Weekly Update

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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.
  • Sunday Service

    In his teachings, Parker Palmer suggests that we live a ‘divided life.’ What does it take for us to find that hidden sense of wholeness and bring our full selves into community, together? As we begin our monthly study of Identity, we begin with our first step of looking within. As Palmer says “I now know myself to be a person of weakness and strength, liability and giftedness, darkness and light. I now know that to be whole means to reject none of it but to embrace all of it.”

    Join Rev. Anne Mason this Sunday at 10:30 am when she talks about Palmer, identity, and ‘Balancing the Wheel.’

    There will be Sunday School for Pre-K through 8th grade. The nursery will be open for babies and toddlers.

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    The sanctuary choir will sing Frank Ticheli’s emotional “Earth Song,” and the gentle South African freedom song “Khutso” (with soloists Elisabeth Jas and Toni Tasker). The First Parish children’s choir will sing Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher’s iconic “The Rainbow Connection.” For the centering music and postlude, Rip Jackson will play Fred Binckes’ lively “Fanfare for a King” and Schubert’s lyrical “Andante” (from Piano Sonata in A Major).

    Click here to listen to Rev. Anne’s sermon from last week, New World Order.

  • Office Closed

    The church office will be closed on Friday, February 3rd. Email will be monitored. If there is a pastoral emergency, please contact Rev. Anne Mason at minister@fplex.org.

     

  • Note from the Board

    Last Sunday in church Katie O’Hare Gibson kicked off our annual pledge drive with a lovely testimonial on why First Parish is important to her and her family. Last Sunday was also the first of a series of Sundays when members of the pledge drive team will be at a table during coffee hour to answer questions about the pledge drive.

    The annual pledge drive brings in about two-thirds of the funds that provide worship and music on Sundays, pastoral care throughout the year, children and adult religious education programming, and community outreach. Our goal this year for the pledge drive is $393,000. Pledge cards will be mailed to parishioners in late February and we hope everyone will have pledged by March 12th.

    On behalf of the Pledge Team (Bob Coyne, Marsha Fox, Bob Gibbons, Katie O’Hare Gibson, Tom Rich, and Erik Svenson) and your Parish Board, I thank you in advance for your pledge to First Parish and for helping us reach our pledge goal.

    In the spirit of community.

    Tom Rich

    Board Chair

  • New UU Class

    Are you new to First Parish and/or interested in learning more about Unitarian Universalism? Please come to the New UU Class, which will be held on Saturday, February 11th from 9:00am to 12:00pm. The class is for new visitors to First Parish, new members, and anyone wanting a refresher! The class will include discussion about UU beliefs, the Seven Principles, the six Sources, and the UU symbol – the flaming chalice. We will cover the benefits and responsibilities of membership at First Parish, what our motto Love, Seek, Serve means, our mission, and our covenant and why it is different from a creed. We will also speak about church governance and opportunities for connection and service.

    Please contact Rev. Anne Mason at minister@fplex.org or Jane Foley, our Parish Administrator, at 781-862-8200 or admin@fplex.org.

  • Free Screening of “Beyond the Wall”

    On Saturday February 11 @ 10am at the Lexington Venue, please bring family and friends to a free screening of the film, “Beyond the Wall.”

    Written and produced by Concord filmmaker, Jenny Phillips, it was filmed locally at the Billerica House of Correction/ Middlesex Jail. Jenny Phillips and the main character, Louie Diaz, will be present after the film for conversation. The film, in coordination with the “After Incarceration There’s Life” campaign, strives to break down common stereotypes and barriers, to stimulate new conversations about re-entry, and to support preparations of individuals for release. Middlesex County Sheriff, Peter Koutoujian, calls this documentary, “Riveting, gritty, powerful, and provocative-it is real life.”

    In the spirit of thinking globally and acting locally, please join us in moving forward in conversation and action on criminal justice reform.  These once incarcerated individuals are our neighbors, friends, and family who are in need of understanding and support.

    First Parish Lexington joins First Parish, Bedford and Follen Community Church in sponsoring and supporting this event.

  • 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.”

    First Parish’s Social Action Committee is excited to announce that Toni Tasker and Meg Jackson have been chosen as the first recipients of the Al Jacobson/Communities Without Borders (CWB) Traveling Fellowship. Established this past year through the generous contribution of the Gibbons family, the award seeks to encourage young and older adult members of First Parish to participate in a two week summer travel/educational trip to Zambia.

