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

“The Lens of Equity”

Worship Assistant: Lisa White

Chalice Lighter: Jeff Stoodt

Faith Reflection: Trista Marquez

Greeter: Dianna Wilson

Audio: Colin Glazer

Social Hour: Pat Neves

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.

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

This Sunday is the Chocolate Auction!

February 11th @ 11:45 am in Parish Hall

Recently, several friends have commented on seeing the movie “Rustin”, now streaming on Netflix. “Rustin” is a biopic about Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist and lead organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This march is primarily known for Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

Bayard Rustin was a gay, black man who was ostracized by his peers because of his sexuality. Civil rights activists feared that identifying a leader as gay would undermine the credibility of their racial justice work. Many of the civil rights leaders, including Dr. King at first, could not abide with being identified with Bayard Rustin’s way of being.

This is a strong example of intersectionality; the presence of intersecting oppressions and biases that complicate advocacy and disempower full equality. We each have many identities of sex, gender, ability, mental health, history of trauma, age, race, ethnicity, and more. Some identities seem obvious, while many are assumed or projected upon us.

Even at a time when the sensibility of “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, the challenges of intersectionality were not fully explored. 

After seeing the movie, several people commented that they didn’t even know about Bayard Rustin. His presence, his influence, his instrumental efforts for the march stayed buried.

Justice is a steep learning curve for us all. Let us enter into the work with humility and gratitude for the brave and imperfect efforts toward a full, justice-centered inclusion of all.

 Blessings Be, Rev. Lisa

Music This Week

This Sunday the Meetinghouse Choir and soloists will be offering music by two prolific and beloved composers. Moses Hogan, a champion for his musical settings of spirituals, will be featured in an upbeat anthem called “I’ll Make a Difference”, with Grace Allendorf leading the choir as soloist. We also celebrate composer Jacqueline Hairston with a duet on a text by Alice Walker, called “You Can Talk”. This duet, sung by Carina Digianfilippo and Daon Drisdom, poses the question “You can talk about the balm in Gilead, but what about the balm right here?”.

RE This Week

Events and Meetings

MILTON COMMUNITY CONCERT UPDATE

Please save the dates for MCC’s final two concerts of the season:

Sunday, February 25 at 3:00 pm:

Milton Community Concerts presents the ninth annual “Sing For Their Supper” benefit concert on Sunday, February 25 at 3pm. This is a free concert, and an offering will be taken to support the Milton Food Pantry and the Milton Residents Fund. Ten outstanding singers will be presenting opera arias and musical theater favorites. This promises to be one of the outstanding concerts of the MCC season, so please plan to attend.

Sunday, April 28 at 3pm: “In Community: Celebrating LGBTQ+ Stories”

Grief Support Group

Four Tuesdays: March 5, 12, 19, 26

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Facilitator: Rev. Lisa Ward

When we lose a loved one through death, the world is different, our lives shift in meaning, our ground is shaken. We can feel isolated by our grief. We can also feel a lack of strength or initiative to find a way through. One way to help adjust to the new reality and find our inner resources is to share our journey of loss and recovery with others. There are many ways that we grieve and many kinds of losses. This group is focused on loss due to the death of a loved one. The loss can be recent or from years gone by. We ask participants to commit to at least three of the sessions, no new participants after March 12.

Please contact Rev. Lisa: minister@fpmilton.org  if you would like to attend.

SAVE THE DATE

First Parish Spring Auction

April 6, 2024

We’re looking for donations of items and services for our April 6 auction fundraiser.

Can you offer a homemade dinner or bake a cake?

How about a vacation home?

How about Red Sox tix?

Can you sing for a dinner party?

Do you make something you could donate—jewelry, quilts, artwork?

What item or service could you offer? 

If you have a item or service you can offer, we’d appreciate you filling out this form for us!

Paper forms will be available after Sunday’s service as well.

Thank you for your support of the auction!

News & Announcements

ANNUAL BUDGET DRIVE

The Stewardship Committee announces that this year’s Annual Budget Drive has begun! The financial commitments that we hope to secure from our members and friends over the next two months will be used to cover First Parish’s operating expenses for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins on July 1st. Each household will be should have received an email from Stewardship asking for your contribution. Embedded in the email will be a “link” via which you can simply and easily submit your financial commitment for next year. We also include the link here for your convenience.

LINK

If you have already been a financial supporter of First Parish, we are very grateful. Our hope is that you would consider a 3% addition to the amount you contributed last year. If this is your first time making a financial commitment, we will be very grateful for whatever you choose to contribute.

