- Sunday Service
What would it mean to be truly present in all of our lived experience? What moments are we missing, caught up in our emotions, distracted by events, worldly and personal. Guest worship leader, Lisa Perry-Wood, will help us explore practices to stay present and care for ourselves, through meditation, centering prayer, and deep listening.Lisa Perry-Wood, Worship Leader
Lisa Perry-Wood is a graduate of Andover Newton Theological School and a UU Candidate for Ministry. Lisa also holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology and spent 12 years working with youth, families, and adults in the mental health system in Lynn, MA. She then founded and led a K-8 public charter school in Lynn, followed by a consulting and teaching business for schools and nonprofits. Most recently, Lisa has worked as a hospice chaplain serving patients and families in the greater Boston area. Lisa enjoys crafting inclusive and spirit-filled worship services and rituals, and she looks forward to serving in UU parish ministry.
Guest musician will be Yukiko Sekino.
Click here to listen to last week’s sermon by Rev. Bethany Lowe, “What’s in a Name?”
- Important Deadline for Parents of Youth who finished 8th-12th Grade
Parents of Youth who finished 8th-12th Grade this spring: Please let Lisa Maria know by Monday, July 17th if your Youth has a strong interest in going on the Service Trip to the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in June 2018. This “strong interest” headcount will allow us to know how many chaperones we need, and to start talking with travel agents about transportation options, which will get us to a firm cost per participant. Final commitment and deposit will be requested in late August/early September.Please contact Lisa Maria with any questions.
- Help First Parish Celebrate the 325th Year of the Congregation
We’ve been together for 325 years! First Parish is planning a celebration on Sunday afternoon December 3rd, for the congregation and for the wider Lexington community, to celebrate this occasion. The event will feature a dramatic presentation by Don Cohen of the creation of the church body and of our covenant. It may also include period music, bell-ringing, a procession, our first Communion tankards, and a 17th-century (modified!) lunch. Please put this event on your calendar.The month of November will provide other opportunities to celebrate the existence of the congregation. Programs being considered are art and document exhibits featuring FP history; a Thursday evening adult education series on UU history; related projects for children and youth; the creation of a model of our first church building (even as we begin congregation-wide discussion of our capital campaign for a building that meets our developing needs); and outside speakers.
The 325th Celebration Committee is working with the History Committee and with Lexington historians such as Richard Kollen, Sam Doran, and Charlie Bowen to research the period in which the church and town were founded.
We are looking for volunteers for all aspects of these events. Please contact Helen Cohen if you are interested (helencohen@rcn.com) or any member of the committee.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, August 2, at 1:00pm, in Rev. Anne Mason’s office. Whether or not you can make that meeting, you can join in the fun and in helping us to reflect on the meaning of becoming a church at any time in the next months. Thank you!
The 325th Celebration Committee: Helen Cohen, The Rev. Anne Mason, Dan Fenn, Bill Smith, and Don Cohen
- This Saturday – Sewing for Days for Girls
JOIN US TO SEW forDAYS FOR GIRLS
SATURDAY JULY 29TH FROM 9:00 A.M. TO 1:00 PM
AT FIRST PARISH UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST IN LEXINGTON
Days for Girls is an organization that provides health education and feminine hygiene kits to girls and women in more than 100 countries who otherwise would not have access to either. Their mission states, “Days for Girls is dedicated to creating a more free, dignified, and educated world, through providing lasting access to feminine hygiene solutions and health education.” Visit their website to learn more information.
Join us to sew reusable cloth kits for girls who do not otherwise have access to sanitary products. Please bring your sewing machine! Supplies will be provided.
Questions? Contact Amy Breiting or Roberta Pittore for more information.
- Invitation from Temple Isaiah
All are warmly invited to join Temple Isaiah on July 25 from 7-9pm as they host “Out of Many, One”: Teach-In and Solidarity with the Boston Muslim Community. Join together with our Muslim neighbors from the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center and other Greater Boston Interfaith Organization leaders for an evening of learning, relationship-building and solidarity. This is an opportunity to learn more about the Muslim faith and to hear stories from individuals of their experiences being Muslim in Boston and Greater Boston. We’ll also learn about specific threats facing the Muslim community in these troubling times and about what we can do to be of support. All learners are welcome. RSVPs to http://isbcc.org/out-of-many-one/ are welcome but not required. - Unitarian Universalist Association Newsletter
UU BulletinA monthly newsletter from the Unitarian Universalist Association to keep you and your congregation informed.
General Assembly 2017 Wrap-Up
More than 4,000 Unitarian Universalists from around the world gathered for five days of workshops, worship, and witness around the theme of “Resist and Rejoice” at the 2017 General Assembly in New Orleans, Louisiana, held June 21-25. Major highlights included the election of UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, the second-line parade and public witness with the #LoveResists campaign, and the Ware Lecture from Bryan Stevenson. See complete coverage of General Assembly in UU World.
