- Sunday Service
Our annual Youth Service Sunday, crafted by our talented and imaginative Senior High Youth Group, promises to be “curiouser and curiouser”. Come along as the youth guide us on a vibrant and thought-provoking exploration of the transformative powers of taking risks at their service, “Chalice in Wonderland.”Senior High Youth Group
There will be Sunday school for Pre-K through 8th grade. The nursery will be open for babies and toddlers.
In celebration of Youth Sunday, the youth group of First Parish will provide the music during worship. They will all sing the very moving song “Audition” (from La La Land), with soloists Jordan O’Hare Gibson, Liz Whitman-Kinghorn and Pieter Svensen. For the offertory, Liz Whitman-Kinghorn, Jeremy Whitman-Kinghorn and Jordan O’Hare Gibson will sing Stephen Sondheim’s beautiful song “Giants in the Sky” (from Into the Woods). Liz Whitman-Kinghorn will sing Shakira’s energetic song “Try Everything” (from Zootopia). Pieter Svensen (piano), Jordan O’Hare Gibson (bass clarinet), Aidan Fox (percussion), and Ben Juitt (electric guitar) will play Johnny Mercer’s lyrical jazz piece “Autumn Leaves” during the lighting of the candles. For the centering music, pianist Pieter Svenson will play J. S. Bach’s lovely “Prelude in C Major” (from The Well-Tempered Clavier). And for the postlude, Ben Juitt (electric guitar), Jordan O’Hare Gibson (percussion) and Aidan Fox (percussion) will do a rock improvisation.
Click here to listen to last week’s sermon by Rev. Anne Mason, “Truth or Dare.” - Buy Your Tickets! Voices on the Green: Balancing on the Hyphen
The second in our community series celebrating First Parish’s 325th anniversary year, will take place on Friday, April 7th at 7pm at the church.Balancing on the Hyphen: Living Multiculturally in Lexington
The program will explore the challenges and rewards for people of multicultural heritages living and studying in Lexington. There will be five short personal stories on the theme by Lexington residents Lawrence Prusak (management consultant), Shawna Yen (attorney), Marjan Kamali (author of Together Tea), and Mona Tavangar (LYFS board member), and Austin Fowlkes (METCO student from Boston at LHS). Lexington resident Dr. Mary Brinton (sociologist, Harvard University) will complete the presentations with a Ted-type talk expanding on the overall theme. Woven through the program will be musical performances and sing-alongs of thematically-related songs led by Geoff Keith, LYFS board member. Students from several LHS choral groups will be participating.
Suggested donations are $20 for donors, $10 for general admission, and $5 for students, and donations will be shared between First Parish and LYFS. Tickets are available at VoicesOnTheGreen.eventbrite.com, and also during coffee hour this Sunday and at the door the night of the show.
- Note from the Board
Sunday was a glorious day in the life of our congregation, marking the formal installation of Rev. Anne as our 24th Minister. If you missed the service, you can watch it by clicking here.There are so many people to thank and I’m sure I’ll miss some (with apologies), but here are a few heartfelt thanks:– to Deb Weiner Soule for chairing the Installation Committee. She put many, many hours into planning this service;– to other members of the Installation Committee who helped Deb: Jane Eckert, Dan Fenn, Bobbie Hodson, Amy Jamison, and Pete Tasker;– to Hazel Graham for coordinating the reception and to her many helpers who helped set up and clean up the Parish Hall;– to Lisa Maria, Rip, Jane, and Bob, for all their work in preparing for the service;– to Maureen Bovet, who was responsible for the beautiful floral arrangements in the sanctuary;– to the youth and adult members who participated in the service;– to Dan Fenn, who arranged to have the Lexington Minuteman attend the service;– and to John and Agnes Howell, for preparing the beverages and food for the visiting clergy.In the spirit of community,Tom Rich - This Weekend – Minns Lectures 2017
The Minns Lectures, an annual presentation on important issues for Unitarian Universalists and the world, will explore the history of UUism and racial issues. The lectures will take place on Friday evening, March 31, at 6:00 p.m., at First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough St., and on Saturday, April 1, at 3:00 p.m, at First Parish in Cambridge. Speakers are the Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed who has written two books on the subject, and the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, president of the Starr King School of Ministry, a UU seminary in Berkeley, California. For more information, please contact Helen Cohen. - Memorial Service for Jan Aldrich
Please join the family of Jan Aldrich as they celebrate Jan’s life on Saturday, April 1st at 11:30am at First Parish. - This Week in Social Action Ministry
The Social Action Ministry (SAM) at First Parish comes from our Unitarian Universalist faith based on the values of love, justice, community and responsibility. We do this within the supportive environment of our broader church community and the mission of First Parish “…to act on our values to serve the larger community and create a more just and loving world.”UU Urban Ministry
Join together this Saturday, April 1st for a wonderful opportunity to see a great exhibit and also meet up with members of the Follen Church
Urban Ministry Congregational team and the UU Urban Ministry for a guided tour of The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists at 300 Walnut Avenue in Roxbury. Led by Barry Gaither, Director of the Museum and international expert on Black art, the tour for adults will take place from 10:30-11:30am. During that time, there will be a special workshop for children. Registration is free but required as space is limited. Email urbanministry@follen.org to register. Interested in carpooling? Contact Al Jacobson.UU Mass Action
We hope you will join others from First Parish as we put our faith into action by gathering with UUs from across the state for UU Mass Action Advocacy Day.
