Announcements
Worship
UPDATE: Traditional Worship in Fellowship Hall through March 30
The AC work is coming along smoothly, it's just an enormous project and is taking time. The electrical work and insulation will need some additional time to complete so we will continue to have combined worship in the Fellowship Hall through March 30 and are now projected to be back in the Sanctuary on April 6.
Easter Morning
Traditional Worship at 9:15 AM | Sanctuary
A festive service with choir and brass. This service will be live-streamed. Children will be invited to Children’s church after the children’s message to hear the Easter story and make a craft.
Family Worship at 11 AM | Outside on The Green
Child-friendly Easter worship experience.
The Way (Modern worship) at 11:15 AM | Fellowship Hall
Children will be invited to Children’s church after the children’s message to hear the Easter story and make a craft.
Children’s Activities from 10 AM – 1 PM | Playground Area
Fun activities on the playground.
Nursery Care
Nursery for kids 3 and under available from 9 AM until 12:30 PM
Holy Week Services
Palm Sunday | April 13
Regular services at 9:15 AM (Traditional) and 11:15 AM (the Way)
Maundy Thursday, Communion and Tenebrae Service
Thursday, April 17 at 7 PM
Traditional Communion and Tenebrae service. Tenebrae (the Latin word for darkness) is a service held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by gradual extinguishing of candles, and by a loud noise taking place in total darkness near the end of the service.
Good Friday
Friday, April 18 at 12 PM | Walker Chapel UMC (4102 N. Glebe Road)
We will join our friends at Walker Chapel for a Good Friday Taizé Service at 12 PM. This is a contemplative Good Friday Taizé service. Through scripture, prayer, and meditative music, we will reflect on the depth of Christ’s sacrifice and the hope we hold in his resurrection.
Serve Communion on Easter
As Easter Sunday approaches, we would like to request your assistance in serving communion during our Easter services. We will provide training and guidance to ensure that all servers feel confident and prepared. This is a wonderful opportunity to serve the church community and participate in the Easter celebration. We hope that you will consider joining us in this important ministry. If interested, please email Pastor Sara.
2025 Lenten Offering
Educating Caldwell Road Liberia (formerly Liberia Educational Foundation School)
MISSION: Empower the Community of Caldwell Road, Liberia, through quality education for all children. The Caldwell Road School came into existence by faith in 1995; and continues to thrive by prayers and hard work. The current school is housed in a small home that the Educational Foundation purchased. The school serves 100 students, preschool to eighth grade, who might not get an education without its existence. The school building is not sufficient to meet the growing needs -it floods during the raining season and becomes unsanitary, lacks indoor plumbing and bathrooms, and is too small for the student body. For the past two years, with support from Mount Olivet and others, a new modern school is being built which will serve more students in an environment more suited for learning. The foundation for the school building has been laid and construction is underway to build more classrooms, a mini medical clinic, a multi-purpose room, and indoor bathrooms.
Your generous contribution during this Lenten Season will be an answer to prayers to complete this important building for the Caldwell Road students.
Just Neighbors - Hope Through Immigration Legal Services
For nearly three decades, Just Neighbors has provided high-quality immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, asylees, and refugees in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. Handling about 1,000 cases each year. Just Neighbors has served clients from more than 150 countries. As they face an environment of legal hurdles, these newcomers are striving to achieve their own version of the American Dream. That’s why Just Neighbors offers compassionate, humanitarian-based services.
Your generous support during this Lenten Season will contribute to fulfilling Just Neighbors Vision "Ensuring that all immigrants, asylees, and refugees are able to live with dignity and full membership in their communities"
Community
We Have the Power to Protect: Refugee & Immigrant Ally Training
Are you troubled by the harms and fears refugee and immigrant neighbors are facing in these challenging times? Together, WE have the power to protect them and, by exercising our rights, can change the lives of our immigrant neighbors! Learn from local immigration and legal experts on simple ways to protect immigrant and refugee members of our community. NOVA Friends of Refugees, St. George’s Episcopal, and Mount Olivet UMC are partnering with 5+ NGOs to bring this scenario-based training to the Arlington community. Event is in-person only at St. George's Episcopal Church. View Flyer
Moral Witness Wednesdays
As you prepare to join us for Moral Witness Wednesday on April 2, understand that your presence embodies a powerful response to our nation's urgent moral crisis. We gather as clergy, faith leaders, and people of conscience, guided by our shared spiritual traditions and sacred texts, to resist injustices harming the most vulnerable among us. The Prophet Micah challenges each generation, asking profoundly, "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8). This call is our clarion imperative today.
