Rev. Lisa Ward has been our settled minister since August of 2016. Ordained in 1992, Rev. Lisa has served congregations in New York City, Queens, White Plains, NY and Harford County, MD. A graduate from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, she has engaged in social justice initiatives throughout her career… 
OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH in observance of President’s Day
Table of Contents
- This Week in Worship
- Message from Rev. Lisa
- This Week in Religious Exploration
- Events and Meetings
- News and Announcements
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Beyond First Parish
This Week in Worship
“Where’s Love When Things Go Wrong”
Worship Assistant: Chris Clifford
Usher: Paul Casaz
Faith Reflection: Sue Korman
Music: Tim Steele
Audio: Atticus D’Alessandro
There will be NO Social Hour Sunday 2/19, as there was no volunteer available. The Hospitality Committee is seeking volunteers for future Sundays. Please see the article below.
Sunday’s offering will go towards the service and ministry of First Parish.
Masks are strongly recommended in the meetinghouse; masks are still required for those who have not been vaccinated. Respect and consideration should be given to all regardless of their masking choice.
Most of you are probably familiar with the acronym “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out). This fear has many of us checking our phones on a regular basis, tuning into the news often and either keeping an eye on or participating in social media. I find myself sometimes listening to the news until I feel spiritually nauseous about the state of humanity. News flash: that is listening for too long.
To follow the common advice against dehydration (drinking water before you are thirsty): unplug before you are searching for more news to deepen your despair. Of course, there is plenty of news in this world that can anger, or sadden, or disgust, or scare us. According to algorithms, that kind of news sells and attracts multiple views, so we can always find despairing news. Yet, it is important to heed wisdom often offered by author and legal activist Bryan Stevenson: hopelessness is the enemy of justice, and I would add the enemy of faith in wholeness.
In a recent testimony before Congress, Frances Haugen spoke eloquently of the true danger of social media on children and youth. We need only recognize the pull of social pressure to understand that the digital world adds pressure exponentially and presents dangerously unrealistic standards for self- esteem and/or faith in humanity.
UU faith communities are in the business of hope for humanity along with celebration of life. This must start with our own practice of finding the good, the possible and the way toward wholeness. Pay attention to what you are feeding your mind and spirit, and lean into one another for the true affirmation of the beauty, wisdom and capacity of your lives.
In Faith, Rev. Lisa
Music For Sunday
On Sunday the Meetinghouse Choir will be singing an anthem of inspiration and perseverance called “Journey On”, by Victor C. Johnson, on a text by Charlotte Lee. Mr. Johnson is a prolific composer and conductor from Dallas, Texas, and has written over 400 choral works. We also welcome a guest soprano, Carina DiGianfilippo, who will be singing a song written by Leonard Bernstein on a text by Stephen Schwartz.
Religious Exploration
Join us Sunday for a multi-gen RE session.
Events and Meetings
What’s all this talk about an 8th Principle?
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation, First Parish in Milton affirms and promotes seven principles, which we hold as strong values and moral guides. Our congregation’s Racial Justice Task force is supporting a movement within the UUA to adopt an 8th principle focused on racial justice. To that end we will hold a series of listening circles in January where members and friends can learn about the proposed principle. We hope you can join us.
All sessions will be on ZOOM and the link will be emailed to you prior to the session for which you register.
Feb 19th 12:00 pm in person in Parish Hall
Feb 26th 12:00 pm in person in Parish Hall
Book Drive
You may donate gently used and new paperback (NO HARDCOVER) books in the following categories:
Nonfiction: dictionaries (in all languages), thesaurus, almanacs, trade skills, business, hobbies, self-help, sports, spirituality and books by LGBTQ authors and people of color.
Fiction: Westerns, thrillers, mysteries, science fiction.
To learn more about the program, visit prisonbookprogram.org
Boxes will be located in narthex or you can drop thru slot by office door. Drop off deadline is March 3rd.
UU Elevator Speech Group is happening again!
Last spring, Membership held a series called the Elevator Speech, meaning: if you were going to try to explain to someone what being a UU means during the length of an elevator ride, what would you say?
We are doing it again! Everyone is welcome to join us for a virtual conversation on three Wednesday evenings in March from 7:00 pm-8:30 pm. We will meet on March 1st, 15th and 29th.
Last year’s group found it to be an empowering experience. If you are interested in joining us, please email Leslie: lesliecmacpherson@gmail.com
News and Announcements
Social Hour Announcement
We are so glad that Social Hour in Parish Hall is once again a possibility after service. It is a wonderful time to be in community.
However, we need your help to make it happen. We need volunteers to help set up coffee, tea and simple snacks. It does not need to be elaborate. And help is available to plan the morning.
We realize we are out of practice because of years of COVID restrictions. We have very few volunteers signed up for the rest of the year.
