Christmas Eve, Dec 24, 2025

After weeks of waiting and wondering, the light breaks through. Not in the places power expected. Not with the fanfare empire demands. But in a stable, among shepherds, wrapped in vulnerability itself.

Today is the sacred celebration of Christmas Eve, as we gather around the manger and remember: the light that came into the world that night still rises. In every generation. In every dark season. In us.

The service includes Christmas carols, music from choir, organ, and brass, holy communion, and a Christmas Eve meditation from Pastor Julie. We conclude with the lighting of congregational candles.

Monday, Dec 22, 2025 | Celebrating the Life of Sadye Doxie

We celebrate the life of our beloved church member Sadye Elizabeth Dunn Doxie (March 18, 1937 — November 21, 2025).

Sadye and her late husband, Mel, joined First Baptist Church in April 1986. During the next four decades, Sadye served FBC in a variety of ways: as a deacon, greeter, archivist, church moderator and member of the Tapestry Bible study class. For nearly forty years, Sadye was a luminous presence in our faith community—a woman of kindness, strength, and spiritual depth.

Sunday, Dec 21, 2025 | Light Rising Through Joseph's Trust

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph had every reason to walk away. Every legal right. Every social justification. But in a dream, he sees another way—a harder way that requires him to trust what he cannot fully understand and to protect what the world will not value.

On this final Sunday of Advent, we'll explore how Joseph's quiet faithfulness models a different kind of strength. Sometimes the most revolutionary act is choosing to stay when everyone expects you to leave, to trust when doubt would be easier, to become light-bearer when it costs you everything.

Additional scripture texts are Isaiah 7:10-16 and Romans 1:1-7.

Sunday, Dec 14, 2025 | 67th Annual Christmas Candlelight Carols

Capture the joy of the season with this beloved First Baptist tradition featuring organ, brass, and the First Baptist Church Chancel Choir. We will collect a love offering to benefit DC Central Kitchen, and will welcome Mike Curtin, CEO of DC Central Kitchen, as our honored guest. DC Central Kitchen uses food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities, training unemployed adults for culinary careers while providing healthy meals to those in need.

Sunday, Dec 14, 2025 | Light Rising in Mary's Yes

Third Sunday of Advent
Luke 1:26-39

 A teenage girl in an occupied territory receives an impossible announcement. The angel speaks of thrones overturned and proud rulers scattered—a revolution beginning not in palaces but in the womb of a young woman from nowhere important.

 Mary's "yes" wasn't naive optimism. She knew the risks. She knew the scandal. She knew what empire does to prophets and troublemakers. Yet she said yes anyway. Today in worship, we'll consider what our own "yes" might look like when God asks us to carry light into impossible situations.

Additional scripture texts are Isaiah 9:2-7 and James 5:7-10.

Sunday, Dec 7, 2025 | Light Rising Through Desert Doubts

Second Sunday of Advent
Matthew 11:1-11

John the Baptist—wild prophet, truth-teller, Jesus' own cousin—sends a desperate question from his cell: "Are you really the one?" Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is admit we're not sure anymore.

In a world that demands certainty and punishes questions, what if doubt itself can be an act of faith? Today in worship, we'll explore how Jesus responds not with judgment but with evidence—and an invitation to keep watching for light breaking through.

Additional scripture texts are Isaiah 43:19-21 and Romans 15:4-13.

Sunday, Nov 30, 2025 | Light Rising in the Time of Herod

First Sunday of Advent
Luke 1:5-13
Pastor Eric Preaching

This Advent, we begin a journey through stories of stubborn hope in a year marked by war, division, and democracy under strain. Like those who first bore witness to the light Isaiah saw coming and John proclaimed arriving, we're invited to discover the light that's already rising, even when we can barely see.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and we begin in the shadow of empire, in what Luke calls "the days of Herod." An elderly couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, have lived with barrenness for decades. They've remained faithful through unanswered prayers, but they've stopped expecting miracles. Then an angel appears with impossible news. Zechariah's doubt silences him for nine months. But Elizabeth speaks first, filled with the Holy Spirit, naming what God is doing in her body and in the world.

