If you’re looking for a church that is committed to making and promoting peace in the world (and trying to discern what that means in specific situations), please check us out. We have been a Just Peace church since 1987, and we love to welcome others who are longing for peace.
For three and one-half years we offered sanctuary to Lucio Perez. Thanks be to God, Lucio now has a temporary stay of deportation and is home with his family.
First Church youth spent a week in Philadelphia at BSM, preparing and serving meals, talking with community leaders, and learning how the triplets of evil - racism, poverty, and mass incarceration - damage individuals and communities.
Together we seek to follow the call of Jesus Christ
Empowered by God’s Spirit, we commit ourselves to doing God’s work: seeking justice, loving kindness, making peace, and walking humbly together with God.
We welcome and affirm all people, including people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions into the full life and ministry of the church.
We seek to be a force for the elimination of racism and white privilege. We are engaged in an ongoing process of learning how to help dismantle racism.
Welcome to First Church Amherst! No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, we are glad you are visiting us and look forward to greeting you in person.
First Churchers are a family and community that seek to identify how “God is Still Speaking” in our lives, our community, and our world at this time in history.
First Church Amherst is pleased to host an exhibit of prints by artist Laura James, “The Stations of the Resurrection,” beginning during Holy Week and lasting through Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 2025.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. —Mother Teresa
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic separated us from one another physically and hate speech divided us politically, researchers were uncovering alarming gaps in our social fabric. In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared a national “epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” and recently he left a “parting prescription for America” that boils down to community building.
“The days are surely coming, God says, when I will fulfill the promise I made.” “Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
(Jeremiah 33:14; Luke 1: 78-79)
Our faith is built on some fairly outrageous promises: that the ways of worldly power will be turned upside-down, for example, and that the poor will be lifted up. That love is stronger than death, and that there is a light no darkness can overcome. But it can be hard to trust those promises, especially when so much in our world contradicts them.
Which is why we need to reflect on the promises—and the stories behind them—again and again. It’s why we need to sing the carols, light the candles, and rekindle the joy and hope. It’s why, at the darkest time of the year, we get ready to welcome light and love.
First Church Amherst’s beloved Cranberry Fair is almost here! This year’s fair continues with our somewhat-new October timing, and will happen on Saturday, October 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Fair is a thrifter’s delight! It’s also a gold mine for anyone assembling a Halloween costume or simply wanting to connect to a long-standing New England tradition.
Both floors of the church will be filled with bargains on everything from toys, clothing, housewares, books, and antiques to baked goods, games and puzzles, children’s books, and baked goods.
In addition, Fair-goers will be able to bid on gift cards, vacation get-aways, home-baked goods, and services at our Silent Auction.
One new feature at this year’s fair will be raffle baskets for dog lovers, cooks, chocolate lovers, and child artists.
As always, a hearty lunch, plus coffee, tea, and cider, will be offered in the Fair Cafe.
We offer several opportunities for walking the journey of Holy Week together as we further prepare ourselves for the new life of Easter.
ALL people are extravagantly welcomed to all services and activities. We would love to see you! Childcare is available.
On March 24 at 10:30 a.m., we’ll observe Palm/Passion Sunday with a moving service that takes us from the glory of Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem to a deeper awareness of the cost and companionship of having God With Us.
March 28 is Maundy Thursday, when we remember Jesus’ last supper with his disciples and how they deserted him in his hour of greatest need. We begin our time together with a simple supper of soup and bread at 6 o’clock in the Dining Room. At 7 o’clock we begin an intimate and beautiful service in the Chapel. Communion is shared.
Our Good Friday observance will be offered on Zoom.
And then, at last, Easter Sunday arrives! Easter Sunday at First Church is a celebration of joy, gratitude, and new life. The 10:30 a.m. service will feature soaring music, joyful times with children, and some of our own beloved traditions. After the service there’s a delightful egg hunt for children and a sumptuous coffee hour for adults.
Our faith is built on a paradox: that it is in losing the things we think life is about that we discover and experience what true life is. This is a hard concept to understand, and harder yet to live out. Unfortunately, what it most often looks like in institutional Christianity is a rubric of obligations, a set of “shoulds,” a list of do’s and don’ts.
Sadly, this structure of suffering and sacrifice is never seen more clearly than during Lent, which is meant to be a time of spiritual devotion and intentional communion with the Holy, a season of learning how it feels to live into what is real and true and life-giving.
Lent is also a great time to explore spiritual practices and all the ways they can connect us to the Holy and bring us new life, and that’s a big part of what we plan to do together this Lent. Reflecting on the scriptures, reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World, and exploring it all in after-worship Lenten lunches, together we’ll embark upon a Lenten journey of losing, finding, keeping, and living with purpose and joy. See you on the way!
Ash Wednesday, February 14, 7 p.m.: Losing Guilt, Finding Grace
First Sunday, February 18: Losing Certainty, Finding Trust
Second Sunday, February 25: Losing Our Masks, Finding Our True Selves
Third Sunday, March 3: Losing Complacency, Finding Passion + Lenten Lunch
