We often dream of creating a community where people across race and faith and neighborhood can build relationships and work together for a better world. But that is easier said than done. For white communities, the first step is reckoning with the reality of racism.

Rev. Mary Margaret Earl, Worship Leader

There will be Sunday school classes for Pre-K through Grade 8. The nursery will be open for babies and toddlers.

This Sunday the First Parish children’s choir, with soloists Adelle Cowen-Therieau and Lindsay Korn, will sing “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from the hit Broadway show “Annie.” The sanctuary choir will sing the poignant spiritual, “Turn Me Round,” with soloists Austin Burns and Julia Jaffee. The choir will also sing the powerful “Finale” from the Broadway show “Rent.” For the centering music, Rip Jackson will play Claude Debussy’s ethereal piano piece “Claire de Lune.” He will also play J. S. Bach’s energetic organ work “Prelude and Fugue in c minor, BWV 549” for the postlude.

Click here to listen to last week’s sermon by Rev. Anne Mason, “What on Earth Were We Thinking?”

The Rev. Mary Margaret Earl began serving as Executive Director and Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry in 2014. During her time, she has worked to strengthen bonds between UUs and the Roxbury neighborhood where the UUUM operates. She is on the leadership team of the Moral Revival Massachusetts, working with a coalition reclaiming what it means to be religious in the public square.

Prior to her arrival at the UU Urban Ministry, she spent 10 years at McAuley Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit in Providence, RI that provides food, shelter, and clothing to those who were homeless or at risk of becoming so. She is past president of the Board of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless and was recipient of the 2014 Heroes of Faith Award from the Rhode Island State Council of Churches for her interfaith work.

I will be at a conference this weekend, but I know that you will be in excellent hands with Rev. Mary Margaret Earl, who is head of the UU Urban Ministry.

The conference I’m attending is called “Revolutionary Love:  Disruptive Ethics to Dismantle Racism.” It will be held at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City, and I’m looking forward to listening to some of the great voices in religious anti-oppression work like Van Jones, Jacqui Lewis, William Barber, and Brian McLaren. In these days when our own UUA is facing the systemic racism in their own hiring practices, I am excited to be moving beyond the UU world into the progressive intersection of multi-racial and multi-religious voices being offered in this conference. Hopefully, I will bring back some great insights to share with you all!

In faith,
Rev. Anne

Sunday, May 7, 2017, at 3:30 PM

First Parish in Lexington
7 Harrington Rd. Lexington, MA

Suggested Donation: $20/adults; $10/Students and Seniors

(More if you can and less if you can’t – all are welcome!)

First Parish in Lexington will present a Broadway Cabaret on Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 3:30 PM. The concert will feature the First Parish sanctuary and children’s choirs and soloists, guest singers, and a pit band (piano, drums, electric guitar, electric bass, trumpets, horns, flute, saxophone and clarinet) performing solo and choral music from Broadway including selections from Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Annie, West Side Story and Show Boat. Suggested donation: $20/adults; $10/students and seniors (more if you can and less if you can’t – all are welcome!). For more information call the church at 781-862-8200 or visit www.fplex.org.

This Sunday is the special plate collection. The recipient for April will be the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry.

On Sunday, April 30th, Rev. Mary Margaret Earl, Executive Director and Senior Minister of the UUUM, will join us in the pulpit where she will preach on, “Making Beloved Community Real.”

“Headquartered at the First Church in Roxbury campus, the UU Urban Ministry operates programs that provide education and enrichment programming for children and youth, emergency shelter for individuals and families fleeing from domestic violence, affordable housing and intentional community for young women, and volunteer-based capacity-building services for Roxbury-serving nonprofits. We make use of an extensive pool of volunteers from Boston-area UU congregations, colleges/universities, and the Roxbury community to offer a greater level of programming than our staff alone could provide. An important part of our mission is bringing together people from different walks of life to work together toward justice and equality.” For more information, visit their website.

The family of Dorothy Smith has informed us that Dorothy passed away while she was visiting her daughter in Minnesota. The family is having a private time of remembrance instead of a public memorial, but appreciate the kind thoughts of the congregation. It has been a tough few months for all of them.If you would like to send a card, please feel free to do so: Debbie Smith – 1403 Chelmsford St., St. Paul MN 55108 and Karen Drew – 13 Winthrop St/Winchester, MA, 01890.

Last call! Wondering how you can help with the Broadway Cabaret?

There will be a reception following the concert, and donations of finger food such as brownies, fruit, cupcakes, veggies, and other small, healthy items are needed. Please contact Hazel Graham if you can bring something and what it will be.

Email Hazel here if you can contribute.

All are invited to come tomorrow to First Parish for an information meeting about Jericho Road Roxbury, an exciting UU Urban Ministry program matching your professional skills, experiences, and UU values with the needs of non-profit organizations in the Roxbury/Dorchester community.

