Please join us on Christmas Eve for the following services:
10:30 a.m. Fourth Sunday of Advent
4 p.m. Family service with Christmas pageant
9 p.m. for a Contemplative service with Communion
In-person worship resumes
Please join us in the sanctuary or watch the the live-stream on YouTube at 10:20 a.m. on Sundays. The channel is First Church Amherst, MA.
A Just Peace church
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.
The not-to-be-missed annual tradition brought church people of all ages to a pot-luck dinner, a bonfire (with s'mores), and a night of camping in the rain, followed by pancakes, hot chocolate, and home-made pear tart.
Youth Group visits Broad Street Ministry
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.
How does a weary world rejoice? How do we rejoice if we’re tired or discouraged or worse? These are important and life-giving questions—because the world is weary. Because wars, injustice, and the challenges of our own lives can wear us down.
But the Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood, into our messy lives and our broken world. And because God’s Love is for us and chooses to be with us, we can experience what the old carol calls “the thrill of hope” and receive the gift of considering anew how to live—not only during Advent, but always.
During Advent we’ll also enjoy lots of story-telling, candle-lighting, carol-singing, and community-building. Advent is an invitation to be still, a divine summons to acknowledge the holy longings in our hearts, a gentle wake-up call to wonder and waiting, and holy permission to simply revel in God’s love for us and our world.
Advent is also a great time to come back to church, young ones in tow: to bask in the light, be fed by soaring music, hear the story as if for the first time, share the joy, and attend special events. We look forward to celebrating the season with you!
Friday, December 1, 5:30 + 6:30 Family Advent Party + Greening of the Sanctuary
December 3, First Sunday of Advent We Acknowledge Our Weariness
December 10, Second Sunday of Advent We Find Joy in Connection + Trimming the Tree
December 17, Third Sunday of Advent A Service of Lessons & Carols
We Allow Ourselves to Be Amazed
Thursday, December 21, 7 o’clock Longest Night Service + Bonfire
December 24, Fourth Sunday of Advent We Sing Stories of Hope & Make Room
Christmas Eve: 4 o’clock Pageant Service
9 o’clock Meditative service with Communion
It brings us great joy to celebrate the seasons of Advent and Christmas, and we’d love to share that joy with you! Here are some of the special events coming up:
December 4, Second Sunday of Advent God Meets Us in Our Fear + Trimming the Tree
December 11, Third Sunday of Advent We Can Choose a Better Way
December 18, Fourth Sunday of Advent We See God in Each Other + Lessons & Carols
December 21, 7 o’clock Longest Night Service
Christmas Eve: 4 o’clock Pageant Service
9 o’clock Meditative service with Communion
Christmas Day, 10:30 Short, joyful service on Zoom
Except for the late Christmas Eve and the Christmas morning services, all services are both in person and live-streaming on our YouTube channel. The late Christmas Eve service will be in person only, and the brief Christmas morning service will be offered only on YouTube.
We are so excited to be celebrating Easter in person for the first time since 2019, and we would love to welcome you to this special service!
The service begins at 10:30, and will feature majestic organ pieces, two anthems sung by the First Church Choir (their first time singing in worship since 2019), Communion, a special children’s sermon, Sunday School and, at the end of the service, an outdoor egg hunt for children.
Masks are required, but we have found that continuing to wear masks for a while longer helps us all to feel Covid-safe and makes it possible for more vulnerable folks to worship with us in person.
The service will also be live-streamed on our YouTube channel, but we’d love to see your face!
