Confirmation Sunday 2026

Join us on Sunday, March 29 for Confirmation Sunday! We will celebrate and welcome our confirmands during 11:00 a.m. worship service, followed by a delicious churchwide lunch reception in Fellowship Hall. All are welcome!

The menu will include fried chicken and jerk-style pork tenderloin, garden salad and fresh fruit, sautéed green beans, stewed tomatoes & squash, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and biscuits & cornbread. Desserts will include banana pudding, peach cobbler with ice cream, and a flourless chocolate cake. There will be gluten-free options available!

Guns to Gardens

Saturday, March 28 at The Table@UGA

Anyone may anonymously take unwanted (and unloaded and working) guns beginning at 12pm on Saturday March 28 to The Table@UGA (1250 South Lumpkin St.) to be dismantled and transformed into garden tools and art. Those donating guns will be celebrated with a gift card for local grocery stores or gas after that gun has been disabled as a thank you for your donation: $100 card for rifles and shotguns, $200 for handguns, and $300 for assault weapons (as supplies last). The blacksmiths will begin to packup at 3:00 p.m.

“Guns to Gardens” is a faith-based response to the prophet Isaiah’s ancient vision of peace:

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.” — Isaiah 2:4

By transforming weapons into tools for cultivation, The Table Athens seeks to embody this hope—creating beauty, safety, and new life from what once caused fear and harm.

Weekly Lenten Lunch Study

Thursdays through April 2

On Ash Wednesday, we began the season of preparation called Lent — moving together toward the cross, following Jesus along the road to Jerusalem, and deepening our faith in God who is with us in all of it. As we ready ourselves for Lent and discern what personal practices we might engage for the season, we hope you'll consider participating in our weekly Lenten Lunches (Thursdays from 12:30-1:30 through April 2), which will follow a weekly Lenten devotional booklet called "Tell Me Something Good". This resource invites us into explore stories in which Jesus is bringing good news and challenging us to claim it as such, to ground ourselves in it, and to let it nourish and embolden us for the work to the lives of discipleship to which we are called. The devotional booklet includes art, reflections, and prayers for use throughout the week at home, alone or with others-- and we hope you will join us on Thursdays as you are able, either in person or via Zoom (meeting ID 7065431820) as we journey through this season, claiming the good news Jesus brings.

The devotional booklet is available in printed format (a few copies will be placed in the Atrium and church office). For an online version, please e-mail frontdesk@firstpresathens.org. Daily prompts will also be sent via email. 

Easter Lily Dedications

If you wish to give a contribution in honor or memory of a loved one, please place your order by Monday, March 30. Each dedication is $10. You may place your completed form and check in the offering plate, mail it to the church office, order online at tinyurl.com/FPCLilyDedication or contact the church at 706-543-4338 or e-mail Joli Winstanley at frontdesk@firstpresathens.org with your dedications. Each dedication will be listed in the April 5 worship service bulletin.

Food Sunday

April 5

You may bring donations of canned meat (canned chicken, beef stew, chicken & dumplings, spam, etc.), snacks (chips, snack crackers, granola bars, dried fruit, nuts, etc.) and saltine crackers to church on Sunday, April 5. You may also bring items to the church office until Friday, April 3. Our neighbors in need are very grateful for your donations! Many thanks for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

Holy Week Services and Activities

Palm/Confirmation Sunday, March 29

Everyone is invited to join the palm procession at 10:40 a.m. on the Atrium Porch. At 11:00 a.m. service, we will receive the Confirmation Class of 2026.

Maundy Thursday, April 2, Service at 7:00 p.m., Sanctuary

We will recall the night of Jesus’ arrest and celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Good Friday Service, April 3, Covenant Presbyterian Church, 7:00 p.m.

Our siblings from Athens area Presbyterian churches and campus ministry will gather for the annual Good Friday service, hosted this year by Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Easter Eve Egg Hunt and Picnic Lunch, Saturday, April 4, 11:00 a.m., The Hill

All are invited to our Egg Hunt and Picnic Lunch at The Hill (11:00-12:30 p.m.). The church family is asked to bring a side dish or dessert to share and your own picnic blanket and/or chairs. Lee Epting will provide a meat and the perfect grass for egg hiding. The church will provide drinks and Easter treats. Let us know what you are bringing by signing up at tinyurl.com/egghuntsides.

Easter, April 5

Easter Sunrise Service, 7:00a.m., gates will open at 6:30a.m.

Oconee Hill Cemetery invites everyone to the Wingfield Chapel within the cemetery grounds for an Easter Sunrise Service. Please dress comfortably and consider bringing a flashlight and folding chair.

Easter Worship Services: 8:45 & 11:00 a.m., One Great Hour of Sharing Offering

Join us for the celebration of the risen Christ. We will receive an offering for the One Great Hour of Sharing, which will be used to help Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self Development of People through the Presbyterian Church USA.

Biscuit Brunch, 9:30 a.m., Fellowship Hall

Between services, instead of Sunday School, we will all gather as a church family for fellowship.

Family Promise Host Weeks

FPC will host Family Promise from March 29th through April 11th. Volunteers directly support families by providing a meal. Although all of our host spots are filled, you can still help by making a $25 donation (to First Pres with "Family Promise" in the memo) to purchase groceries or rideshare gift cards for transportation to work.

We are also looking for donations of baby items for one family expecting a baby in May. If you have an unused stroller, baby blankets, burp cloths, bottles, diapers, etc., we will be collecting these items in the Atrium over the next two weeks.

Thank you to all the volunteers who will be providing meals during this time. If you have questions, please contact the Family Promise Coordinators, Susan Boatwright at boatwright.susan@gmail.com or Jean Bock at bockjean@gmail.com.

Click here to read Holy Days@First.