There will not be a 10:30am service on Christmas Eve. Please join us for one or both of the evening services.

At 5PM, First Parish celebrates our annual Christmas Eve service with story and song and candles of joy. Come and sing your favorite carols, listen to Rev. Anne’s Christmas message, and enjoy a story by Leo Tolstoy. Special music will be by the Children’s and Youth Choirs.

Youth and children singers and instrumentalists will provide the seasonal music for worship. The children’s choir will sing Rip Jackson’s arrangement of “The Little Drummer Boy” with percussion by Amy Kvaal and Jordan, McKenna and Regie O’Hare Gibson. The teen choir will sing Harry Simeone’s joyful “Do You Hear What I Hear?” with Aidan Dwyer, contrabass and Regie O’Hare Gibson, percussion. Boy soprano McKenna O’Hare Gibson will sing the lovely Christmas Carol “What Child is This?” For the centering music, bass clarinettist Jordan O’Hare Gibson will play a jazz arrangement of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” And for the postlude, Rip Jackson will play Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating (from A Charlie Brown Christmas) with Aidan Dwyer, contrabass and Pieter Svensen, percussion. The congregation will sing beloved Christmas carols during the service.

At 7PM, bask in the beauty of our sanctuary on this Holy Night, as the Adult Choir sings music of the season.  Rev. Anne will  consider how the ancient message of the birth of the Holy Child still has meaning for us today.  The evening will end with carols on the front steps of the church, as we serenade the Green with our favorite song:  “Oh Little Town of Lexington” 

The sanctuary choir will sing Z. Randall Stroope’s moving a capella anthem “On this Night My Heart Rejoices” and John Rutter’s ethereal “What Sweeter Music.” French horn player Erik Svenson will play “Noels for horn and piano” arranged by Bernard Dewagtere. Elizabeth Walsh and Julia Jaffe will sing Adolphe Adam’s lovely duet “O Holy Night.” Rip Jackson, David Meharry and Jamie Willis will sing the the Cornwall Christmas trio “The Holly She Bears a Berry.” The congregation will sing beloved Christmas carols during the service and on the front steps afterwards.

Click here for last week’s sermon by Rev. Anne Mason, “Will Hope, like Light, Return?”

The church office will be closed from Monday, December 25th through Monday, January 1st. It will reopen on Tuesday, January 2nd. All staff will be on vacation during the week.

For pastoral emergencies, contact Rev. Anne Mason at 717-475-5596.

For building emergencies, contact Bill Pittore at 781-696-3074.

The next Weekly Update will be published on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Holiday blessings to you!

Join Lisa Maria Steinberg at 10:30am for a special “In Between Time” New Year’s Eve service around the fireplace in Parker Hall. We will say goodbye to 2017 and set our intentions for 2018 through story, song, ritual, and prayer in this cozy All Ages worship.

With sadness we mourn the passing of Phyllis Whitman on Sunday, December 10th. Please hold Susanna and Jonathan, David, Jeremy, and Liz in your hearts as they face this first Christmas without their beloved family member.  Phyllis was a long time member of First Parish, and will be much remembered for her poetry, her singing in the choir, and her wonderful presence at church over the years. The date for the memorial service will be announced when it has been determined.

We also hold Ruth and David Rose in our hearts as they wait, with their family, with hope for recovery for their young granddaughter, Lindsay Rose.  She had open heart surgery last week, which at only 3 months old is a dangerous thing. You may visit this Caring Bridge site to get updates.  https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lindsaymargaretrose

Things to consider this December:

What does it mean to be a people of HOPE?

Do you agree with Charles Bukowski, who says, “Hope is a touch of graceful humor no matter what’s occurring. The ability to laugh, the ability to see the ridiculous, the ability not to tense up too much when things become impossible…. That’s hope: humor, guts, and courage, no matter the odds.”  In your view, are hope and humor connected?

OK, let’s say we already have hope about the future. Perhaps that’s the starting point. “To matter, to change the world, you also need devotion and will and you need to act. Hope is only where it begins.”  — Rebecca Solnit

What do you have hope about, and what might be the next step?

First Parish in Concord and First Parish in Lexington are collaborating on an experiential curriculum, Beloved Conversations.

• 1.5 day retreat on February 2nd and 3rd.
• Eight biweekly facilitated discussions in small groups promote new patterns of thought and behavior.

Developed by the Fahs Collaborative at Meadville Lombard UU Theological School, this highly acclaimed program begins with a thought-provoking 1.5 day retreat facilitated by trained Fahs Collaborative staff, which will take place on February 2nd and 3rd.

Small groups of 8-10 members from both congregations will then meet together for eight biweekly facilitated discussions to promote new patterns of thought and behavior that connect both the sources of inspiration as well as the challenges of race/ethnicity. Beloved Conversations will provide a space to re-form/fuse the brokenness of racism into new patterns of thought and behavior ushering in social and spiritual healing.

Registration is now online (limited availability, full commitment required).

For more information about Beloved Conversations, visit the Meadville website or email Elisabeth Jas or Rev. Anne Mason.

Co-coordinators of the Caring Community of First Parish Church in Lexington, Deborah Beers and Celine Nussbaum, remind parishioners that our community is here to lend a hand if someone is in need of a meal or a ride. Debbie and Celine receive requests for help through caringcommunity@fplex.org and coordinate volunteers through our community’s page on lotsahelpinghands.com/ Volunteers who have accepted our invitation to join our lotsahelpinghands.com community are sent announcements through this website about opportunities to help as they arise, and can choose to sign up for these opportunities on the website if and when they wish. Please be in touch with caringcommunity@fplex.org if you would like us to coordinate help for you through the website when you are in need, or if you are interested in receiving an invitation to be listed as one of our volunteers.

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