PLEASE NOTE THAT THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED ON MONDAY, APRIL 16TH IN OBSERVANCE OF PATRIOTS 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

“Unity Sunday”

Sunday April 16 is our annual “Unity Sunday”, when First Parish and First Congregational worship together, a tradition of more than 100 years. The Rev. R.G. Wilson-Lyons, Rev. Lisa Ward and Youth Counselor Eden Johnson will be co-leading the worship service at First Congregational. This is a multi-generational service: all ages are welcome. TAKE NOTE: The service begins at 10:00 am.

There will be no ZOOM as it will be livestream on FC website. Click here for the website livestream link . To watch on YouTube search “FCC Milton” and click “live now”. Please note that the Livestream will say video unavailable until right before the service start time at 10am.

This last Sunday, our story for all ages inspired shared reflections on our lives. The book was Maybe, by Kobi Yamada: a poignant invitation to recognize our potential and vast possibilities of self with and for each other. Many added to aspirations for themselves and shared, anonymously, their offerings. 

On a bulletin board outside the office, all of the answers are posted, with an invitation for other contributions to add to the beautiful mix of this astounding community, answering the posit, “Maybe”..

Some of the comments were about inner peace: “I can continue to become the me I want to be, whoever she is. Maybe I can love her.”

Some to strengthen interdependence: “I can make an ecological difference.”

Some were inviting a personal dream: “I will climb a mountain.”.

While others were hoping for recovery: “I will one day dance again.”

And there were some that were whimsical: “I will be a cow.”

Amidst others holding steady: “We are all already enough…..”

What a joy it is to be in community with you. So full of wisdom, welcome, and whimsy. Check out the bulletin board. It’s a fun read.

Blessings Be, Rev. Lisa

Music For Sunday

For worship this Sunday at First Congregational Church 10:00 am, the combined choirs of First Parish and First Congregational will be singing “Fields of Gold” by Sting, as well as the Choral Call to Worship “Be Thou My Vision”. The choir will be led by Dr. Matthew Larsen, music director at First Congregational Church.

Religious Exploration

In celebration of Union Sunday, children from First Congregational Church will be joining us for the Puddlestompers program. Please go to First Congregational Church at 10am; RE leaders will be escorting the children to First Parish for the Puddlestompers program, then bringing them back to First Congregational to enjoy social hour.

Nursery care will be available at First Parish.

Our PUDDLESTOMPERS enrichment program will focus on conservation and stewardship of the earth through appreciation of seeds that grow into plants that provide clean air, insects, and worms that keep our soil healthy, and the role we can play to protect the many life cycles that contribute the health and well being of the planet and all its creatures.

Middle School Youth Group Program

Middle school aged youth (5th-8th grades) are invited to gather for an occasional junior youth group program. This spring, based on youth interest, we will be offering four sessions of gaming (Dungeons and Dragons) and an outdoor hike.

If your registered junior youth is interested in the Sunday evening gaming group, please email bridget@sitkoff.net. Friends are welcome, but will need to register with the RE program (at https://forms.gle/723pwAZSM9LHnXoAA – choose Youth Group or Junior Youth Group as your program option).

The group will meet from 5pm – 6:30pm in the Youth room at First Parish. First Parish youth mentor Xyla Sophinos will facilitate and two RE adults will be present at each meeting.

April 23rd

May 7th

May 21st

June 4th

SAVE THE DATE: Thursday, April 27^th 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Milton Youth: Their Strengths and the Risks They Face

Nangeroni Conference Room, BID Hospital – Milton

Every three years, the Milton Coalition examines the status of Milton youth through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, with an emphasis on substance use. Join us as we share these results, compare them to our past evaluations, and discuss next steps.

Masks are required. This meeting is open to the public.

Events and Meetings

Drop Offs for Ramadan Reminder

First Parish is collecting food, dry goods, and hygiene items. All items must have ingredient labels with current expiration dates.

Most-needed Items:

Healthy snacks for kids

Juice boxes

Peanut butter & jelly

Shelf-stable milk

Rice

Canned soup

Personal care items: toothbrushes, toothpaste, bar soap (unscented), shampoo, body wash

Mac & Cheese

Pasta & sauce

Canned fruit or vegetables

Dry or canned beans Condiments (incl. salt & pepper) Salad dressing

Cooking oil / Olive oil

Diapers (size 5 & 6), baby wipes

All donations can be dropped off between NOW and April 21st . There will be marked bins in both the Carriage House and in narthex to store items.

Donations to be distributed by Interfaith Social Services in Quincy. This project is brought to you by Milton Muslim Neighbors (MMN), Milton Interfaith Clergy Association (MICA), and Milton Public Schools (MPS). For more info, please contact Tahra at tmg726@gmail.com.

