💨VIRTUAL WORSHIP ONLY💨: Order of Worship for March 8, 2026: The Heart of Discernment

Call to Worship - Those of you joining us from home are invited to light a candle to welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit

King of Glory - Jesus Culture - El Dorado

Welcome - Rev. Dr. Mandy McDow

Teach Your Children - Graham Nash - El Dorado

Passing of the Peace: Through the act of passing the peace of Christ, we offer our sincere desire to love our neighbor.
You are invited to greet one another in the live stream chat on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. 

Lent Book Study: The Way of Discernment

Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 am PT - Class resumes March 11 at 10 am PT.

Zoom link here

Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first women to be ordained as a Methodist minister in the United States.

Mason was born into slavery in 1818 in Hancock County, Georgia, and in 1851, she and her children were forced to walk to California from Utah. In California, slavery was prohibited, and state laws allowed enslaved people to be freed if they entered the territory. She sued for her freedom, winning it in 1856, at which point she chose the surname Mason.

Detail from Bernard Zakheim's “History of Medicine in California” mural, installed in UCSF's Toland Hall in 1938, features Bridget “Biddy” Mason, the first Black nurse in California in the late 19th century, working alongside John S. Griffin, MD, caring for a malaria patient. Photo courtesy of UCSF Archives and Special Collections

Mason had deep medical knowledge from being a nurse, an expert herbalist, and a midwife. She delivered hundreds of children and helped the residents of Los Angeles during the smallpox epidemic of 1863 with herbal remedies—risking her health to help others. Mason’s contributions as a midwife are part of a long tradition of women serving as the primary caregivers within their communities.

Mason also worked as a nurse for a notable white surgeon, John Strother Griffin, the first university-trained physician in Los Angeles. They are depicted working side-by-side in Zakheim’s mural. At a time when segregation was still prevalent, it’s remarkable that she is represented as an equal to Griffin.

Using her earnings and savings to buy land, Mason became one of the city’s prominent philanthropists, opening schools, feeding people experiencing poverty, and donating to charities. She also continued to serve as a medical practitioner at a time when healthcare was not easily accessible, especially for Black people in the western United States.

“If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in,” Mason was known to say. “The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance, even as it receives.” Credit: https://pretermbirthca.ucsf.edu/news/biddy-mason-trailblazer-medical-and-black-history

As you know, Los Angeles First United Methodist Church was founded in 1853 at the El Dorado Saloon in La Plaza. Sent to “evangelize the rowdy and incorrigible southland.” Rev. Adam Bland succeeded in building a congregation and a building on Fort Street, now Broadway. Fort Street Methodist Episcopal Church was the home of Biddy Mason, an enslaved woman who fought for her emancipation and went on to be one of the wealthiest landowners in Los Angeles in the 1880s. She started First AME in her home, but kept her membership at Fort Street ME Church until her death. Biddy Mason’s funeral was held at our church, as First AME did not yet have a building.

Know Your Rights:

You have constitutional rights:

• DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door.

• DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.

• DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.

• If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.

• GIVE THIS CARD TO THE AGENT. If you are inside of your home, show the card through the window or slide it under the door.

I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door.

I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.

I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.

These cards are available to citizens and noncitizens alike.

The Winter Shelter Program is held annually to protect people experiencing homelessness during Los Angeles's colder months. Winter Shelters are located all across the County, and will be operating 24 hours a day.

People in need of transportation should go to 211la.org and use the chat feature to request a ride.

For any inquiries, please email wintershelter@lahsa.org

CALL TO PRAYER: Our Town - Iris Dement - El Dorado

Joys and Concerns: Prayers of the People We believe that the best way to bear our burdens is to share them with one another. You welcome to share your joys and concerns so that our community can hold these things in our hearts as we lift them to God together. 

You are invited to share your prayers in the Facebook Live Chat, or on the YouTube Live chat.

Epistle Lesson: Romans 12:1-2, 9-18 NRSV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

One: This is the word of God for us, the People of God.
All: Thanks be to God!

SERMON: The Heart of Discernment - Rev. Dr. Mandy McDow, preaching

HOLY COMMUNION

Invitation to the Table: As we understand the Body of Christ to be inclusive, we understand God’s table of grace and fellowship can extend into our homes. As you’re able, bring your own elements to this time.
Bread, Juice, Coffee, Muffins… the Body of Christ is comprised of wonder and mystery. Today, we celebrate that God can reach us where we are, even if we are not together.

The Great Mystery of our Faith
All: Christ has died
Christ is risen. 
Christ will come again.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
for ever and ever. Amen.

CLOSING: Say So - Israel Houghton & Michael Gungor - El Dorado
Benediction

And remember:
God is with you,
God is for you, 
God refuses to be God without you. 
And may all of God’s people say: Amen!

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