Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed

Happy Easter

Join us for Worship every Sunday at 11:00 AM

1751 Sacramento St, San Francisco | Free Parking | Kid Friendly |  Get Directions  

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Christ is Risen!   

Old First Easter was Joyful and Inspirational

                      

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Easter Day:  One Great Hour of Sharing

 

At Easter, we join churches around the world to receive our annual One Great Hour of Sharing special offering. One Great Hour of Sharing supports work serving individuals and communities confronted by many challenges: disaster, hunger, poverty, climate change, migration, and refugee status. This work provides people with safety, sustenance, and hope. To donate, click on the button below to the right and choose "One Great Hour of Sharing - Easter" in the dropdown menu.

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Click here to volunteer for the food bank

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We Choose Welcome

Old First Presbyterian Church enthuiastically invites all people into  our community!

This church was the first Protestant congregation established on the west coast of the U.S. during the gold rush.  And we are  proud now to continue sharing Christ's love, justice, and welcome to modern seekers who arrive in San Francisco now 175 years later. We have taken a leadership role both locally and nationally welcoming LGBTQIA+ Christians into full participation in the life and leadership of the Presbyterian Church. We strive to bring hope, joy and justice reaching out to people of all ethnicities, incomes, races, and life situations, and like Jesus, we always try to offer a smile and welcome the outcasts.

We hope you will come visit and consider becoming part of our community. We want to know you and share your own particular gifts, experience, and insights with us on our corner, in our city, and in our world.

Old First Presbyterian Church is an Open and Affirming Church

Donate to Old First here 

Volunteer for Old First here

Worship & Music

We worship every Sunday at 11:00 am both in person in our beautiful sanctuary and on line via YouTube livestream. We celebrate communion on the third Sunday of the month. Worship is our joyful praise and thanks to God - our celebration of God's Love.

We have a wonderful choir singing a mixture of classical and modern music and singers are always welcome.  Our organ is one of the most renowned in the city.  We founded and support an amazing variety of new artists each week in our Old First Concerts programs.  

Service

Bringing God's love,  welcome,  justice, in our neighborhood, city and world and working to make the world a better place for all are important to us. We are a founding member of the weekly interfaith food pantry every Saturday and host a free community meal on the 4th Saturday of each month. We work with many local, national, and international groups to promote racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, and other human rights, to end gun violence, and to help immigrants.

We feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, and work for justice. We always need volunteers to help with all of these projects.

Learn More

Education

We believe that learning and growth are important for all ages. We offer regular book studies, Bible studies, theological discussions, and topical classes for adults on issues important in our culture.  Small groups meet on Zoom and in members' homes for study and support. We make time and space for children in worship and offer regular, broadly graded children's church school every 1st and 3nd Sundy. We also have excellent childrens' and adults' libraries.

We love to read and support the Little Free Library on Sacramento Street.  Bring you books to share with the community. 

My joke today on April 1st, is I have texted my pastor colleagues with the note “My Easter sermon is done.”  And right away I text “APRIL FOOLS.” 

It brings big laughs to us pastors, and one friend wondered if church folks would get the humor. But I expect anyone who can remember what it is like to have a deadline for a paper looming or a report needed for work has a looming deadline can understand the anxiety that that comes with getting a sermon done by Sunday morning. And I don't just want it done, I want it to be engaging, to be relevant, to speak a bit of Good News. A sermon always takes time. I personally can’t pull it off on a few hours on Saturday night. And Easter is a big day for us Christians. More than ever this year I ever, I want to be a sermon to be vehicle for hope, for joy, for some good news in our complicated times. I am reminding myself that I can’t explain or prove the resurrection, yet I know the life, death and resurrection has changed my life and that the Jesus way is the path I want to follow.

So come to Easter service this Sunday, hear and sing some amazing music, join in in enthusiasm of our children and hear what comes out of this pastor. What I do know is God will be in our church and in our world this Sunday as God is present each Sunday and all the days of our lives. -Pastor Maggi 

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Click here to donate on the Old First website

What's Happening at Old First

Sunday, April 12

Hymn Sing Sunday

Sing all your favorite Easter hymns

Easter has given us dozens of wonderful hymns. "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" is always a must-sing on Easter. But what about all the others in our hymnbook. Join us for worship on Sunday, April 12, and you can request your favorite Easter hymns. These hymn sing Sundays are always fun.  Our guest organist Session member Sam Cheng will play for us as we request, and we will gustily sing praising the resurrection of the Lord!  Alleluia!

April 3

Good Friday

The Good News Is Revealed though Non-Violence

Good Friday is that dark day when Jesus was betrayed, arrested, tried in a sham trial, abandoned by the people, tortured, and killed in the most horrible way on a cross. He had spent his life resisting the human inclination to legitimize the diminishment of society's most vulnerable through laws and glorified traditions.  Consistently, defiantly, and furiously--but always non-violently--Jesus challenged those laws and traditions. That defiance made him a marked man and led him to crucifixion. But even on the cross, Jesus was non-violently forgiving them for "they know not what they do."  Our calling it to go and do likewise. to fight conistently, defiantly, furiously, and non-violently whereever and whenever we encounter brokenness, injustice, and oppression.

Join us on Good Friday, April 3, at 7pm in our sanctuary as we remember the events of that tragic day, and anticipate Jesus' coming resurrection!

April 5

Easter Sunday

The Good News Is Alive in the World!

On Sunday morning, the women gathered their courage amidst their anguish and went to the tomb to finish the burial ritual for Jesus. But Jesus was not there! The stone was rolled away. And then, Jesus appeared to Mary. He told her to go and tell the others the good news that je has conquered even death.  And he said, "Do not be afraid!"  Why were they afraid? Maybe they were afraid of God and all that God can do. After all, they were fleeing an empty tomb full of excitement and fear. But maybe they were also afraid because the people who scorned Jesus, mocked him, tortured and killed him were also still here, too.  Pontius Pilate still reigns!

And so we ask ourselves, "How can we trust resurrection when death is on the world's throne?"  Because Jesus knows what we will always need to be reminded of: the good news is greater than any tyrant. The good news of God is more alive than anything that tries to kill God! Let us come to this Easter Day to remind ourselved that the GOOD NEWS of God is always supreme. God shakes the earth with power and might so tender and so fresh it can make a tomb bloom with new life.  Alleluia!  Amen!

Easter Sunday worship, Sunday, April 5, 10:30am musical prelude, 11:00 worship followed by an Easter celebration luncheon.

(These devotions are summaries of the longer devotions found in the Sanctified Art devotional booklet. You can read the full reflections by clicking below)

Click here for our Lent devotional booklet