Your Weekly Link – News and Updates 6/26/2026

June 26 2026

Table of Contents

  • This Week in Worship
  • Message from Rev. Lisa Ward
  • Music
  • Religious Exploration
  • News & Announcements
  • Events
  • Social & Environmental Justice
  • Beyond First Parish

Sunday, Service June 28th Service “One For All and All For One” – Led by Robert Mussey

Learn about Milton’s pioneering role in smallpox vaccination in the 18th and 19th centuries as Robert traces the dissenting opinions about inoculation (some believing it was against God’s will) and how local doctors came together to provide a life-saving roadmap for other towns. The path to the quarantine hospital in the Blue Hills still exists today.

Service is at 9:30am!

*Full Summer Schedule Below


Reverend Lisa Ward

We cherish the ten-year ministry of Reverend Lisa Ward. The reflections of our interim minister, the Reverend Bev Waring, will appear in this space next month. The staff and congregation look forward to her arrival on August 1, 2026.


Religious Exploration

World
Summer Fun
Fall 2026

REGISTER HERE

Want more? Find all things Kids and Youth on the RE Linktree. For more information on any of the above contact Susannah at redirector@fpmilton.org or call 470-223-0337


News & Announcements

Upcoming Summer Services Schedule

9:30am Start Time (note earlier time)

In Meetinghouse unless noted

7/5   Geoff Wilkinson: Fire

7/12 Dan DeAngeli: The Journey Through Memoir

7/19 Cynthia Guise, Natalie Monroe, & Deb Larson-Venable:

Standing with Our Migrant Neighbors

7/26 Steve Yakutis: Meditation and Me (A Semi-Silent Service)

8/2   Amy Kavadlo & Jennie Mulqueen: Hymn Song

8/9  Leslie MacPherson: What It Means to Be a Unitarian Universalist

8/16 Katie Vhay: TBA

8/23 Songs of Protest (in courtyard)

8/30 Chris Clifford: Blue Hills Forest Bathing* (location TBA)

9/6 Elise Henricks: Walking Our Labyrinth* (in courtyard)

Join us online from anywhere; but if you can, please come in person.

  • Not available online.

Legacy

Legacy Giving @ First Parish

Generations of First Parish members and friends have honored the First Parish community through a legacy gift.  

A legacy gift is a commitment to make a future donation to First Parish Milton. The most common legacy gift is a bequest in your will.  

Gifts of any amount build and sustain the First Parish legacy. Our vibrant community, our activities and programs, and the beautiful campus, meeting house, and children’s church could not be maintained without legacy giving.

Consider a gift that embraces and sustains the values and future of this vital place.

For more information visit our website page https://fpmilton.org/members-page/legacy-giving/ or contact Susan Diminco (manager@fpmilton.org), or a member of the committee: Mike Bello, Roger Gray, Andrew Maloney, Roberta Williamson, or Allison Zippay.

Thank you for your generosity. 


Social & Environmental Justice

SAVE MASS SAVE

Massachusetts Climate Action Needs YOU!

Please call or email your MA State Senator NOW before a vote to dismantle a climate-critical program occurs on Beacon Hill, possibly next Thursday. 

  • Urge her/him/them to oppose proposed cuts ($1B) to the “Mass Save” program. Lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry contact them daily — they need to hear from YOU, their constituent! 
  • First Parish and many others in our congregation have benefitted from Mass Save rebates and retrofits to gain energy efficiency through lighting, heating/cooling, solar, insulation, windows, etc. improvements. Why? To reduce our bills AND our fossil fuel use. 
  • Helpful (inspirational!) information here is summarized by Zero Carbon MA, and Mass Power Forward’s letter-writing portal is hereFYI: Unitarian Universalist Mass Action is a key planning partner in Mass Power Forward’s coalition to uphold climate JUSTICE.

Be more than an individual activist, be an organizer. Ask five others to join you in this action. And if you’re adept on social media, go for it!

Thank you!


Beyond First Parish

Thursday, June 25, 2026 6:00PM – 7:30PM

A special evening of music, theater, and a community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

Co-hosted with Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice, this outdoor tented event will begin with live classical music and light refreshments, followed by a short excerpt from the play, “This Is Not a Bill,” by Boston playwright Alexia Rowe. The play tells the story of an enslaved couple escaping from the South along the Underground Railroad during the threat of the Fugitive Slave Act.

The community reading will begin at 7:00 pm with volunteers taking turns reading individual paragraphs from Douglass’s speech. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. Sign up by clicking the button below.

This program is made possible by a grant from Mass Humanities, which provided funding through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).


urban

The Historic Meetinghouse Tour

June 25, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

First Church Roxbury (UU Urban Ministry), 10 Putnam St, Roxbury, MA 02119, USA

A guided tour of the historic First Church in Roxbury, led by Executive Director of UUUM, Rev. Mary Margaret Earl. Explore the rich legacy and recent refurbishments of this landmark building at the heart of the UU Urban Ministry.


Summer Office Hours

Susan DeMinico: Summer Hours for July and AugustIn office on Tuesday &Thursday – Off Mondays and Fridays, 1/2 day remote Wednesdays.Vacation: June 22nd, June 24th-July 6thVacation: August 9-17

Susannah BalesVacation: 6/18-29 ; 7/6-12; 7/22-27Study Leave: 7/20 & 7/21, 8/3-8/6, 8/10, 8/12, 8/13

Sherri MoldaverIn office Monday thru Thursday 8:30am-1:30pm

Kevin HarndenMonday-Thursday 8am-11am


Stay Connected

Follow First Parish on Facebook and get updates, poems, announcements and more. You’ll be glad you did!

CHURCH OFFICE HOURS

Monday – Thursday 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Other times by appointment

MINISTER OFFICE HOURS

Tuesday – Thursday 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Other times by appointment

The Church office is closed on Fridays

Sundays through mid June

  • Worship, 10:30 am in the Meetinghouse
  • Choir Rehearsal (most Sundays) at 8:45 am

SIGN UP GENIUS (formerly known as the Planner)

The link to SignUp Genius is: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D44ACA728A02-57884860-20252026#/

You can sign up for one our our Sunday volunteer positions.