UUA Common Read
Two books have been selected for the 2017-2018 UUA Common Read. One focuses on the work of dismantling white supremacy culture within today’s Unitarian Universalism, and the other provides a vision and guidance for some of our work in the public square.- Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry, edited by Mitra Rahnema (Skinner House, 2017).
- Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want, by Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen (Beacon Press, 2017)
Centering is available now at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop, and Daring Democracy will be available in early September. We invite you to read both and to work with others to organize discussion groups in your UU community. A discussion guide for each book will be available in October. Find out more about this year’s Common Read and how you and your UU community can participate.Luminary Leaders
Do you know high school-aged youth who are great leaders? Invite them to join Luminary Leaders, a program for exceptional youth leaders who want to get more involved, network with one another, and be recognized for their skill and achievement. If youth have led worship, worked for justice, planned events, joined a ministry team, or graduated from a UUA youth training, they are excellent candidates for Luminary Leaders. Write a Letter of Endorsement for a youth leader you know and invite them to fill out the Luminary Leaders application. Luminary Leaders receive a lapel pin and official certificate recognizing their service to our Association. They are recognized on our website and their congregation receives a letter of congratulations. Luminary Leaders meet in a private Facebook group and at a reception at General Assembly. Help our youth know their leadership is valuable! Learn more on our website.Put Your Faith to Work
Volunteering with the UU College of Social Justice (UUCSJ) allows you to share your skills and talents to support the work of our partner organizations, while strengthening your own connections between faith and justice. Opportunities include:- Supporting refugees and migrants within the U.S. and abroad
- Supporting underserved and disenfranchised communities within the U.S.
- Cultural immersion and spiritual exploration with Holdeen India partners
Stay up-to-date on future volunteer opportunities and join the growing Volunteer Team by completing an interest form.CLF Prison Ministry
Have you or your congregation been looking for ways to engage in the work of ending mass incarceration? Maybe you already do prison ministry and are looking for a network of support? The Church of the Larger Fellowship’s Prison Ministry has developed a new tool for Unitarian Universalists, the Worthy Now Network. WorthyNow.org offers classes, blog posts, and circles of support for people with a range of experience in prison ministry. There are three primary ways to engage: through the Letter Writing Ministry, the Prison Ambassadors Program, and Circles of Support. Join today at WorthyNow.org.
The work of the Unitarian Universalist Association is made possible by the generosityof member congregations and individual donors. - News from the UU Ministry for the Earth
Exciting changes are afoot at UUMFE, and one of them is a new e-newsletter! Instead of extensive quarterly PDFs, we will now be sending you a monthly email that rounds up one story for inspiration, one action for activation, one tool for education, and one opportunity for connection—all in service of resourcing you for the vital work of faith-grounded environmental justice. Let us know what you think! 
INSPIRATION
Environmental Justice Forest Takes Root at General Assembly
New Orleans, host of the UUA General Assembly this June, was filled with environmental justice creativity and organizing! From an Opening Celebration that featured 10-foot painted trees contributed by UU groups and congregations from across the continent, to a Saturday morning worship that included Earth-loving puppet theater, to a nine-workshop track of environmental justice programming contributed to by many frontlines activists, Unitarian Universalists proclaimed throughout General Assembly: “the seas are rising—and so are we!” Read the whole story.
ACTIVATION
Create Food Justice Through Community Gardens
Help the Mountain, a UU retreat center in North Carolina, fulfill their goal of starting a “food forest for environmental justice”! The food forest will be a place for farm-to-table food for the Mountain’s kitchen and education for people of all ages on environmental sustainability, regenerative farming, and ecosystems. Donate to their Faithify campaign before it ends in two days.
p.s. Start an environmental justice garden of your own! Many UU congregations grow a food garden on their grounds that can serve myriad justice purposes. Check out the “church gardening questionnaire” from Flourish Magazine to get started.
EDUCATION
“10 Years after Katrina: Resilience, Recovery, and Reality”
Produced by the Greater New Orleans Organizers Roundtable in 2015 to commemorate ten years since Hurricane Katrina, this 30-minute film focuses on the realities of New Orleans after the storm, with a particular focus on the effects of climate change and “disaster capitalism.” Watch it for free online.
CONNECTION
Join the Climate Action Roundtable
The next Climate Action Roundtable is tomorrow, Wednesday July 12, at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. Don’t miss it! Sign up for the mailling list to get the call-in details.
These monthly calls are an opportunity for UU activists, congregational Climate Action Teams, and friends from around the continent and world to come together for conversation about spiritual resources, current events, storytelling, questions and struggles, and calls for action and solidarity towards climate justice.
“Inspiration” photo of Earth-loving puppet theater by Rose Gallogly. “Activation” photo of gardeners courtesy of the Mountain.
Visit UU Ministry for Earth online at uuministryforearth.org. Click this button to benefit First Parish when you shop at Amazon.
Weekly Update
Subscribe to the Weekly Update
The email newsletter of First Parish in Lexington is published on Wednesdays at 4 pm. Submissions are due on Mondays at 10 am. Email submissions or inquiries to the church office.