Welcome Back Event: “Make a Joyful Noise” Everyone is invited downstairs to Hale Hall from 9:30 am to 10:20 am to make simple instruments with which to celebrate our homecoming. We’ll end by parading at 10:20 around the outside of our meetinghouse with joy and thanksgiving and proceed into the sanctuary for the service. 10:30 … Continue reading Ingathering Sunday
Most Unitarian Universalists celebrate the Flower Ceremony, created by Norbert and Maja Capek in the 1930’s. In this, our last regular Sunday of the congregational year, we will celebrate the Flower Ceremony and consider why of all our UU rituals, this one endures. The story of its creators is one of courageously living one’s values, … Continue reading “These Messengers” – Flower Ceremony
What would you like to ask the interim minister? Rev. Susan will answer questions submitted in advance on Unitarian Universalism, theology, faith, ministry, congregations in 2022, the spiritual life. We will also appreciate our members’ ministries this Sunday, so please come and be thanked for your volunteer efforts. Send questions to minister@firstparishbeverly.org. This service depends … Continue reading Question Box and Congregational Ministries Appreciation
Somehow in the midst of a year that had held many challenges, good things have been happening at First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist. Today we celebrate milestones that remind us how and why community life is important to us: appreciation of congregational ministries; recognition of new members; and a bridging ceremony for high school senior, … Continue reading MILESTONES
Memorial Day holds some surprising roots, including racial ones, which we need to remember if we are to acknowledge the depth and complexity of the occasion. The day is, as Mark Bellinti writes, “a time for remembering the human loss in human wars, the silence of voices, the bending of hearts forever. . . ”Let’s … Continue reading “The First Parade”
Mother’s Day can be a tough time for many, and there is no one right way to hold it. But most of us can appreciate the legacies of foremothers as they struggled to make lives and engage their own creativity. What did they do with that creative energy? How are those often unacknowledged legacies passed … Continue reading “Tending Our Mothers’ Gardens”
How do you imagine First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist in the future? What would you want to see, hear, experience? This Sunday the Transition Team seeks your participation in visioning the future of the congregation. We will hold a brief worship service and then break into small, facilitated groups to consider three visioning questions. … Continue reading Transition Sunday II: Visioning: Who Do We Want to Become?
A Multi-generational Easter Service Even when the world discourages us, even when winter winds seem endless, love returns and gives us new life. Our service will include a multi-part story of the Legend of the Pysanky, a short Easter reflection by Rev. Susan, favorite Easter music, and even birds. If you picked up a pysanky image last week, please bring it … Continue reading “Love Comes Again”
In the Christian world, today is Palm Sunday, in some ways the most revealing holy day of the tradition. It provides the context for us to consider how Jesus, an itinerant Jewish teacher and “healer,” was most of all a prophetic activist who opposed the oppression of his people by a powerful empire. IN-PERSON WORSHIP … Continue reading “Especially This Year”
The song, Anthem, by Leonard Cohen, provides the text for today’s sermon. “There is a crack in everything. . .”. How can our struggles, disappointments, even failures and wounds, make us stronger? Is it possible to awaken to new selves within us? From Japanese pottery to human healing, the universe offers us clues. Today’s service … Continue reading How the Light Gets In
