COMING UP — Westside Food Bank

Two Ways for You to Support the Santa Monica West Side Food Bank This Weekend

 

Volunteer: Summer Meal Kits

This Saturday, June 14th, Volunteers are needed to help Westside Food Bank pack 2,700 meal kits.

 

With schools going out on summer break, WFB is putting together boxes of food to replace the meals children would have normally received in school. There are three shifts available to sign up for on Saturday:
• 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.
• 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
• 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

All shifts will be at the West Side Food Bank, located at:
1914 14th Street, Santa Monica

35 people are needed per shift. Children are also able to volunteer as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER

 

Mission Focus: Westside Food Bank

On Sunday, June 15, Westside Food Bank President & CEO, Genevieve Riutort, will be in worship at First Pres to share how our congregation’s support impacts Westside Food Bank’s mission and service to our community.

Following worship, she and Fonda Rosing, WSB’s Development Manager, will be on the courtyard to answer questions and share materials with anyone who wants to learn more about the Westside Food Bank. Learn more here!

 

THIS SUNDAY — Jubilee Lunch Project

On Sunday, June 1 at 11:15am in the Ren Room, the Mission Ministry Team invites you to be a part of our next Jubilee Lunch Project.

 

Following worship, we’ll gather in the Ren Room to make 150 lunches for The People Concern Access Center to distribute to those in need here in Santa Monica. Learn more here!

COMING UP — VBS 2025: Waves Of Wonder

Mark your calendars, because Vacation Bible School at First Pres Santa Monica is July 28 through August 1!

Children aged 3 through 5th grade are invited to join us each day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for this year’s VBS program, Waves Of Wonder (that’s a full day of Bible learning and fun activities for kids).

Let Waves Of Wonder wash over you as you get out into God’s creation at Vacation Bible School! Be inspired by the beauty and majesty of what God has made. Children will explore scriptures in which God provides water for plants and animals. They will visit the wilderness and miraculously receive water from a rock. They will take a boat ride with Jesus, weather a wavy storm, and even imagine a new heaven and a new earth where all are invited to receive life-giving water. Through worship and drama, Bible study, art and science explorations, and active games, children will deepen their understanding of the importance of water and be invited to join God in caring for this precious natural resource.

Cost is $125 per child for the whole week, but if this is not doable for you, there is financial assistance available. Contact Jen Philbin at the church (jen@fpcsantamonica.org) or follow this link to learn more and register!

Easter Lily Dedications 2025

 

Thank you to everyone who donated and dedicated a lily for our beautiful Easter service! The full list of donors and dedications are below:

 

  • Jan Landon
    In memory of Tom Ong
  • Jan Landon
    In memory of Sara Denton Ong
  • Joe Deering
  • Pat Alston
    In honor of her brother and sister-in-law, Mike and Dorothy Smith
  • Pat Alston
    In loving memory of her paternal grandmother, Nina Mikesell Smith Humphrey
  • Nancy & Robert Ramsey
    In memory of our parents
  • Nancy & Robert Ramsey
    In memory of our grandparents
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Grace & Dan Hurley
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Murl & Richard Lewis
  • Suzanne Swartz
    In honor of my mother, Frances Gotenstein, and in memory of my grandmother, Harriett Roop
  • Judy Sommer
    In memory of my parents, Adolf & Dorothy Sommer, & In memory of Tom
  • The Mitchell Family
    In memory of our very loved nana Judith & niece Jessica
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Phoebe & James Herbert
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of Keith Gamet
  • Steve & Louise Pesce
    In memory of Valerie Bell
  • Karen Register
    In memory of John Register
  • Lowell Harris
    In loving memory of our son Jimmy
  • Lowell Harris
    In loving memory of Inga Swenson
  • Lowell Harris
    In celebration of our son Mark’s birthday
  • Margaret & Marc
    In memory of Carole Horowitz
  • The Micallef Family
    In memory of cousin Tiffany
  • Robert Bracken
    In honor of my loving  spouse George Thomas Applegate
  • Robert Bracken
    In memory of my sister Sarah Margaret Bracken Porter
  • Robert Bracken
    In memory of my parents, Robert & Margaret Bracken
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of Murl and Richard Lewis, my wonderful parents
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of Robert Machatka, a great friend
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of Jan Lewis Brown, my terrific sister
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of Dan and Grace Hurley
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of Keith Gamet, a wonderful friend
  • The Paré Family
    In memory of Jacques Paré
  • The Sansom / Paré Family
    In memory of Jane Sansom
  • Lowell Harris
    In loving memory of my son Jimmy-James Montgomery Harris
  • Lowell Harris
    In memory of my beloved wife Inga Swenson Harris
  • The Earhart Family
    In memory of Sam Earhart
  • The Earhart Family
    In memory of Jim and Ann Lamb
  • Andrea, Roberto, & Veronica Marinas
    In honor of our parents and grandparents Larry & Marcia Marinas
  • Andrea, Roberto, & Veronica Marinas
    In honor of our mother & grandmother Carolyn White

 

Celebrate Holy Week at First Pres

Come join us for a Holy Week celebration at First Pres! Here are all our services, schedules, and events during the season

Palm Sunday Worship Service

April 13 – 10am – 11am

They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it, and he sat on it. Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields. Those in front of him and those following were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

All are welcome to celebrate Palm Sunday at First Pres with our Palms Procession and special music by our Shine Children’s Ensemble.