Their story reminds us that God specializes in impossible births, planting seeds of light in the darkest nights, choosing unlikely people to carry hope. Light is rising, even now. Will we notice?

Our Congregational Care Team will light the Candle of Hope. Additional scripture texts are Isaiah 2:1-5 and Romans 13:11-14.

Sunday, Nov 23, 2025 | First Place in Everything

Reign of Christ & Gratitude Sunday
Colossians 1:11-20

Most of us keep Jesus on our priority list somewhere between work and family, nestled among the many good things competing for our attention. This Sunday—"Reign of Christ" Sunday on the liturgical calendar—we'll explore what changes when Christ moves from being one item on our list to the center that reorders the whole list.

As we gather today, we'll discover how gratitude deepens when we recognize Christ not just as something to be thankful for, but as the source and center of all things. What does it mean to live under the reign of the One who holds everything together?

Additional scripture texts are Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 23:33-43.

Sunday, Nov 16, 2025 | Saving Your Life | Amanda Tyler

Today, we welcome Amanda Tyler as our guest preacher in worship. Amanda is preaching the sermon “Saving Your Life” from Luke 21:5-19. Additional passages are Isaiah 65:17-25 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13.

Amanda is a former FBC member and Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC). There, she leads the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government. She is also the lead organizer of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign, co-host of BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast, and the author of How to End Christian Nationalism.

Sunday, Nov 9, 2025 | Clothed with Christ | Galatians 3:23-29

Every morning we stand in front of our closet deciding what to wear. This Sunday we’ll ask, “What if those choices included anger or patience…envy or generosity…fear or love?” As we celebrate baptism, we'll discover how "putting on Christ" means daily exchanging old patterns for God’s beautiful wardrobe: compassion, kindness, forgiveness. Come explore what it means to be clothed with Christ. Additional scripture texts are Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 and Luke 6:20-31.

Sunday, Nov 2, 2025 | What the World Needs Now | All Saints Sunday

Luke 6:20-31

Can a failed disciple become a saint? Can we? This All Saints Sunday, we'll explore what connects the faithful across centuries—and what it means for us now. From Mother Teresa to martyrs to people sitting in our own pews, from Peter's failures to Francis's joy—what connects these wildly different lives? Join us as we remember those who've inspired us and consider the light they've passed to our hands. Additional scripture texts are Psalm 149 and Ephesians 1:11-23.

We also will celebrate communion in worship and pray for the persecuted church as part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Sunday, Oct 26, 2025 | Entrusted: Flipping the List

Five things we do with money. One question that changes everything: What if we flipped our entire financial priority list? This Sunday we find ourselves in the book of Malachi. As we conclude the "Entrusted" sermon series, we hear God’s audacious invitation to "test me in this…" Discover what opens up when generosity moves from afterthought to starting point. Give. Save. Live on the rest.

We also will celebrate the life of Sullivan Bell, son of Locke and Christine Bell, with a parent/child dedication. Later in worship, we’ll be invited to bring our financial commitment cards to the altar as a symbol of trust in God’s faithfulness.

Additional Scripture texts are 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 and Luke 18:9-14.

Sunday, Oct 19, 2025 | Entrusted: The Ultimate Goal

What's your real financial endgame? To provide? To save? To spend? In 1 Chronicles 29:10-16, King David's ancient prayer reveals a liberating answer that changes everything about how we view our money, our stuff, and our purpose. Today we explore the one filter that transforms how we think about wealth, spending, and generosity.

Additional Scripture texts are 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 and Matthew 6:19-24.

