate may be too full or too empty, and we want to help you have a well-balanced experience when it comes to your life of faith.
Adoramus will sing an original composition by Andrew Steffan, titled “Your Love Lifts My Soul.”
Value: Community
Action Item: To share who we are as a community with others, postcards will be made available with instructions to add your own message of encouragement to others. Mail or hand them out to co-workers or neighbors as a simple way of offering a personal word of kindness as counter-narrative to the troubling conversations and reports we hear so frequently. This Is Us: we encourage one another.
At 9:30, Choral Union will anchor the service; and at 11:00, Cornerstone Youth Choir will sing “What a Wonderful World.”
Value: Compassion
Action Item: Rise Against Hunger: This churchwide “all-play” activity will provide 10,000 people with a box of food essentials. Look for details about shifts and times available and be sure to sign up and join this worthy cause!
Crossroad Singers will be the featured ensemble for this Holy Communion Sunday.
Value: Worship
Action Item: Commit to weekly worship (worship online when you can’t attend in person) at any one (or try them all!) of our FUMCFW worship services.
Taylor White, trumpet player; and Peggy Graff, organist, will perform Concerto in D Major for Trumpet and Continuo by Giuseppe Torelli during this worship service.
Value: Commitment
Action Item: Use the provided prayer card to develop and strengthen your personal practice of prayer.
Community Breakfast
7:15 am | Wesley Hall
Worship
8:30 am | Chapel
9:30 & 11:00 am
Wesley Hall
Rev. Lance Marshall
11:11 am
512 W. 4th St.
Rev. Tom McDermot
10:35 am
Chapel
Dr. Len Delony
On this, the most joyous day of the Christian year, Dr. Tim Bruster will culminate his This Is Us sermon series with a message of celebration and gratitude for who we are as a faith community — and what we do to reflect our deepest core values of Evangelism, Discipleship, Community, Compassion, Worship, and Commitment. Spectacular and festive music will feature Choral Union under the direction of Robert Stovall, along with DFW Brass, and Peggy Graff at the organ. Fifth Street Bells will present its festive arrangement of “Thine Is the Glory,” arranged by Lloyd Larson. Through music, message, and robust congregational singing of our favorite Easter hymns, this very special service of worship will leave you with the soul-stirring glory of Easter and a heart filled with joy.
Community Breakfast
7:15 am | 512 W. 4th St.
Worship
8:30 am | Chapel
Dr. Bill Longsworth
8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 am
Wesley Hall
Rev. Lance Marshall
11:11 am
512 W. 4th St.
Rev. Tom McDermot
We are located in the heart of downtown Fort Worth at 800 West 5th Street. All of the parking lots surrounding the church are available for parking on Easter Sunday — please refer to the map for exact locations.
Complimentary Valet Parking Assistance is available on Easter Sunday between 7:40 am and 12:30 pm for members or visitors who need to save a few extra steps in reaching the Sanctuary, Wesley Hall, and the Main Building. To access this service, please enter from 7th Street and proceed through the Main Lot to the 5th Street ramp near the Garden area. This service is provided by TCU Rent A Frog; tipping is optional.
Value: Remember Your Baptism
Action Item: Take a waterproof prayer card to keep by your sink or in your shower to begin each day remembering that, above all else, you are a child of God.
Ash Wednesday sets the tone for the entire season of Lent as we are introduced to this year’s Lenten Theme, This Is Us. In each of these services (noon and 7:00 pm), Rev. Linda McDermott will introduce the theme by reminding us that we begin our understanding of who we are by claiming our sacred identity and accepting what that will mean in our individual and corporate lives. Choral Union will present a meaningful anthem as we begin our journey through Lent. Services will include the imposition of ashes.
Children will gather for dinner (donations are accepted but not required) followed by a special kid-friendly service in which we will sing songs, participate in many different forms of prayer, and receive the imposition of ashes as we learn about Ash Wednesday and its significance.
In this unique Maundy Thursday service for children, kids will experience a foot-washing ritual, receive Communion, and hear the Bible story as they walk with Jesus on his final night. Donations for dinner are accepted but not required.
On Maundy Thursday, come and experience “The Living Last Supper” in the Sanctuary. Costumed actors will portray Jesus and the twelve disciples’ last meal together around the table before his capture and crucifixion. The setting will be similar to the Leonardo da Vinci painting, which captures the instant just after Jesus reveals that one of his friends will betray him, complete with reactions of shock and rage from the disciples — Simon Peter, James the son Zebedee, John the brother James, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot. Holy Communion will be central to this worship service, and the congregation will be invited to partake in this sacrament as we commune with Christ and one another.
In this very thoughtful Good Friday children’s service, we encourage families to experience together one of the most important, yet challenging, stories of our faith. Offering this story in child-appropriate ways, through scripture and shadow theatre, this service presents the story of Jesus’ final day. Children will receive prayer cords, and families will sing and pray together in this powerful yet peaceful evening service. Donations for dinner are accepted but not required.
This year there will be one Good Friday service, held only in the evening, in a new and powerful format that will feature our Adoramus Chamber Choir and FUMCFW Theatre Arts Ensemble. Through scripture, music, drama, liturgical dance, and visual and performing arts, this moving and sacred worship service will present Jesus’ Journey to the Cross in a way that will transport you to a place of new depth and understanding of the fourteen Stations of the Cross.
