Good Friday – 6pm Walk / 7pm Service

Easter Sunday – 10am Service / followed by brunch + egg hunt

The seasons of the church mirror the world around us. This Lent, we mourn the violences of long ago, including the crucifixion of our friend and brother Jesus, and we mourn and resist the violences that continue in our world today: war, poverty, hunger, unjust systems, cruel policies, and all that dehumanizes. On Good Friday, April 3, First Baptist Church and McMinnville Cooperative Ministries will join together for a walk at 6pm and brief liturgy at 7pm. The walk will begin at McMinnville Cooperative Ministries (544 NE 2nd Street). We’ll walk a mile loop, stopping at significant places in our town for prayer, song, and ritual. We’ll end at First Baptist Church (125 SE Cowls Street) for a short service. Anyone is welcome to join in for just the walk, just the service, or both.

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate the hope, the promise, and the truth that though those violences are real and ever-present, they are not all that is. All those violences are answered by love: love that is with and in and through all things, love that embraces all, love that cannot be killed. We will gather in the sanctuary (or online at https://www.facebook.com/firstbaptistmac) at 10am, and celebrate the triumph of that love, the resurrection of our hope, and the community that lives guided by that love and hope. We’ll sing and pray and hear the wild story of love that refuses to die. We’ll stay after for a yummy brunch. We’ll invite the kids to an egg hunt on the playground. We’ll remember, as Frederick Buechner said, “resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing,” and we will celebrate together the world remade in love.