In a moment when systemic racism, economic oppression, xenophobia, and attacks on human dignity are institutionalized in policy and practice, our moral witness is not only necessary—it is sacred. Our Wednesdays represent acts of public theology, truth-telling, and prophetic resistance, grounded in our understanding of scripture, the rich heritage of liberation and womanist theology, and the lived experiences of communities enduring injustice. As you sign up, you affirm your commitment to stand courageously, collectively voicing an unequivocal "No!" to hatred, oppression, and corruption and a determined "Yes!" to justice, love, and the sacred dignity of all humanity.
Thank you for answering this call and joining the ranks of prophetic voices nationwide who declare boldly, "We will not be silent anymore."
Wednesday, April 2, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Supreme Court in DC, 1 1st St NE, Washington, DC 20543
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Supper & Service | Easter Edition!
Easter is coming and we could use your help! Wednesday, April 9 we will be packing 3,500 eggs for our egg hunt. A yummy dinner will be served starting at 6 PM in the Youth Area. Please RSVP so we know how much food to prepare. Contact Linnea Carlson with any questions.
Volunteer with Community Assistance
It’s time to volunteer for Community Assistance. Our next event will be on April 12. Please volunteer to help our neighbors in need receive some much needed help with food and gift cards. Slots to volunteer are available from 8:00 am through 12:45 pm. Please note that we have changed the distribution to start an hour earlier at 10 AM instead of 11 AM so check the time slots carefully as they have changed. Sign up on the SignupGenius.
You can make a financial contribution to Community Assistance, at mountolivetumc.com/giving and indicate Community Assistance. Thanks for your continued support of our Community Assistance Ministry.
Annual Easter Egg Hunt
It’s time for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt! We’re gathering at beautiful Woodlawn Park (1325 N. Buchanan Street) to hunt for all the best goodies! Children will be divided by age – but don’t be late because we have some expert egg hunters and it goes by fast. Bring a basket and invite your friends. (We may even have a special guest stop by!) Parking is available in the church lot and it’s a short walk down the block to Woodlawn Park. Please check your child’s eggs for allergens.
Pat Cerny Memorial Service
A memorial service will be held at Mount Olivet for Pat Cerny (who died on February 14), on May 3 at 1 PM with a reception to follow in Fellowship Hall. All are welcome! Pat and her husband Milt, have been members of Mount Olivet for 54 years.
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Caretakers of God's Creation
Are you familiar with the term “climate grief?” Interfaith Power and Light’s theme for the fourth week of Lent is “Praying for those experiencing climate grief,” generally the “particular feelings of loss or dread associated with our changing environment due to climate change.” Their suggestion is to assist organizations responding to natural disasters. A ready resource for that is the United Methodist’s mission organization, UMCOR, currently responding to the needs of Hurricane Helene’s survivors and California wildfires.
Racial Equity Resources
Historian Henry Louis Gates has said that the Harlem Renaissance "was surely as gay as it was black." In the last week of Women's History Month, learn about some women who today would be part of the LGBTQ community.
Adults
Lenten Study
Join us for a five-week deep dive into Part One of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, beginning Wednesday, March 12, 7 PM on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/97441142078. This study will challenge us to consider what it truly means to follow Jesus in a world that often values comfort over costly grace.
Children & Families
Annual Easter Egg Hunt
It’s time for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt! We’re gathering at beautiful Woodlawn Park (1325 N. Buchanan Street) to hunt for all the best goodies! Children will be divided by age – but don’t be late because we have some expert egg hunters and it goes by fast. Bring a basket and invite your friends. (We may even have a special guest stop by!) Parking is available in the church lot and it’s a short walk down the block to Woodlawn Park. Please check your child’s eggs for allergens.
Youth
Confirmation!
If you have an 8th grader in your family who would like to be part of our Confirmation class this Spring, please let us know! We will offer classes beginning April 6 on Sundays at 4 PM (just before Youth evening). Confirmation for those who chose to join will be on Pentecost Sunday, June 8. Contact Pastor Sara.
Fire
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Update on Fire Restoration - Crane Pictures!
So much work has been completed recently! The sanctuary air conditioner was placed on the flat roof with a crane while lots of excited staff and church members watched the process. Contractors have removed the very old air handler (exposing, for now, the ladder that goes to the bell tower) and new HVAC ducts have been installed that now occupy the area from the front to the back of the sanctuary (see pics in Traditional Worship in Fellowship Hall announcement). Electrical work inside is moving forward rapidly with several new electrical panels being installed, including a panel in the attic. Metal studs are being finished up that will support the new walls. It is exciting to see so many improvements happening.
The restoration is scheduled to be finished by late 2025, depending on weather and other factors. We are looking forward to being able to "Open the Doors" and use our full building! Meanwhile, the church continues to operate with a reduced footprint. We are limited to the sanctuary, preschool, youth area, fellowship hall and L-8 and L-9. Staff continue to work at home. We thank you for your patience as we move through the restoration and remain grateful for your continued support and prayers
