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… 
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Sunday, February 6th, 2020
Healthy Compassion
Rev. Lisa Ward
There are times when compassion heals and times when compassion enables unhealthy behavior. How can our compassion truly help?
Minister
Rev. Lisa Ward
I tend to be able to gladly greet the day most mornings. This week has been harder. I find myself feeling a heaviness these mornings, with an attendant touch of grief. I know that I will greet news of our deeply divisive political culture and encounter with dread the steady, willful acquiescence to corruption and “ends justifying the means” political expediency. I know I will experience the hollowness in witnessing the lack of care about these ignominious actions and how they affect those outside increasingly intractable world views. It has not been a good week for democracy in the United States. It has not been a good week for civility or justice.
The next thought I have, gratefully, is remembrance of a quote I read when visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (aka the Lynching Memorial) in Montgomery Alabama. After witnessing the extraordinarily powerful rendering of racial terrorism, memorial participants come to a plaque that includes this phrase: “Hopelessness is the enemy of justice”.
So I let my grief temper my idealism about justice and I acknowledge my dread that truth may not prevail, and I answer it with a compassion toward self that says, “this is your fear”. I then realize that my response needs to be my own best relational choices for peace, justice, advocacy, education and wonder. The wonder part is to remind me that human endeavors are not all that this life, this creation, is about. The worst thing we can do in building a just and healthy world is to think that it is all about us.
So with deep breaths, enlivened hope from the courage of others, and prayerful choices, I greet the day and am grateful for possibility. It is simply true that we have to be what we want to see in the world. It is also true that, like so many who have gone before us, we may not get to see it all. We can, however, on a blessedly regular basis, truly see each other.
This I pray. Amen.
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.
Religious Exploration classes will meet on Sunday, February 9. All children from preschool through grade 7 will begin in the Meetinghouse and then move downstairs to their classrooms.
- Preschool through grade 1 will be enjoying Spirit Play in the Preschool classroom. The story this week will be The Empty Pot for Principle #4 We believe that each person should be free to search for what is true and right in life.
- Grades 2 through 4 will be focusing on Principle 3: We believe that we should accept one another and keep on learning together this week as part of the Passages program, meeting in the Primary classroom.
- Grades 5 through 7 will be continuing the two-year Friends and Neighbors curriculum, learning about various faith traditions. Our focus this week will turn to Buddhism and meditation. This group meets in the Activity room.
- Grade 8 is participating in the Coming of Age program this year.
Youth Chat (for grades 8 through 12) 10:30am – 11:30am Youth are invited to come starting at 10am to get a warm beverage and settle in. This week we will be focusing on planning for the upcoming youth led worship service!
Save the Date: The youth group will be hosting a breakfast for dinner and game night on Friday, February 7. Everyone is invited to wear their pajamas and bring games to share. Set-up begins at 5 pm. We will be sending out a signup for groceries and helpers. Following the event, there will be a youth late night until midnight!
MUSIC SELECTIONS
This week the Meetinghouse Choir will be singing an anthem by Cecilia McDowall, on a text by the Polish-born French physicist Marie Curie, who was the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize. The anthem is called “Now is the Time” and it states that “Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.” During the offertory Grace Allendorf will be singing a little-known Stephen Sondheim song, “No, Mary Ann”, written for an unproduced movie script based on a 1969 William Goldman novel, THE THING OF IT IS.
Events, News and Announcements
Friday, February 7, from 6:30 to 9 pm the youth of First Parish Milton will host a fun evening to earn money for a future service trip to CityReach Boston.
Join them for a real treat, breakfast for dinner! Wear your pajamas and slippers as you enjoy pancakes, bacon and other breakfast goodies. Gluten-free options will be available. Suggested cost is $5 per person.
Linger after dinner to play board games together. Bring your favorite board game to share and play!
Please welcome the following members into the First Parish community:
Julia Cash, Tom Mayo, Henry MacLean, and Didi Emmons
Sunday, February 9
22nd ANNUAL FIRST PARISH CHOCOLATE AUCTION
Be at Church on Sunday FEBRUARY 9th for the Chocolate Auction. This event, which has become an annual tradition at First Parish, will take place in the Parish Hall right after the worship service. ALL members of the congregation are encouraged to bring some goodie of substance for the auction. Items may be home-produced or purchased. Chocolate is the essential ingredient. [For those of you who have a sweet tooth but not a chocolate one – some year perhaps someone else will do a Non-Chocolate Auction, but this is not that event…] Please plan ahead – think NOW about what you might be able to contribute. Items should be attractively presented and ready to be carried home (meaning – don’t expect to get the plate or dish back). A small card or label identifying the item and any information (ingredients – especially whether there are nuts or nut oils, name of maker (you or your family), interesting recipe history if any) – will be very helpful and much appreciated by Your Humble Auctioneer.
Items to be auctioned are brought to the Parish Hall before church on the morning of the Auction, where they will be on display before the service and immediately after, before the Auction starts. Each item will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Children are permitted to bid, but only under the direct supervision of a parent, please. There will again be a Kids’ Raffle, with raffle tickets available for $1 each immediately before the Auction!
Be there! Bring a guest – the more bidders, the merrier!
Live Our Values, Eat Our Chocolate!
Any questions at all, call or email Your Humble Auctioneer, Chris Pitt
Solar Panel Legacy Project
So far 55 1/4 panels have been donated! Everyone is encouraged to live our UU values and get in on this gift to the future.
