This Week in Worship

Sunday, December 1st, 2019

“Finding Hope, Finding Home”

Minister

Rev. Lisa Ward

When my daughter Sarah  was one year old, she reminded me of the importance of moments of gratitude. At dinner time, our family would hold hands and take a moment to be thankful for whatever came into our minds on that day.  Within months, Sarah would extend her hand out and simply say:  “hands”.  She intuitively knew that this was a special moment together.  The words were not important, nor understood, but the energy of our moment together was known and desired.

In the business of our lives, we need to discipline ourselves to find moments of togetherness and of thankfulness.  It is not up to life to gain our approval, it is up to us to see its abundance.  This makes a difference, not only in our outlooks, but in the substance of our living.  The practice of gratitude guides the choices we make, what we invite ourselves to see and the what energy we convey in our ways and walking.

Thanksgiving is here and the complexities of extended family living come into play.  Reminders of the disparity of those with plenty and those with none are also in the forefront of many minds.   In whatever situation we may find ourselves, whatever opportunities we enjoy, whatever struggles we are in, it is important to foster our thankfulness, to speak it aloud and share it in silence.  It is what generates hope and strength in our lives and moves us to cherish life in others.

As “Grace” may be requested at Thanksgiving dinner, and it may be an awkward moment, I offer a simple formula, in three utterance:. Affirm the shared moment (could be  anywhere from“let’s lift up our glasses” to invoking a shared sense of the sacred), then be specific in the shared endeavor (could be honoring the food, the effort to travel together, the earth’s abundance), then a hope or gratitude for being together.

Any intentional moment of cherishing community and/or claiming gratitude invites grace in.  There’s no magic about it, just true intention.  Blessings be.

Happy Thanksgiving, Rev. Lisa

Congregational Discernment Toward Installing Solar Panels 

We are progressing toward a congregational vote scheduled for Sunday,

January 12.

A brief summary of the proposal is posted at the end of the link hallway.  An executive summary is available upon request.  We have also sent this information via email to members and contributing friends.

Mark your calendars for a presentation by Isaac Baker of Resonant, Inc after worship service on December 8.

It is important that we discern this project together before the vote.  We

have set up opportunities for smaller groups to meet and discuss the plan.  All ages are welcome in this discernment.  Parents: please feel free to encourage your youth to share their opinion.

Please click on the link below to sign up for your listening circle:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090d44aca728a02-solar

Religious Exploration

Nursery care will be available from 10:15 to 11:45 am in the Link hallway for infants and toddlers up through age 3.

On Sunday, December 1, all children from preschool through grade 8 will attend the entire worship service in the Meeting House. Coming of Age does not meet

this week.

Please register your child or youth for RE classes! The Religious Exploration Committee requests all families to register your child or youth. Please use this link to our online form: Online registration form (or paper registration forms are available on the RE bulletin board in the Link hallway).

Youth Chat (for grades 8 through 12) will not meet on Sunday, December 1st.

Coming of Age (for grades 8 through 10) will not meet on Sunday, December 1st.

Due to lack of youth RSVPs, there will be no hike offered on December 1st. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, everyone!

MUSIC SELECTIONS

For this Sunday the choir will be singing an anthem with a text by Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, composed by Clif Hardin. During the offertory Grace Allendorf will sing a solo by popular American musical theatre composer Jason Robert Brown from his solo album, “How We React and How We Recover”. 

Events, News and Announcements

Potluck this Sunday !

Join us every first Sunday of the month after worship in the Parish Hall for our potluck social hour.  Mark your calendars !  Bring your dish to share!

Christmas is coming!

We have 10 trees remaining!

Christmas Tree Order Forms can be found this Sunday in your Order of Worship. 

If you’d like an order form emailed to you, please email the office at office@fpmilton.org.

Trees are 6-7 Frasier Firs from Sibgo Family Farm in New Hamshire. Cost is $65. Pick-up times are Saturday, December 7th from 9:00am-1:00pm; December 8 from 11:45am-1:30pm. Weekday pick-up’s can also be arranged with the office. Proceeds go to First Parish. Thank you!

Gratitude Sanctuary: A spiritual alternative to “Black Friday”

November 29, 1-5pm in Parish Hall.

Part of working for environmental justice is looking at consumer habits.  In this way, practicing gratitude can be an act of resistance! When we create space to deeply contemplate the blessing of life, our humble hearts can be filled with deep joy for being. You are invited to bring one item for a gratitude altar as well as journals, dream/vision boards, or any other contemplative project that makes your heart hum. We will begin and end with singing and sharing, and the heart of our time together will be for silent meditation/individual project work. All ages welcome. 