SERVEBeing God’s people in the world
Holy Week is right around the corner — and with that comes the PERFECT opportunity to be a part of one of the most meaningful times at FUMCFW. There are opportunities to serve on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course, Easter. This is one of the busiest seasons of worship in the year in the life of FUMCFW and we want to make sure everyone who steps on our campus receives a First Church welcome! We need ushers, as well as greeters both inside the church and in the parking lots. Please arrive 30 minutes before each service. You will be contacted with further instructions.
Volunteer
Contact: Lisa Helm | lhelm@myfumc.org
You can change the world with your own two hands. On March 31, FUMCFW will host a Rise Against Hunger food packaging event in the Justin Youth Building. With 120 volunteers we can package over 20,000 meal kits to a hungry community. This is an all-church project with teens and parents getting the ball rolling at 9:30 am, then all are invited to help from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm. As a part of our observance of Lent and our reflection on who we are as a congregation, this meal packaging event provides an opportunity to reach out in service to others This is, after all, Us. Rise Hunger Now is an international hunger relief agency committed to ending hunger in our lifetime by providing food and life-saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable and by creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources.
volunteer
PLAYEnjoying the good life God gives
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem Mass in D minor” is a choral work accompanied by orchestra and organ. It is a work whose genesis is shrouded in mystery — one that makes it all the more fascinating and emotionally stirring. This work was composed in 1791 and was left unfinished at the time of Mozart’s death at the age of 35 after a relatively sudden illness. It was completed in 1792 by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a well-known composer and conductor of that era.
Please join us as we begin the Holy Week experience with this beloved and widely-celebrated masterpiece featuring Choral Union, 20 members of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Anne S. and Henry B. Paup Sanctuary Pipe Organ. The work will include soloists from Choral Union — Bree Mercer, soprano; Avary Vaughn, alto; Nathan Benavides, tenor; and Christian Teague, bass.
Enjoy pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting, a butterfly release — and more! Complimentary sliders, tacos, and pizza will be available from food trucks. In case of inclement weather, please check our website for more information.
Learn more
LEARNDiscovering and understanding who God is
“What Makes a Hero?” offers us an image of what it looks like to be victorious over trials and temptations. Looking at pop culture heroes and others through the lens of faith, Matt Rawle shows us how Jesus turned the concept of hero on its head. Heroes help us discern the good, fight for what’s right, define identity, execute justice, spark revolution, and save lives.
register
Contact: Gayle Ammerman | gammerman@myfumc.org
Simply, prayer is conversation with God. This six-session study, offered on Wednesdays at 10:15 and 6:00 pm, will explore various types of prayer to feed our relationships with God and one another. Exploring personal and communal practices of prayer expands our diet of prayer, promotes growth as Christ’s disciples, and connects us as a faith community.
register
Contact: Rev. Carol Roberts | croberts@myfumc.org | 817-339-3883
Join Rev. Linda McDermott on a journey through a day-by-day account of Jesus’ final week of life. Most of us are familiar with the events of Thursday (the “Last Supper”) and Friday (Jesus’ crucifixion), but the events of Palm Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday provide depth and fascinating insight into Jesus’ life, teaching, and mission. We will explore each day of Holy Week as presented in the Gospel of Luke, not only reflecting on the historical Jesus, but the Jesus who continues to engage us and invite us to follow.
register
Contact: Gayle Ammerman | gammerman@myfumc.org
PRAYTalking and listening to God’s direction
Deepen your experience of this Season of Lent by following our This Is Us weekly Lenten Devotional, included in our 2019 Lent CONNECT Magazine. In this special edition of CONNECT you’ll also find a fully detailed schedule of all our 2019 Lent worship, study, and programming offerings. Pick up your Lent CONNECT (and grab a few for your friends and neighbors!) from the Welcome Center, Narthex, and Main Office.
read it online
During the season of Lent, a mid-week opportunity is open for you to pause and reflect more deeply about your faith and the world around us. On Wednesdays, the Chapel will be open from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm. Come and go as you are able. A brief service of communal prayer will begin at 12:15 pm.
Contact: Rev. Carol Roberts | croberts@myfumc.org | 817-339-3883
The Labyrinth is an ancient prayer path where you can become more intentional about taking on “the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Our Labyrinth is modeled on the pattern in Chartres Cathedral from the early 1200s. The open Labyrinth marks a sacred space to quietly and prayerfully follow the “pilgrim’s path” while being open to God’s Presence and guidance.
All are welcome to spend time in Labyrinth prayer on Wednesday and Thursday of Holy Week. Someone will be there to greet you in Wesley Hall and will offer reading materials and information to help you get started. Add to your Maundy Thursday experience by walking the Labyrinth before the evening services in the Sanctuary and Chapel (families with children are always welcome!). It generally takes approximately 15 minutes to walk the Labyrinth, but you are welcome to pray there for whatever length of time you feel your soul needs as we approach the climax of the Lenten journey.
GIVEPutting God first in all things
Help us support our church ministries and local community with our Easter Offering. Give online (choose Easter Offering from the drop-down menu) or with a check or donation envelope marked “Easter Offering” in the Sunday offertory, by mail, or in the Main Office.