MILTON GREEN UP: a POP-UP PICKUP

Sunday, April 30, Noon-ish

Vicinity of First Parish Church

Join Membership and Social & Environmental Justice folks right after Social Hour to scour the areas and streets around First Parish for TRASH! Ten minutes or an hour, whatever you’ve got to spare.  We will provide official collecting bags from Milton DPW. If you plan to bushwhack into woods or wild areas, wear long pants and tick check at home. Wear work gloves, everyone.  Let’s spring clean Milton!  We will leave collected bags right by the Carriage Shed.

TREE Giveaway

The Wakefield Estate is offering 3 tree species this spring: Red Maple, Bitternut Hickory and Kousa Dogwood. 

Contact Mary Blanchette for information on each species or you can google them to make sure you have the correct growing conditions. Reach out to Mary if

you want any. Her email is mbpa@comcast.net.

News and Announcements

Dear First Parish Friends, 

 Years ago I was introduced to the Louis D. Brown Institute Mother’s Day Walk for Peace and it became a cherished family tradition. We’ve walked in all kinds of weather with lots of First Parish friends and have gotten to participate in and witness to the very heart of the Mother’s Day message. The governor comes along with the mayor (Mayor Wu is pictured here…) as well as other dignitaries such as Ayanna Presley. We are always home by noon and can meet up with other family and friends for a late lunch or early dinner. Thanks to this important event, my kids feel really connected to this day and its legacy of peace and justice. I hope you will join us this year! More info coming, feel free to email me with questions: Jennie Mulqueen, jenniemulqueen@gmail.com

SEJC

NO FUTURE GAS 4 MASS CAMPAIGN

UU Mass Action Network, Mass Power Forward, and other climate justice organizations want to send Gov. Healey 10,000 signatures by Earth Day ’23 demanding NO FUTURE for gas infrastructure in our state. This is particularly urgent for front-line Environmental Justice communities in Springfield and Longmeadow, MA facing an Eversource pipeline expansion project right now. 

Add YOUR signature here

Let’s aim for 500 if you share this with 5 friends.

Our UU environmental justice and climate values require it! 

Urge Governor Healey to halt new gas system expansions until the state has a concrete plan for a just transition to a clean — and green — energy future. Please sign!

Job Opportunity at First Parish Milton for a Family Ministries Director

FP Milton seeking a ¾ time Family Ministries Director (FMD) to co-create, innovate, and administer a Religious Exploration (RE) Program for all ages.

This position presents an opportunity to work with a congregation seeking a new religious exploration model for all ages. Current goals are to maintain an RE program for children and youth as well as to integrate family ministry, adult faith development, and intergenerational community building.

A detailed job description can be found here. Cover letter and resume should be sent to REsearch@opsmilton.org by April 15, 2023.

Thank you for your interest! We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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, April 15th.

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.

Sign up here!

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 April 19th and then every other Wednesday throughout the year. We will meet in the lower parking lot between 12:40 pm 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 !!

Sign up here

Beyond First Parish

ONLINE UU THEOLOGY SERIES – OPEN TO ALL!

Wednesdays, April 12 to May 17 9:00 pm – 10 pm, Eastern time on Zoom

The Faith Forward program out of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas is excited to offer an online session of our UU Theology series for all congregations. This series explores theological concepts through a Unitarian Universalist lens and helps participants clarify and act on their beliefs.

To register, email Faith Forward Coordinator Rev. Lora Brandis: lbrandis@dallasuu.org

Since we are subscribers to Faith Forward, this is a FREE event.

Please share this invitation with anyone who you think would be interested.

You can also reach out to Leslie with questions;

lesliecmacpherson@gmail.com

Community E-Waste Collection

Save the Date-Tuesday April 18, 2:00 pm-5:00 pm

Milton Academy’s Sustainability Coordinator, Linnea Engstrom, extends a town-wide invitation to spring clean and recycle your electronics. Read all about EarthDay – 4-2023.pdf here for a comprehensive list of acceptable items (no CRT [tube] TVs). Spread the word.

City Life/Vida Urbana – Opportunity to Help a Community Partner

Our friends at City Life/Vida Urbana, a grassroots organization that promotes tenant rights and advocates on behalf of those facing eviction, reached out to ask for the help of this community. CLVU is planning an upcoming mailing to 2,000 people – to make them aware of their rights and available resources – as they face losing their homes. CLVU needs help preparing this mailing, and have asked for our help.

On Saturday, May 13th from 10:00am – 12:30pm, we will be meeting at the UU Urban Ministry with folks from CLVU to assemble this mailing.  Can you join us?  Email Vinnie Myles at vmyles@uuum.org to RSVP.

UU Urban Ministry – 188th Annual Meeting -May 25, 2023

An “Annual Meeting packet” will follow.

---

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.