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.

Lent at First Pres