Thank you,

The Stewardship Committee of First Parish in Milton—Charles Franich (chair), Rob Dahl, Mallory Digges, Eric Miller, and Mark Ostrem

Sunday Collections

Thank you for your generous donations in January!

Stone House: $664.90

Environmental League: $457.83

Foot Stool Project

Message from Mary Blanchette:

I would like to thank the 10 women who participated in the recovering of the foot stools on Saturday afternoon. Francine taught us and we eagerly removed fabric then measured, cut, stapled and hammered new cloth into place. We had a good time working together and producing some quality results. You can view them in the pews. There are about 6 more to do so if you are disappointed that you missed out, standby, there will be another opportunity. Men are welcome, don’t be shy. 

Thank you to:

Lisa White

Penny Partridge

Marie-Laure Brown

Tucker Smith

Bridget Conroy

Bebe Williamson

Amy Kavaldo

Beth Gray Nix

Jen Pinkus

Francine Ravelson

It is cold outside but the FP kitchen is full of warmth!

Social Hour Hosts needed for:

Sunday, February 11

Sunday, March 31

 CLICK HERE to sign up

Haven’t hosted before or need a refresher? No worries! A Hospitality Committee member will reach out to you the week before to answer questions and provide instructions.

Social & Environmental Justice Committee (SEJC)

February 21st 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!

Climate Action@HOME upcoming discussion

February 25, 2024 12:00pm-1:00pm Chase Parlor

Heat Pumps: Come hear a panel of FPM members share info about their experience with installing heat pumps in their homes.

The next Racial Justice Task Force meeting is:

Wed. Feb 28th

7:00 pm-8:30 pm

Beyond First Parish

The RJTF will be offering First Parish Members and friends a chance to read “Waking Up White” by Debby Irving.

Copies are in the Racial Justice Library and at local public libraries.

The first session will start on Zoom TODAY Thursday 2/22 and meet every other week ( 3/7, 3/21) from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. We will review 3 chapters each session. Whether this is your first time reading this book or you have read it before it can be eye opening, life changing and surely will generate courageous conversations. 

If these Thursday nights do not work for you on Sunday’s February 25 and March 3 we will gather in person after church for informal discussions of the book from 12:0O to 1:00.

Please RSVP Debbie Alsebai at alsebai@verizon.net if you would like to participate in either event.

Join Us UU Urban Ministry Delegate Regional Meetings

Join Rev. Mary Margaret Earl and members of the UUUM Team to discuss how we can work together in new and meaningful ways in 2024 and beyond. 

Together, we will discuss how your congregation wants to engage with the work of UUUM, how the UUUM can support you in this partnership, and look at the description of the role of a delegate created with thoughtful input from our Congregational Engagement Task Force – a group made up of delegates and others from member congregations.

Dates & Locations

To make it as convenient as possible for folks from our member congregations to be a part of these important discussions, we have scheduled 3 opportunities throughout the month of February. Join us for one of these meetings [with food/refreshments] with your fellow delegates and volunteers:

Thursday, February 8th (11:30am-1:00pm) at UU Society of Wellesley Hills

Thursday, February 15th (5:30pm-7:00pm) at UU Urban Ministry in Roxbury

Tuesday, February 20th (11:30am-1:00pm) at First Parish in Lexington

If you know in advance that you will be joining us please RSVP to development@uuum.org. But if you decide to be there last minute, you are still more than welcome. Please share this invitation with anyone who might be interested. A promo flyer is attached (JPG and PDF) and we encourage delegates and anyone interested to join us. Hope to see you!

SPECIAL TOWN ELECTION – REMINDER TO VOTE *

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2024

On the ballot: MBTA COMMUNITIES ZONING ARTICLE 1.

Registered Milton voters will decide at the polls whether 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 a Planning Board Public Hearing presentation from October). Please read and reflect on Article 1 through the lens of our shared UU beliefs and values… and VOTE

First Parish Milton’s Social & Environmental Justice Committee joined Affordable Inclusive Milton (AIM) and Sustainable Milton in supporting these articles to: address an acute housing shortage; 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. 

* Note: Voters may apply for a mail-in ballot by contacting Milton’s Town Clerk That webpage contains an application to request a mail-in ballot, if they will be away or wish to vote from the comfort of home in winter time, as well as the actual language for Article 1.

First Parish & Church of the Holy Spirit’s 4th Bridging Dinner

Friday, March 1 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM

First Parish Milton, 535 Canton Ave, Milton.

We are excited to be able to host more people and provide Babysitting. The dinner and dessert will be catered by a local black owned restaurant. Suggested donation is $25 per person. Please RSVP to Deb Alsebai at alsebai@verizon. net if you would like to join the gathering.

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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.