Table of Contents

• This Week in Worship
• Message from Rev. Lisa
• This Week in Religious Exploration
• Events and Meetings
• News and Announcements
• Social & Environmental Justice Committee (SEJC)
• Volunteer Opportunities
• Beyond First Parish

This Week in Worship

“Abundance Flows”

Worship Assistant: Brigitte Miller

Greeters: Leslie MacPherson & Mallory Digges

Flowers: Leslie MacPherson

Audio: Colin Glazer

Social Hour: Bebe Williamson & Penny Knight

Sunday’s offering will go towards the service and ministry of First Parish.

Please join us for service at 10:30am.

Please log in at 10:20, to give some lead time for the service at 10:30. You will be muted, but you can communicate through the chat box. If you do not have zoom on your computer, please download it ahead of time. It is free.

With all that is going on in the world, it can be hard to greet the day. How about you?

I recognize this means I’m paying attention to the enormous strife and struggle in the world and in my own body spirit. Hope for humanity is vulnerable these days.

Then I attend something like the Harvest Dinner last Saturday and feel the presence of love and appreciation throughout the evening. Or I participate in Sunday worship with heartfelt, beautifully crafted music, faith reflections and shared prayer. I take walks in the morning and marvel at the winter sunrise and the transforming season. Feeling love, welcoming heartfelt expressions, seeing the beauty before us is also paying attention.

There is much we can harvest these days that can get us through the hard, chilling and unnerving moments, naturally a part of us, but not all of us. Gratitude and abundance are ever available in our seeing and our believing.

So do what you need to do and feel what you need to feel and give yourself just a little more room for the mysterious, abundant, life-giving presence ever about us. It will guide us through the hard times.

 Blessings Be, Rev. Lisa

RE This Week

Music This Week

This Sunday we welcome back our guest pianist Arman Mohammad who will be leading the music. Claudia Wellington, Franc Graham and Ron Fletcher will perform “Willow” by Joan Armatrading.

Events and Meetings

Climate Action@HOME – upcoming discussions

The Climate team is planning monthly updates after worship for those who want to learn more about climate action. If you have topics you would like to discussion please contact Tracey Robinson tdr02186@gmail.

December 10th How can I reduce PLASTICS? – discussion led by Mary Blanchette

Join us December 10 at 12 noon after social hour in the Chase Parlor.

Mark your calendars for a Holiday Fair you will not want to miss!  On Sunday, December 17 after the church service until 4:00 PM, the Membership Committee is envisioning a Holiday Fair where people of all ages can be in community, nosh on tasty treats, shop for meaningful gifts, listen to holiday music and support worthy causes. But we need your help to make it a reality! Look below to see how you can help. Maybe your committee can sponsor an activity? 

Food

– Coffee, Tea, Hot Cider and Healthy and tasty treats prepared for after church hunger

– Vegetarian and meat chili’s, salad and cornbread for sustenance

– Holiday bake sale table

Music

– Caroler’s for hourly opportunities for sing alongs

– Provide background Holiday music, either on CD or streamed.

Shopping

– Kids table or room: Where kids can purchase gifts for family and friends for a $1 or less.

– Holiday Resale table or room: Holiday Gifts or Decor you are ready to pass along to another family. (What does not sell will be given to the Refugee ministry.)

– Crafters: are you or someone you know a crafter that would like to present at our fair for $25 a table?)

– Holiday Gift Wrapping Station

– Fair Trade Products and Gifts

Entertainment

– Holiday Movies in the Basement Function Room with popcorn. Short fun seasonal movies where kids and adults alike can relax and take in some holiday cheer. At 2:30 come see Tom Kemp in the Hallmark Holiday movie “The Spruces and the Pines”. 

Worthy Causes

– Holiday tree to be set up the first week of December (Church, Foyer?) to be decorated with hats, gloves and scarves to be donated to the Refugee Project. Gently used winter coats, boots and outdoor attire are welcome too. 

– Coordinate donations to the Refugee Project

Pre and Post Event Opportunities

– Make a flyer

– Post on Facebook and other Social Media

– Distribute and Post flyers

– Make Crafts or Bake

– Sunday Morning set up at 9:00 AM and Clean Up at 4:00 PM

Contact Debbie Alsebai at alsebai@verizon.net or 617-821-9460 for more information or to offer to help.