Questions? Contact Jennie Mulqueen: jenniemulqueen@gmail.com

GREEN GLEANINGS

by Green Action Team

Tuesday Night at the Movies: “The Biggest Little Farm” (2018)

December 3, 6:30 – 8:30pm, 92 minutes

Milton Public Library, Keys Community Room 617.698.5757 for information

The Washington Post described this film as “breathtaking, engaging, illuminating…a must-see.”  It chronicles the eight-year quest of an urban couple, the Chesters, as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland north of Los Angeles and their dream to harvest in harmony with nature.  The cinematography is jaw-dropping, and the story line provides a road-map for better living and a healthier planet. Spoiler alert, “Diversity is our friend.” Rated PG  for “mild thematic elements,” the film is sponsored generously by the Friends of the Milton Public Library, free, accessible, and open to the public.

World Market Holiday Craft Fair

December 7th, 2019

 9:30-1:30

Parish Hall

First Parish members: Our World Market Holiday Craft Fair is coming!! This year, we are doing something new; we have invited local artisans to come and offer their crafts for holiday purchasing. In addition, we will have our usual tasty assortment of Equal Exchange Fair Trade items — coffees, teas and cocoa — plus new items from a co-op of West Bank farmers which includes dates, nuts, olive oil and couscous. Also new this year: CHOCOLATE from Goodnow Farms.

There will be holiday music and treats to nibble while you shop and socialize with friends old and new. 

Local crafters encouraged to contact the

church for an application. Crafts only,

no food or mass-produced items. 2 Tables Remaining!

$35 per table

Contact: office@fpmilton.org

617-698-6329

December 8 Come to Lunch After the Service!

The youth group will have a delicious chili and gluten-free cornbread lunch available for purchase on December 8. Suggested donation is $5 per person, $20 per family. Proceeds will help fund youth participation in future service trips.

Holiday Gift Card Drive

It’s time again to contribute gift cards to the annual Milton Resident’s Fund Gift card drive.  The MRF works in coordination with the Milton Public Schools and with My Brother’s Keeper to provide gift cards that help local families create their own special holiday celebrations.  Noreen Dolan, the MFR social worker, has suggested $25 cards from Target or Shaw’s.  For those who prefer to give toys, there are collection boxes for new toys in all the Milton Public Schools.  If you are interested in assisting with the sorting of toys and gifts, contact My Brother’s Keeper about their volunteer opportunities.  The deadline for gift cards is December 13 – please bring to church and deposit in the Gray Box next to the church office. And thank you for your help.

FAIR FOODS

Fair Foods is a nonprofit organization that rescues nutritious wholesale fruits and vegetables about to be discarded for distribution to members of the community. Join First Parish’s Social Justice Committee for our monthly volunteer day with Fair Foods at the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry, 10 Putnam St. in Roxbury. Arrive in Roxbury at 10:30 or e-mail Tony Dutzik at tdutzik@gmail.com if you’d like to join a carpool leaving from First Parish at 10 a.m. or if you have any questions. Upcoming dates include the following Saturdays: December 14 and January 11.

Coming this spring: The First Parish Auction on March 28, 2020!

Traditionally held on a biannual basis, we are now gearing up for the 2020 auction. And that means volunteers – LOTS of them. We need folks to work on Donations, Food and Beverage, Music and Entertainment, Decorations, Check out and Operations, Publicity, and Online. This is truly an all church effort. Won’t you  join us?

Email to volunteer: Lynne Stack: lmstack258@gmail.com or Mallory Digges: maldigges@gmail.com

June 24, 2020-June 29, 2020, Providence RI

Early Bird Registration is now Open!

Click here for more informaiton.

Snow Cancellation Information:

If the Milton Public Schools close for snow, so does First Parish. Sundays we realize are trickier.  We will call it by 8 a.m. on Sunday.  Look for cancellations in three places.  If you don’t see cancellation information, we are open.

~Channel 5, WCVB television.  Look for First Parish – Milton.  Check their website if you want to get automatic, direct notification through the TV station. www.wcvb.com. 

~Check our Facebook page. First Parish Milton UU.  We will post cancellations there.  Our Facebook page also feeds our Twitter account @FPMilton.

~Check our website, www.fpmilton.org.  We put a banner on the home page with closing information.