 

Maundy Thursday Worship Service

April 17 – 7pm-8pm

Maundy Thursday is a service of communion and Tenebrae where we follow Jesus through the stories and experiences of Holy Week.  We sing, pray and gather around the table as nourishment and preparation for what will come next.  With each reading a candle is extinguished taking us closer to Jesus in his darkest moments of life.

 

Good Friday Worship Service

April 18 – 7pm-8pm

All are welcome at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church together with the congregations of First United Methodist and First Presbyterian Churches of Santa Monica. The service begins at 7:00 p.m.

Life and death stand side by side as we enter into Good Friday. Standing with the disciples at the foot of the cross, we pray for the whole world as Christ’s death offers life to all. We gather in solemn devotion, but always with the promise that the tree around which we assemble is indeed a tree of life.

 

Easter Sunday Worship

April 20 – 10am-11am

Out of the darkness of Holy Week comes the light of hope and resurrection.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed! Worship begins at 10:00 a.m. with refreshments and a kids Easter egg hunt following the service.

 

Potluck Easter Brunch

April 20 – 11am-12pm

Following the Easter Sunday worship service, you are invited to a potluck brunch in the courtyard. Sign up to bring a dish to share. Register here.

 

 

 

Easter Egg Hunt

April 20 – 11am-12pm

Following the Easter Sunday worship service, children and their parents are invited to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt on the church campus.

Lent at First Pres

From Ash Wednesday services to Holden prayer to a book study, here are all the ways to

experience this season of Lent at First Pres.

 

Lent is a 40-day period of prayer, fasting, and self-examination that leads up to Easter. It’s a time to prepare for the resurrection of Jesus and to repent for sins.

Here are some resources to help you in your Lenten journey:

  • Click here to download this year’s Lenten daily devotional, Grieving Change and Loss.
  • Click here to download a daily Lenten activity calendar.
  • Pick up a children’s Lenten activity calendar, A Season of Renewal, at the church.
  •  Our Lenten mission project is the PCUSA One Great Hour of Sharing offering, which provides support to victims of the Los Angeles wildfires through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. You can  pick up a One Great Hour of Sharing Fish Bank at the church, add an offering to it each week during Lent, and return it to the church on Palm Sunday. You can also make a donation to One Great Hour of Sharing by clicking here.

Ash Wednesday Soup Supper

March 5, 2025 – 6pm – 7pm

Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day season (not counting Sundays) of Lent. We begin our journey together as a community of all ages with a potluck Soup Supper at 6:00 p.m. in the Renaissance Room. Please sign up to bring your favorite soup ready to share!

After the Soup Supper, everyone is invited to join us for worship and voluntary imposition of ashes at 7:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. Register here!

 

Ash Wednesday Worship Service

March 5, 2025 – 7pm – 8pm

All are invited to gather around God’s inclusive table for communion and to receive the imposition of ashes as a reminder of our common humanity.  It’s a time for us to pay attention to the limits of our humanity and rest in God’s grace.  We will naturally continue to grieve (and even fight against) the inevitability of death, but there is freedom in realizing that God is God, and we are not.

If you prefer to not receive communion and/or the sign of ashes, there is no obligation.  God’s welcome and love are free and without condition.

 

Lent Book/Video Study

March 9 – April 15, Tuesdays and Sundays

The story of Jesus’s death is not something we just read: we think about it, and we experience it; we hear the taunts of the soldiers, the priests, and the passersby even as we hear the famous “seven last words” from the cross.

In Witness at the Cross, Amy-Jill Levine shows how the people at the cross each have distinct roles to play. Each Evangelist presents a distinct picture of the death of Jesus. Each portrays different individuals and groups of people at the cross, each offers different images and dialogues, and so from each, we learn how those meanings and messages cross the centuries to any who would come to the cross today.

You’re invited to be part of this six-week Lent book/video study.  You’ll receive the book to read on your own and access to Amy-Jill Levine’s video commentary through Amplify Media’s website. There will be two weekly class sessions to choose from where we’ll discuss that week’s book chapter. The first class meeting option is in-person on Sundays following worship from 11:15am to 12:30pm. The second class meeting option is on Zoom on Tuesdays from 7:00pm to 8:15pm. Learn more and register here.

 

 

Thursday Holden Evening Prayer Soup Supper

March 27, 6pm – 7pm

Holden Evening Prayer is a reflective service of music, sung prayer and Communion marking the halfway point in our Lenten journey. We continue our journey together as a community of all ages with a potluck Soup Supper at 6:00 p.m. in the Renaissance Room. Please sign up to bring your favorite soup ready to share!

After the Soup Supper, everyone is invited to join us for worship and prayer at 7:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. Register here.