Tuesday, April 11th, 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Arlington Street Church & The State House
Keynote speaker: Rev. Paul Robeson Ford, Senior Pastor of the Union Baptist Church, Cambridge
Worship leader: Rev. John Gibbons, Senior Minister at First Parish in Bedford
Musician: Rev. Fred Small, Climate Justice Minister, Arlington Street Church
For more information go to the UU Mass Action website.
To connect with other First Parish folks who are attending contact Stephen Shick.
Climate Justice
Please come to a free film screening of Before the Flood on Saturday, April 15th from 10:00am – 12:00pm. With Evan Seitz of UUMass Action and others
.“Addressing climate change is the biggest challenge of our time. Come together in community to learn and be inspired to take action on behalf of our common home.”
The Venue Theater, 1799 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA. Doors open at 9:45am. Sponsored by First Parish Arlington, First Parish Bedford, First Parish Concord, First Parish Lexington, and Follen Church. Contact Stephen Shick for more information.
Political Activism
With the collapse of the AHCA healthcare bill last Friday, our UU commitment to the Interdependant Web of support for our fellow humans breathed a sigh of relief! Ah,
but not so fast: the president has predicted the demise of the Affordable Care Act over the next year. Unspoken is that his minions will make every effort to defund or dismantle critical parts of the current healthcare safety net to guarantee or hasten that demise.Heard enough? If you want to make your voice heard on this and other assaults on our UU human rights, go to your local Minuteman Indivisible Lexington website to learn what’s happening; click the Join our Team button to get onto the email list and indicate where you would like to invest your energy. Pete Tasker.
- Five Wishes Program Offering
Join Rev. Anne and Lisa Maria Steinberg for an interactive discussion and process for end of life planning using the popular Five Wishes® Program. You may have made financial and other legal arrangements for when you die, but have you planned for your end of life care decisions, comfort, and treatment? This program is designed to help you understand the value in answering these questions, record them in writing, and have them available to your loved ones when they are needed, however far down the road that may be.The program will be offered as a two part series on Thursdays April 6th and 13th from 11:30am—2:00pm and will include lunch. RSVP is required so we can have the right amount of materials and food. Please sign up with Lisa Maria by April 3rd by email at dre@fplex.org or call 781-862-8200 x3. If you cannot attend this daytime weekday offering, let Lisa Maria know you would be interested in this program being offered again at a different time.
- Mayfair News
Sign up online! Click here to help.Have you started your spring cleaning? Or ridding your attic/basement of stuff you no longer want or use? No place to store those books from your winter reading? Have you given up dressing up? Or downsizing to smaller quarters?
If so, think MAYFAIR. It’s coming on Saturday, May 13th. Please consider donating items to the Mayfair selection of jewelry, collectibles, white elephants, books, plants, and other good stuff.
Visit the piano on Sundays to see you how can help make this First Parish spring tradition a great success! WE NEED YOUR TALENTS!
Amy Breiting and Marty Kvaal
Mayfair Co-chairs
- Lexington’s Interfaith Garden: Diggings and Doings
If it’s April, it’s spring at Lexington’s Interfaith Garden just opposite the church parking lot.This month, we’re off and digging—preparing the soil and hopefully planting peas, lettuce, and beets—the cool weather crops. We garden with volunteers from over a dozen faith communities in town during the spring, summer, and fall. In our 7 years of operation, we have produced over two tons of 35 kinds of organic produce for Lexington’s Food Pantry!!
YOU are cordially invited to participate in this interfaith gardening effort. No experience needed!! You are welcome to come occasionally or on a regular basis or to come by and just check us out. The Garden is open on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. We let you know the dates assigned to First Parish and you can sign up as you’re interested and available.
Children, youth, and adults—all are welcome. We learn a lot! We make new friends! We have fun! Do contact Cherie Noe or Marty Kvaal, the coordinators for First Parish, for more information. We hope to see you!
- This Week at First Parish
Wednesday, March 29 Choir Rehearsal 7:30 p.m. Sanctuary Master Singers’ Rehearsal 7:30 p.m. Parker Hall Thursday, March 30 Meditation Group 4:00 p.m. Parlor Nonfiction Book Group 7:30 p.m. Common Room Saturday, April 1 Jan Aldrich Memorial Service 11:30 a.m. Sanctuary Sunday, April 2 Children’s Choir Rehearsal 11:45 a.m. Sanctuary & Parlor OWL 6:30 p.m. Parker Hall Monday, April 3 Staff Meetings 12:00 p.m. Minister’s Office Tuesday, April 4 Music Committee 3:00 p.m. Common Room Insight Meditation 7:30 p.m. Parker Hall Finance Committee 7:30 p.m. Common Room Click this button to benefit First Parish when you shop at Amazon.
Weekly Update
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