If you can help, please go to the link below to view the online church planner. Simply click on one of the available dates to sign up.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090d44aca728a02-20222023#/
If you have never hosted and would like more information please email Jen Pinkus at jennifer.pinkus@gmail.com.
We sincerely thank you for your generous gift to the below organizations . We are so lucky to have your support. With your donation, they can continue to work towards their goals.
Stone House $1,017.65
MICA $1,126.70
Courageous Conversations $732.90
Learning about climate change and what we can do about it
First Parish Milton is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions on the church campus by 2035. Greening our church campus, however, is just the beginning. Learning more about climate change and how we as individuals can take action to improve the health of our planet is a key part of our “Getting to Zero” commitment.
The Getting to Zero education team invites you to complete a survey to help us learn about the congregation’s specific interests so that we may provide information, workshops and “doable individual actions” to address climate change.
Visit us at the Social & Environmental Justice table during social hour on Sunday where you can complete the survey and talk to members of the team. OR click button below to fill out the survey online.
The survey will continue to be available on the S&EJ webpage on the FPM website.
Stewardship Month is Here!
The Stewardship Committee suggests that you ask yourself these questions in order to help you decide how much you can afford to give towards our upcoming FY2024 budget which begins on July 1st, 2023:
Why am I here?
Why do I give to this community?
Where does this community fit into my overall yearly giving?
Do I feel involved in the life of this church by my giving?
For how many years has my level of giving to this community remained the same?
Where would I like to see this community go in the future?
How can I help it get there?
Submit your FY2024 Pledge here
Feel free to give any feedback you would like to any of us on the Stewardship Committee
Charlie Franich pemaquid@aol.com
Mallory Digges maldigges@gmail.com
Eric Miller r.eric.miller@gmail.com
Mark Ostrem marko105@aol.com
Fair Foods
Fair Foods is a non-profit program that rescues fresh produce that would otherwise be wasted and uses it to feed our communities. We volunteer together unloading and sorting food and packing bags once a month.
The next volunteer date is Saturday, March 11th.
If you want to volunteer, please sign up on Sign up Genius by Thursday
evening before the event. Start time and locations vary depending on Fair Foods’ needs, but typically start at 8:30 a.m. at their warehouse at 70 Amory Street in Roxbury.
Other volunteer opportunities are also available at Fair Foods, especially on Friday and Saturday mornings. Contact Tony Dutzik at tdutzik@gmail.com or 617-291-4685 with any questions or for more information.
First Parish Milton volunteers provide bagged lunches to MainSpring adult shelters in Brockton twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays. Members of the Social & Environmental Justice committee will make the delivery to Brockton.
Volunteers are needed to acquire food and pack 10 lunches and deliver to the church between 12:45 pm-1:00 pm on Delivery day. One team lead drives all the lunches to the shelter in Brockton. Please note how many meals you are making in comments. We are looking for 70 lunches for each delivery day. Lunches should include sandwich, fruit, drink, snack/chips and sweet/cookies.
The next delivery day will be on Wednesday March 1st and then every other Wednesday throughout the year. We will meet in the lower parking lot between 12:40 and 1:00 PM.
If you haven’t made lunches in a while OR if you are a new volunteer, sign up on MainSpring Sign Up Genius or contact Pat Gallivan at pl.gallivan@verizon.net for more info.
Thanks to all the volunteers that have made this program a success for more than two years !!
Beyond First Parish
The UU Service Committee has researched ways to support rescue and relief efforts in Syria and Turkey in response to the devastating earthquake. For their recommended relief organizations go to this link.
COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS TOWARDS RACIAL JUSTICE
Invites you to explore the turmoil and confusion of
Critical Race Theory
Monday, February 27, 7-8:30 pm on Zoom*
With Guest Panelists:
Claire Galloway-Jones – Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging – Milton Public Schools
Corey Dolgon, PhD – Professor of Sociology – Stonehill College
What are the fears and misconceptions of this concept?
Why is it so polarizing?
What is preventing welcoming the whole of our history?
*Due to continued covid concerns, we will be on Zoom Only
COMPOSTING IS COMING TO MILTON SCHOOL CAFETERIAS !!!
February 27 will launch a test waste diversion program at Glover and Tucker Elementary Schools lasting until summer recess. Many adult lunchroom volunteers (CORI certification required) M-F 11-1 will help children separate their food waste into compost, liquid, recycling, and trash bins. Can you help make this initiative a success?
For more information and to sign up click here.
There are many benefits to this program: solid waste reduction and harmful greenhouse gases associated with it; lower disposal fees; pride in being part of the solution; and more..
GET THE BOOK & GET READING!!
Join Tucker Smith on Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. * to dive into author Doug Tallamy’s book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.
Copies of the book will be available to reserve/read in advance. Together, we will brainstorm ways to create America’s newest, largest National Park without any government involvement.
This event is part of “Milton Grows!,” a year-long Milton Public Library program.
[* Note: unknown yet this will be in-person or via Zoom.]
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.