Pledge Forms will be available at our Coffee Hour table which will be a regular feature on Sunday’s until we wrap up the campaign on 5/1 or when all the panels have all been spoken for. Each Panel is $800 and if necessary payment can be spread over 3 years for just $23 a month. 3 panels would just be $67 a month. 1/4 and 1/2 panels are also available.
Think of who you want to commemorate!
We are looking for ideas on our Legacy installation so stop by the table with your ideas and see the marvelous ones JB Clancy drew up.
Help Wanted – our committee is looking for a few others members if you would like to be part of this important Legacy Project. Stop by our table at coffee hour or reach out to Debbie Alsebai at 617-821-9460.
SAVE THE DATE & RSVP NOW
PLAN YOUR OWN MEMORIAL SERVICE
March 7 — 1 – 3:30
Facilitator: Rev. Lisa Ward
A true gift that you can give your loved ones is to offer suggestions for planning your memorial service. At a time when they will be struggling with grief, some clarity supports their gathering to honor your life. We will walk through several possible aspects of a memorial service, offer resources and devote time to explore your unique being – your unique voice.
Please rsvp to the office: office@fpmilton.org, if you plan on attending.
We our new Church Directory has been updated on the Member’s page of the website!
You can search by last name, view photos, get contact info- everything you’d need!
If you need the username/password for the site, please just email the office.
If you’re a member or contributing friend who needs a hard copy of the directory still, copies will be available at social house after worship service this Sunday.
Bring a dish to pass and enjoy an evening meal in someone’s home with fellow parishioners! No agenda– just a pleasant evening and conversation. Members and non-members alike are welcome. Suppers are planned for the following dates at the home of Myrtle Flight (in Milton)
Friday, Feb 21, 6 – 9 PM
Sunday, March 15, 5 – 8 PM
Monday, April 13, 6 – 9 PM
Sign up during coffee hour following any Sunday service, or contact Debbie Alsebai (617-821-9460) or Richard Venable (617-792-4124)
FILM DOCUMENTARY “Eat Up!”
Presented By Rise Documentary Film Series
Thursday, February 27, 2020
6:30 PM reception – 7:00 PM screening & post-discussion
Mother Brook Arts & Community Center
123 High Street, Dedham, MA 02026
Tickets: $12
“EAT UP is a story of a women-driven initiative about power, food, and the future of children, and how hard it can be in America to do the right thing in the face of unwieldy regulations and corporate interests. EAT UP ripples from Boston to cafeterias across the nation, offering a model for healthy eating and how to navigate the politics of our most difficult terrain: public schools.” Watch entrepreneur, bureaucrat, school principal, and cafeteria staff “laugh and cry, as they deconstruct and then reconstruct a system that is so deeply entrenched and has so many depending on its success.” [source: www.risedocfilms.org ]
In another news…
MILTON DELEGATION ATTENDS INTERGENERATIONAL CLIMATE LOBBY DAY on JANUARY 29
Standing, L to R: Deborah Larson-Venable, Atticus D’Allessandro (Pierce Middle School), Isabelle Goodrich (Boston Latin School, and Our Climate field leader), MA State Rep. Bill Driscoll Jr., Sarah Palmer, Claire Mallela, and Andrea Geyling, (Milton Academy students and Community Engagement faculty advisor)
Foreground, L to R: Jennie Mulqueen and Tucker Smith
Green Action Committee Meeting TODAY: Thursday, February 6th
6:30pm-7:30pm
“Recommendation from our Social Justice Committee”
Boston’s Black Restaurant Challenge is ON!!
Join the Challenge by trying a few new restaurants with wide range of options – several are close by in Dorchester and Mattapan. The list includes take-out, bakeries, and options for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Check out this article on Boston.com for more info!!
Part 2: Looking at the System
Time: Monday, February 24th, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Milton Hospital, Nangeroni Education Center
(199 Reedsdale Road, Milton, MA 02186)
Join us for a discussion on social determinants of health such as cultural competency, trust concerns, housing access, immigration status, and language barriers.
Advance registration will be required, so please RSVP here or e-mail courageousconversationsmilton@gmail.com.
First Parish Auction 2020:”Spring for Good!”
For the next few weeks, as we look to the congregation for donations, we’ll be featuring an
AUCTION ITEM OF THE WEEK
This week’s item is WORLD FAMOUS home-made spicy zucchini relish created by none other than Lois Brown and Spencer Day. Lois has been a member of Milton Community Garden for many years. This generous contribution is a three pack as one jar is never enough! After sampling this delectable condiment, you’ll be begging for samples from the 2020 harvest!
Surely, there are more cooks, bakers and concoctors extraordinaire amidst us! Don’t create but love to entertain at your home? Pair up with a creator and offer a dinner for 6 or 8! Or offer a cooking class for a girls night out?
Let’s share our generosity and talents while raising FUNds for FP!
Please contact Lynne Stack (lmstack258@gmail.com) with your donation. Thank you!
Calling all Season Ticket Holders…..
Do you have season Tickets (or a portion thereof) for Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, Patriots or Revolution????
We are hoping to have a sports themed table at the auction that will include tickets to the Boston teams, as well as memorabilia.Would you consider donating a pair of tickets to the auction? Please fill out a donation form or contact Mallory Digges (maldigges@gmail.com) if you have something to donate.
THANKS IN ADVANCE
June 24, 2020-June 29, 2020, Providence RI
Early Bird Registration is now Open!
Click here for more information.
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.