What: information meeting to learn more about opportunities to work with non-profits and help them grow their business. No commitments, just come and hear.

Where: First Parish Lexington, 7 Harrington Road

When: Thursday, April 27, 1:00 pm, lunch will be served

Who: women and men, young and older adults, active and retirees who are members and friends of Follen Community Church, UU Bedford Church, and First Parish Lexington.

Flexibility & Support
• Project-based
• Finite-time commitments
• Remote and on-site consulting
• Follen Church, First Parish in Bedford, and First Parish in Lexington support group

Utilize Your Skill Sets & Professional Experiences
• Marketing
• Web-development
• Accounting and Finance
• Business Strategy
• Governance
• Risk Management
• Fund Raising
• Sourcing

Contact/RSVP: Al Jacobson, First Parish Lexington, aljacobson@comcast.net; Marci Butman, Follen Church, mbutman@gmail.com; Robert Schmalz, First Parish in Bedford, schmalzrobert@comcast.net

All are welcome to participate in an informal group of members and friends who enjoy fiber arts. On Thursday, bring your knitting, crocheting, beading or other fiber work and meet in the church parlor from 2:00 pm to 3:45 pm for a low-key time of fellowship, creativity, and sharing of ideas.

Just drop by or email Karolyn Eisenstein to join the email list.

The church office will be closed on Friday, April 28th. If there is a pastoral emergency, please contact Rev. Anne at 781-862-8200 x2 or email her at minister@fplex.org. All phone calls and emails to the office will be returned on Monday, May 1st.

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.”

Even after a successful Tax Rally in Lexington last Tuesday, April 18th, the president’s tax returns are still on our minds—especially as he gets ready to announce his big tax cut program this Wednesday. Aside from wondering what he is hiding, the lack of his tax returns makes it very hard to understand how his proposed tax cut program will directly enrich the holdings of him and his family.

Heard enough? We have about a dozen pre-addressed “Tax Demand” postcards on which you can share your own concerns with the president about his the refusal to release his tax returns. If you are interested in writing a card, send your request to info@minutemanindivisible.org. Want to make your voice heard on a statewide or national scale, visit our website [minutemanindivisible.org] for lots of good, timely suggestions for action. Click on the JOIN button on the website to sign up for one of seven teams of Lexington activists.

Do you have a house full of books that need thinning, a garden full of plants that need splitting, or jewelry, purses, and scarves that no longer compliment your wardrobe? Donate them to Mayfair! Here’s how:

Book Sale

Please drop off books on Friday, May 12th in the Common Room.

WANTED ONLY: Books in good condition (all types except textbooks), including

Current fiction & nonfiction

Art books

Children’s Books

Cookbooks

Gardening and Field Guides

Recent travel guides

Books on CD

Contact Mary Knuth for more information or with questions.

Jewelry Table

This year the jewelry table will offer an ‘All NEW’ selection — nothing left over from prior years! BUT it is up to us to dig into that collection of forgotten and unloved gems and accessories (purses, silk and silk-like scarves) to make this work. We will treat your valuables with respect making sure they are carefully valued to bring the best price. You can drop off your items each Sunday. Jane will also receive things at the office when she is there. We encourage early drop offs to lessen the build up of donations at the last minute. Ask your sisters, mothers, friends, and neighbors for their long neglected jewels and invite them to refresh their own collections by coming to the sale. The following are team members this year: Lynne Yansen, Deb Lapides, Carolyn Fleiss, Lee Brami, Trelawney Goodell, Linda Coyne, Meg Newhouse, and Edie Ruquist.

Plants Plants Plants

Take advantage of the upcoming spring weather to get out in your garden and thin those innocent-looking shoots that have multiplied beyond their limits. Pot them up for Mayfair! We need plants! Any questions, check with Lydia D’Andrea or Jim Jones.

A new feature in the Weekly Update, In Other News… will be a space designated for news items and announcements that do not fit under the umbrella of a standing committee or program of the church but may be of interest to readers.

On Wednesday evening, May 10 at 7:00 p.m., Attorney and President of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association, Susan Church, will give a presentation at First Parish in Bedford. The presentation is designed to inform immigrants and their allies of their rights and to empower them in the era of significant ICE enforcement. In addition, Ms. Church will also be prepared to answer our questions about offering physical sanctuary and its legal implications. Don’t miss this opportunity to become informed and, importantly, to prepare for the support of a person(s) in sanctuary at First Parish. AND, please do invite any immigrants you may know who would benefit from this presentation.

We’d like to get a sense of how many people will attend; so, please let Vito (vito@deblam.net) or Christine (chdudleymarling@gmail.com) know if you think you’ll be able to join us. Thanks!

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