News and Announcements

NOTE FROM OFFICE:

The deadline is Monday, November 20th if you would like anything submitted in the Link for next week. Send to office@fpmilton.org.

The Milton Resident’s Fund gratefully accepts financial or gift card donations throughout the year to assist families and individuals who are experiencing a financial crisis.

We especially need gift cards during November and early December to respond to holiday gift requests for those requesting additional assistance with the purchase of food or basic necessities, and teens/young adults/parents and seniors who have requested help with a holiday gifts, sneakers, or winter clothing. The following would be particularly helpful: grocery (Shaws or Star Market work best), $25 target (as they sell everything), or Amazon. Gently used snow boots for teens and young adults as well as gently used snow jackets are also welcomed (leave in FP library marked MRF). Gift card donations can be left in the grey box in the church hallway. Provide the donor name and mailing address if a tax donation letter is requested. The goal is to distribute all gifts and items b 12/15/23.”

Regards,

Noreen K Dolan, MSW, LCSW

Fund Coordinator

Social & Environmental Justice Committee (SEJC)

IMPORTANT — MILTON ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITY — NOW!!

MBTA COMMUNITIES ZONING 

At a Special Milton Town Meeting (December 4), Town Meeting Members will vote on whether to adopt two proposed Warrant Articles to amend the town’s General Zoning By-Laws to create an “MBTA Communities Multi-family Overlay District” and remain in compliance with state law. Inform yourself with facts available on the town’s MBTA Community Zoning webpage and on the Planning Board Public Hearing presentation on October 26. Please:

• read and reflect on these articles through the lens of our shared UU beliefs and values  
• contact your precinct’s Town Meeting Members and advocate for your position

First Parish Milton’s Social & Environmental Justice Committee joins Affordable Inclusive Milton (AIM) and Sustainable Milton in supporting these articles in the belief that they will: address the state’s acute housing shortage and in Milton: expand multi-generational housing options and affordability; expand social and economic diversity; support smart growth through climate-friendly and sustainable development; boost the town’s tax-base through increased residential and mixed-use properties. Check out our bulletin board at church, too, or stop by our table during Sunday Social Hours.

Article to Read:

Leave the Leaves: Winter Habitat Protection

December 6th is the next date!

S&EJ (Social & Environmental Justice committee) is looking for volunteers the first and third Wednesday of each month to contribute lunches. We hope to deliver 70 lunches twice a month to support shelter guests.

 See updated instructions on the Mainspring SignUpGenius page and signup whenever you can help out.

We are counting on your support!

Beyond First Parish

Bridging Dinner

Mark Your Calendars! Friday, November 17th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM the next Bridging dinner with First Parish and Church of the Holy Spirit will be held at Restaurante Cesaria at 266 Bowdoin Street, Boston 02122.

There is parking to the side of and back of their building. There will be traditional Cape Verdean cuisine that will be set up Buffett style so we can try many dishes for $25 per person. For those interested in staying longer there will be live music at 8:00 pm.

Please email Debbie Alsebai at alsebai@verizon.net or call/text her at 617-821-9460 to sign up.

Community Conversations: A Long Road Home: Roots of Homeownership Inequity

Join us and our guest, Aja Kennedy from the Boston Indicators to discuss some of the state’s homeownership support programs, and policy tensions related to design and implementation of these programs, as well as recommendations for how to strengthen them.

A Long Road Home: Roots of Homeownership Inequity

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 – 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Co-sponsored by: First Parish in Lexington and Follen Church

About Aja and Boston Indicators:

Aja is a Racial Wealth Gap Research Fellow with Boston Indicators. She is currently pursing a Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy at Tufts University, where her research areas include urban and public economics, with a particular interest in housing, residential segregation, and land use.

Boston Indicators special report “A Long Road Home: A Racial Equity Analysis of Homeownership Support Programs in Massachusetts” leads with a history of our region’s racial homeownership gap and provides a thorough landscape scan of affordable homeownership programs in Massachusetts, diving more deeply into six key state programs and policies. The paper ends with recommendations for strengthening the existing system, derived from a series of focus groups and stakeholder interviews.

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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, 9:30 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: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090d44aca728a02-sunday1

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

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, 9:30 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: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090d44aca728a02-sunday1

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