    The Zambian Program has been the international centerpiece of FP’s Social Action Committee’s work and is especially critical given today’s global issues. Communities Without Borders is a Boston-based organization and over the years First Parish has supported the education of hundreds of primary and secondary aged boys and girls left orphaned or vulnerable as a result of the AIDS pandemic in Sub- Saharan Africa.

    To learn more about the program please contact Margie Gibbons, Al Jacobson, or Cherie Noe.

  • Tidbits from the Kitchen Committee

    In order to keep our kitchens clean, neat, and in working order, we ask anyone using the kitchens to please follow these simple instructions:

    • When you leave food in the refrigerators or cabinets, please label and date it so it doesn’t get thrown away unintentionally.
    • Please wash all dishes you use, as well as dry and put away. If everyone does their own dishes, it will keep the kitchen clean and neat.
    • Many people use the kitchens at First Parish. Please wash the counters before and after you use them. We have provided sturdy wipes and cleaner for you.
    • Water in the dishwasher in our first floor kitchen should be emptied when you are finished with it. If there is still water in it, try this: close the door, press OFF, listen for water draining. Open the door so that the dishwasher can air dry.

    Thanks for your cooperation!

    The Kitchen Committee:

    Amy Breiting, Marty Kvall, Carolyn Fleiss

  • February’s Special Plate Collection

    On Sunday, February 19th, the plate collection will be donated to WATCH in Waltham. Daria Gere, Executive Director, will be speaking.

    WATCH is a CDC (Community Development Corporation) that provides a variety of programs from a tenants’ clinic, housing repair and weatherization, and language classes and tutoring to the new immigrant community in Waltham.

    The community WATCH serves is diverse, but primarily composed of young, low income families from Guatemala and El Salvador. Thirty-five percent of Waltham school children are from Spanish speaking households. Several First Parish members have volunteered in the “Barnraising” housing program and at Breaking Barriers, WATCH’s ESL program. Breaking Barriers at WATCH is the only ESL program currently offering classes in Waltham. Volunteer teachers and tutors are always needed.

    Support for this vulnerable community is critical in these troubled times.

    Please contact Connee Counts for more information.

     

  • Concerts in February

    Mark you calendars! There are three opportunities to see some great musical performances in February that you won’t want to miss.

    A Night of Broadway Solos and Duets

    Presented by Munroe Saturday Nights

    First Parish in Lexington

    Saturday, February 11th at 7:30pm in the Sanctuary

    Join First Parish soloists Elizabeth Walsh and Austin Burns in an evening of Broadway solos and duets with accompaniment by Rip Jackson, Director of Music, on piano. Come spend an evening serenaded with stunning and beautiful repertoire from the American stage. Doors open at 7:00 PM. Reservations are strongly recommended. For more information, go to www.munroecenter.org/reserve-your-seat.html Suggested donation of $10/person.

     

    Lexington Choral Festival

    Sunday, February 12th at 3:00 PM

    Hancock Church in Lexington, MA

    Free Admission

    The First Parish Sanctuary Choir will join 11 other choirs from Lexington in raising their voices together in the 12th Annual Lexington Choral Festival on Sunday, February 12 at 3:00 p.m. hosted by Hancock Church. This year’s festival features choirs from 12 area churches and temples with over 200 singers participating. Admission is free and open to the public. The performance is approximately 90 minutes in length. A reception will follow. Parking is available behind the church and around the Battle Green.

     

    Blue Heron Medieval Ensemble

    Friday, February 17th at 8:00 PM

    First Parish in Lexington

    Join the Blue Heron Medieval Ensemble as they present the fifth installment of the complete works of Johannes Ockeghem, featuring one of the composer’s earliest masses, inspired by an anonymous English mass on the same plainchant melody, but utterly transformed by the Flemish genius. The program will include a movement from the English Missa Caput and other music by mid-15th century English composers such as Robert Morton and Walter Frye.

    Doors open at 7:30. Click here to buy in advance and save: $65 Preferred / $32 General / $27 Senior (General) / $10 (Student (General).  At the door: $68 / $35 / $30 / $10. Under 18 free.

  • Save the Date – Rev. Anne Mason’s Installation

    All are cordially invited to

    the Installation of Rev. Anne Mason

    as Minister of First Parish in Lexington

    Sunday, March 26, 2017

    4:00pm in the Sanctuary

    More information to follow.

     

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