Easter Sunrise: Sunday, April 4^th @ 6:30am via http://facebook.com/firstcongregationalej/ We will not be physically meeting for our Easter Sunrise Service this year, unfortunately.  However, Rev. Mendes will again have a live sunrise service in some beautiful location on the church’s Facebook page where we will all experience a Vermont sunrise as we celebrate the miracle of Christ’s resurrection.  This will be a special ecumenical event for Rev. Mark Mendes will be welcoming Rev. Karen Mendes and the First Baptist Church of Burlington to this sacred event.  Rev. Karen Mendes will save Rev. Mark and our entire community by bringing her angelic voice to the occasion.  Together, they will worship Jesus, commemorate his resurrection, and proclaim the continuing presence of Jesus within our world and our midst.  You will not want to miss this once in a lifetime occasion.  They will begin their live stream at 6:30 a.m. on April 4^th.

Easter Celebration: Sunday, April 4^th @ 10am via http://youtube.com/c/fccej. With Easter being such a high and grand occasion, the Staff and Executive Committee determined to pre-tape the service and play it at 10 a.m. on Easter morning.  With so many churches planning streamed services at 10 a.m. on Easter morning, we did not want the most sacred of all services to suffer a technological crash.   Both the Sanctuary Choir and Finally @ First are busy recording some magnificent music.  The Staff and Deacons are all preparing their parts and Rev. Josh is ensuring that it is all expertly pieced together and ready to go.  You will be able to reach the Easter Celebration by going to our webpage and clicking on the live service tab. 

Note: The Bulletin for this service is linked below.

View the service on our official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/fccej

Everyone likes to wave palms and remember when Jesus entered Jerusalem. And many of us like to keep our palms from Palm Sunday and put them up somewhere to remind us of last year’s Holy Week remembrances and celebrations. And those of us that are religious fanatics like to save our palms to burn them for the following year’s ashes on Ash Wednesday. So, despite not being in worship on Palm Sunday we are going to place palms on a clearly marked table out in the parking lot on March 28th / Palm Sunday. You are free to come by any time between 9:00 a.m. and 12 noon. Enjoy and be sure to wave them out the window on your way home!

Ash Wednesday. Wednesday, February 17th, 2021 @ 7pm via Zoom.
Zoom ID# 882 4274 4962 or use this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88242744962?pwd=RU9CNW1VUHc0N1RwWGg4TTVsa1daZz09
Lent is one of the sacred times in the life of the Christian Church. It is a time to reflect on our faith and how we live it out in today’s world. It is also a time to remember some of the more difficult experiences in Christ’s life that culminated in his death. Christians have long used this time as an opportunity to delve into life issues that might be a bit deeper and more meaningful than usual. During this Covid time, we will be trying to continue this long tradition and offer some of the usual offerings with a technological twist. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, a time when we place ashes on our head to remember our shared humanity; traditionally we remember our shared culpability in human sin, but we also remember that ashes ground us in the earth, a common element in all our creation and a sacred gift from God. Traditionally, the ashes come from last year’s palms that we waved to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem and each year I burn last year’s palms. However, with Covid, I invite all of you to burn your own palms [if you saved one and if my stash of last year’s palms will be available in the Church Street entryway] and place ashes on your own forehead or wrist or those of your family’s when we invite you to do so during the service. Hope to see you there.