Scientists predict that climate change will have dire consequences for humanity and the planet we inhabit. Can global warming move us to change course and build a new society grounded in justice, equity, and compassion? Join Rev. Fred Small this morning as he digs into these important questions.

Rev. Fred Small, Worship Leader

There will be Sunday School classes for Pre-K through eighth grade. The nursery will be open for infants and toddlers.

Click here to listen to last week’s sermon by Rev. Anne Mason, “Practice Persistence.”

This Friday! You won’t want to miss the next Voices on the Green. Doors open at 6:30 for beverages and socializing; event begins at 7:00pm.

What two things do Chris Hess, Katie O’Hare Gibson, Marshall Wilensky, Katherine Rose, Regie O’Hare Gibson, Al Jacobson, and Tom Daley have in common? They are all great local storytellers, and each has a great personal love story to tell. Fortunately for you, you can hear their stories at Voices on the Green.

This popular series explores one theme – in this case, modern love – through many different voices. In addition to the stories, the evening will feature varied love songs by popular singer and humorist Don White and a presentation on the neuroscience of love by Allison Posey (also of Lexington). This latest Voices on the Green event will be at turns both touching and humorous. All of this with “hearty” refreshments and easy access, right here at First Parish church on the Green. 

To purchase tickets, click here!

This Sunday, we welcome guest preacher, the Rev. Fred Small, to First Parish. Cited by Bill McKibben as “one of the key figures in the religious environmental surge,” Rev. Fred Small is Minister for Climate Justice at Arlington Street Church, Boston.

A Unitarian Universalist parish minister for nearly two decades, Fred is also a singer-songwriter and environmental lawyer.  In 2015, he left parish ministry to devote his energies to climate advocacy.

One of the first to engage in civil disobedience to draw attention to climate change, he was arrested with 21 others in prayer outside the US Department of Energy in Washington, DC, in May 2001.  In March, 2007, he was a lead organizer of the Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue from Northampton to Boston, Massachusetts. Grist Magazine has named him one of 15 Green Religious Leaders worldwide.

The next gathering of the Unity Group is Monday, February 12^th at 12:00pm in Parker Hall. Please bring your own lunch. If your name begins S, T, U, and V, please bring a dessert to share. The program will be a book exchange – pick one of your favorites and bring it with you. We will have a book exchange that works something like a Yankee swap, and we will each leave with a new book to read! Guests are welcome.

Between lunch and the program, there will be an opportunity to share brief remembrances of June Smith, a member of the former Alliance, Lend-a-Hand, and Unity.

News & Action from the Climate Action Team

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Thank You for participating in the “Phone-In” Sunday February 4^th. We will know later this week if the Carbon Pricing legislation was reported out of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Utilities. Regardless of the outcome your calls helped demonstrate that carbon pricing is an important path to a carbon free future.

Mark your calendar now and plan to attend the next meeting of the Climate Action Team on Sunday, February 25 after worship at 11:45 in the Parlor.

The agenda will include:  next steps in the carbon pricing campaign, FP Green Sanctuary Actions including divestment, and other legislative actions.

For more information, contacts Stephen Shick, stephenshick04@gmail.com  Bob Kvaal, bkvaal@gmail.com  David Pollack,  joananddavid3@verizon.net

Sol y Canto Trio with Cecilia Zabala 

(Benefit for Puerto Rico)

Sunday, February 18th at 4PM

Join us on Sunday, February 18th at 4pm for an afternoon of traditional and original Latin American Music featuring Sol y Canto and Cecilia Zabala. Cambridge-based Sol y Canto play “Latin roots music to change the world: Passionate, poetic, playful and honest.” The Sol y Canto trio featuring Rosi Amador, Brian Amador, and Paul Lieberman. They will be joined by Cecilia Zabala from Buenos Aires, Argentina, a virtuoso guitarist and singer whose original music draws on a rich mixture of Argentine folklore, jazz, tango, and Brazilian popular music. Tickets are $20 – click here to purchase. Proceeds to benefit victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico through the MA United for Puerto Rico Fund. Visit the Boston Foundation at www.tbf.org/puertorico

Sound Journey

with Nirmal Chandraratna

Saturday, February 24 at 7:30 PM

Free Will Offering

First Parish welcomes Nirmal Chandraratna, a New York City-based Kirtan artist and composer with a passion for nurturing connection – to spirit, to community, and to one’s deeper self – through music. Using the voice, the harmonium, and the cello, he creates music for Kirtan and meditation, and works for communal performance. He will collaborate with our director of music Rip Jackson. In this evening experience, set in a dynamic, meditative environment, you are invited to connect with your intentions, both for yourself and for the world, and to let them take flight using the transformative power of sound. At the beginning of the evening, we’ll come together as a community, singing together and sharing our intentions. We’ll raise the intensity, and then you’ll be invited to settle into a comfortable position to meditate in a darkened, candle-lit environment as a concert of expansive music and textures unfolds.

The Pledge Drive this year will be a continuation of celebrating the heritage of our congregation and recognizing the role we all have in building toward an inspiring future. The Imagination Café events led by the Board are an opportunity for everyone to embrace the potential of our community and provide guidance in making plans for the years ahead. In the upcoming weeks, information about the pledge drive will be distributed and will show how important it is for us all to feel that we are united in supporting the financial needs of the church. Support through your annual pledge is a vitally important way to demonstrate your commitment to First Parish.

What is the Pledge Drive?

The time of year when we make our financial pledges to the church to support the programs and mission of First Parish.

Why it’s important.

Did you know that over 65% of our budget comes from our annual Pledge Drive? Our pledges enable us to build the church we want.

Who Participates?

You do! All members and friends contribute.

When is it?

There will be several events promoting and discussing the Stewardship goals and engaging with you in conversation. On Sunday, March 18^th, we will have our annual Celebration Sunday, and in April we will end the Pledge Drive with an event.

How do I pledge?

Pledge cards will be mailed to you in early February. On Celebration Sunday, March 18^th, bring your card to church or pledge online <see Fplex.org>

Who is driving the Stewardship Pledge Drive this year?

The Stewardship Planning Team members are:  Bob Coyne, Marsha Fox, Katie O’Hare Gibson, Elisabeth Jas, Erik Svenson, and Tom Rich.  Send Questions or Comments to stewardship@fplex.org.

February’s Soul Matters theme is “What does it mean to be a people of perseverance?” You might want to talk about the theme with your elementary-aged child or children this week.  Here are some thoughts about the definition of perseverance from the Soul Matters materials:

Perseverance means….what do you think? Being slow and steady, even when something gets difficult. Perseverance helps us accomplish something, like training for a race, learning to play an instrument, building a Lego creation. How do you use perseverance when you build with Legos or another building toy? Step by step, slowly, sometimes having to take something apart and start over, put it aside for a while, prepare for the long haul. Building in this way is just like being a people of perseverance, a church congregation of perseverance.

The tortoise symbolizes perseverance. There is an Aesop’s fable about a race between a tortoise and a hare. Which of them do you expect to win? Why?

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