Sunday, Oct 12, 2025 | Entrusted: What God Really Wants

Financial conversations often trigger shame, anxiety, or guilt. But what if God's perspective on money is actually liberating? For three weeks in October, Pastor Julie will preach the sermon series “Entrusted: A Journey from Anxiety to Generosity.” We’ll be invited to learn from the financial wisdom of three teachers—Jesus, King David, and the prophet Malachi—as we ask together, “What does a generous life look like?” Additional Scripture texts are Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 and 2 Timothy 2:8-15.

Sunday, Oct 5, 2025 | When Life Unravels: The God Who Shows Up Anyway

World Communion Sunday
October 5, 2025
 

For five weeks we've been walking with Job—a good man who lost everything and dared to demand answers from God. In todays texts, Job wants a courtroom. God gives him a safari. When our neat theological boxes shatter, we demand explanations. But what if the presence of an untamed God is what our crushed hearts actually need? As Pastor Julie concludes her sermon series, When Life Unravels, we'll explore why the God who shows up anyway—even without answers—changes everything about how we face our hardest moments.

Additional Scripture texts are 1 Corinthians 13:7-13 and Luke 17:5-10.

As we come to Christ's table this Sunday, we'll be joining with Christians around the world in celebration of World Communion Sunday. As is our custom on communion Sundays, we'll collect a benevolence offering.

Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 | When Life Unravels: The Comfort That Hurts

Life has a way of falling apart when we least expect it. The ancient story of Job offers profound wisdom for navigating our darkest moments. 

Today Pastor Julie will preach the message, “The Comfort that Hurts," from a compilation of texts in Job 4, 8, 11, 16, and 17. These texts focus on Job’s friends, and have something to say about how not to care for those who love and suffer. Additional texts are Romans 12:3, 9-16 and Luke 16:19-31.

Sunday, Sept 21, 2025 | When Life Unravels: The Complaint That Trusts | Jeff Chu

Life has a way of falling apart when we least expect it. The ancient story of Job offers profound wisdom for navigating our darkest moments. During these five weeks, we are walking with Job through catastrophic loss, honest lament, misguided comfort, and divine mystery. This series invites us to bring our whole selves—including our questions, anger, and doubt—to God, and to stay open to God's presence even when life unravels around us.

This Sunday, our guest preacher will be Jeff Chu. His sermon is from Job 19, and is titled, “The Complaint That Trusts.” Additional texts are 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 and John 5:2-17.

Saturday, Sept 20, 2025 | A Celebration of Life for Wil McBeath

A celebration of life will take place this morning at 11:00 in the First Baptist Church Sanctuary for our brother William "Wil" McBeath who died Monday, September 15.

Sunday, Sept 14, 2025 | When Life Unravels: The Truth We Must Speak

Life has a way of falling apart when we least expect it. The ancient story of Job offers profound wisdom for navigating our darkest moments. During these five weeks, we are walking with Job through catastrophic loss, honest lament, misguided comfort, and divine mystery. This series invites us to bring our whole selves—including our questions, anger, and doubt—to God, and to stay open to God's presence even when life unravels around us.

Today’s sermon is from Job 3, titled, “The Truth We Must Speak.” Additional texts are Hebrews 12:1-3 and Mark 15:22-24.

Sunday, Sept 7, 2025 | When Life Unravels: The Question We Can’t Escape

Life has a way of falling apart when we least expect it. The ancient story of Job offers profound wisdom for navigating our darkest moments. Over five weeks, we'll walk with Job through catastrophic loss, honest lament, misguided comfort, and divine mystery. This series invites us to bring our whole selves—including our questions, anger, and doubt—to God. We'll discover that faith isn't about having all the answers, but about remaining open to God's presence even when life unravels around us.

Pastor Julie will begin the series with a sermon from the first two chapters of Job titled, “The Question We Can’t Escape.” Additional texts are Timothy 1:1-2, 12-17 and Luke 13:1-5.

In worship, we will also welcome our Chancel Choir back from their summer respite, celebrate communion, and take a special collection for our benevolence offering.