 

Thursday Holden Evening Prayer Service for Lent

March 27 – 7pm -8pm

Join us for Holden Evening Prayer. This is a reflective service of music, sung prayer and Communion marking the halfway point in our Lenten journey.

 

In the Garden: A Night of Healing Music at First Pres

On Saturday, February 15, join us for In The Garden, a concert designed to lift our spirits in this recent time of loss. Featuring members and musician friends of the FPC Band and FPC choir director and organist Mark Allen Hilt, the event is welcome to all who would like to attend. Admission is free.

Donations are not required but will be welcome — all donations will go to the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance fund to assist those who have lost homes, lives, and resources in the recent Los Angeles fires.

 

 

Christmas at First Pres!

This season at First Pres, we have plenty of exciting activities, services, and more! Please see our schedule of events below:


Shine Christmas Choir in Worship
Sunday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m.

Shine Christmas Choir has been working hard to bring you some Christmas songs that will spread Joy and Love! We welcome all to attend the service at 10am to see them perform for you. This is something you don’t want to miss!!


Christmas Festival
Sunday, December 15 at 11:15 a.m.

Come and be part of our First Pres Christmas Festival where you can enjoy a Pasta Lunch, Hot Chocolate Bar, Live Christmas Music, Crafts, a Gingerbread House Raffle, and Gift Bags for all kids. Register here.

* Financial assistance is available so everyone can attend — please contact Peter or Jen for assistance or questions!

Christmas Eve Cookie Drop-Off
Anytime before Tuesday, December 24

Attention all bakers,

Nothing adds joy to a Christmas Eve service like cider and home-baked Christmas cookies!

Sign up to bring cookies on or before Sunday, December 24. Earlier deliveries can go in the freezer. Cookies can be delivered in storage bags or on serving platters. Please put your name on anything you want returned.

Just so we are all on the same page:

• Brownies are Christmas cookies
• All bar cookies are Christmas cookies—especially Karen’s lemon bars
• Muffins can be Christmas cookies if of no significant nutritional value
• If they can be eaten daintily, cupcakes are Christmas cookies
• Candies are Christmas cookies when festively decorated and/or dark chocolate

Candlelight Christmas Eve Service
Tuesday, December 24 at 6:00 p.m.

Christmas Eve Fellowship
Tuesday, December 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Christmas Services 2024

Advent Lessons and Carols

Sunday, December 8 at 10:00 a.m.

Children’s Christmas Pageant in Worship

Sunday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m.

Christmas Festival

Sunday, December 15 at 11:15 a.m.

Candlelight Christmas Eve Service

Tuesday, December 24 at 6:00 p.m.

Christmas Eve Fellowship

Tuesday, December 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Easter Lily Dedications 2024

Thank you to everyone who donated and dedicated a lily for our beautiful Easter service! The full list of donors and dedications are below:

 

  • Stacy Wilkins
    In memory of
    Edith & Vaughn Wilkins
  • Stacy Wilkins
    In memory of
    Wealthy & Spencer Schantz
  • Cory Bales
    In memory of
    Evelyn Schroeder
  • Cory Bales
    In memory of
    Kenneth John
  • Pat Alston
    In loving memory of
    her beloved grandmother,
    Nina Mikesell Smith Humphrey
  • Bill & Ellen Ireland
    In memory of
    Tom & Sarah Brand, Jonathan
    Davis, Jim Timmermann, Fred Armitage
  • William Pierce
    In celebration of
    Marvin Pierce
  • William Pierce
    In celebration of
    Balthasar Pierce
  • The Edstrom Family
    In celebration of
    our children Bruce, Betty, & Elise
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Rose & Howell Lewis
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Grace & Dan Hurley
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Murl & Richard Lewis
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Phoebe & James Herbert
  • Kent Lewis
    In memory of
    Keith Gamet
  • Steve & Louise Pesce
    In memory of
    Valerie Bell
  • Karen Register
    In memory of
    John Register
  • Lowell Harris
    In loving memory of
    Our son Jimmy
  • Lowell Harris
    In loving memory of
    Inga Swenson
  • Lowell Harris
    In celebration of
    Our son Mark’s birthday
  • Karen Register
    In memory of
    Carole Reed
  • Judy Sommer
    In memory of my parents,
    Adolf & Dorothy Sommer,
    & In memory of Tom
  • The Iorio Barton Family
    In honor of
    Densie Iorio
  • The Iorio Barton Family
    In memory of
    Edwin & Barbara Barton
  • The Iorio Barton Family
    In memory of
    R. Alden & Miriam Clarke
  • The Iorio Barton Family
    In memory of
    Katherine McDonald & Duke Iorio
  • Robert Bracken
    In memory of my parents,
    Robert & Margaret Bracken
  • Robert Bracken
    In memory of my parents,
    My sister Sarah Margaret Bracken Porter
  • Robert Bracken
    In memory of my parents,
    My spouse George Thomas Applegate
  • The Earhart Family
    In memory of
    Samuel Earhart
  • The Earhart Family
    In memory of
    Jim Lamb