34 West Washington Street ● Shelbyville, Indiana 46176

(317) 398-8854 ● (317) 398-8660 fax ● info@1umc.net

Worship Times:

8:30 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

Sunday School:

9:30 a.m.

Office Hours:

M-T-Th-F

8 AM - 12 PM

1 - 4 PM

We are glad you have decided to explore Shelbyville First UMC - either as a regular member needing information, or as a visitor.  If you are a visitor, we hope you are able to find yourself at home at First.  With many ministry opportunities and programs available, we are sure you will find your place with friends.

Easter Lily Order Form

Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday (February 6 this year) and ends on Holy Saturday (March 22 this year). Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, which means “spring.” The season is a time of preparation for celebrating Easter.

In the Early Church, Lent began as a period of fasting and preparation for baptism by converts to the new Christian religion. As the Church matured, the season became a time of penitence for all Christians.

The Great Three Days – traditionally called the Triduum or Pasch – from sunset Maundy Thursday (March 20 this year) through sunset Easter Day (March 23 this year) is the climax of Lent – and the whole Christian year – as well as a bridge to the Easter Season. These days proclaim the paschal mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. During these days the community of faith journeys with Jesus from the upper room, to the cross, to the tomb, and to the garden. The services from Maundy Thursday through Easter morning are actually one unified service of worship that celebrates the Christian message of the cross and resurrection. The service that begins on Maundy Thursday night is completed on Easter Sunday morning.

Early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.

It was also a time when those who had committed serious sins and been separated – as well as those who had separated themselves from the community of faith – were reconciled and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness of God proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.

You are invited, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading Scripture and meditating on Jesus: God’s Holy Word.

The Easter Season, also known as the Great Fifty Days, begins at sunset Easter Eve and continues through the Day of Pentecost. It is the most joyous and celebrative season of the Christian year.

Easter focuses on Christ’s resurrection and ascension and on the givings of the Holy Spirit on the first Easter and the Day of Pentecost.

The ancient Christian name for the Easter festival is Pasch, which means “deliverance” or “Passover”, thus connecting the Resurrection to the Exodus. The origin of the English word Easter is disputed but most likely comes from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eastre and her festival.

Pentecost comes from the Greek pentekoste, which means “fiftieth.” It refers to the Jewish Feast of Weeks, which Greek-speaking Jews called Pentecost. Early Christians also used the term Pentecost to refer to the Great Fifty Days as a season.

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