This Week in Worship

Sunday, April 17th @ 10:30 am in Meetinghouse

I had a roommate that we called Sailor Dave, he once wore a funny stripped shirt and well the name stuck. Anyway, the other roommates realized early on that if there were dishes to be done, Sailor Dave was the man to do it. Plates would be clean, glasses would sparkle, and old cooking trays would come back to life in his hands. I remember asking him why he took such care in cleaning these dishes of ours, his answer surprised me. He said that as a child his mother saw him doing a bad job of cleaning dishes and asked if he would want Jesus to eat off that plate. He answered that he wouldn’t want Jesus to eat off that plate, so his mother told him, “Jesus isn’t here today, but he may show up tomorrow so you and these dishes better be ready.”

Friends, I don’t expect Jesus to show up in a week or so, but I do know that your new candidate for ministry will be here on the 24th. I also know that you will want this place to shine and sparkle to impress upon her the fact that you are excited about her being here. This Sunday we will hold a brief worship service and then we will split into groups and get the church spiffy! All of the tasks are family friendly, so please bring the kids we’ve got things for them to do too!

I look forward to seeing all of you in your finest work duds,
Rev. Hank

Religious Exploration

Multigenerational Service this week, children are invited to attend the service.

The nursery is open for children 4 and under.

News from the Ministerial Search Committee

We have our Candidate!

Your Ministerial Search Committee joyously announces that we now have a wonderful ministerial candidate to present to First Parish during our Candidating Week of April 24th through May 1st. We are even happier to announce that she has accepted the contract we have offered, and we are awaiting the results of her background check before we can introduce her by name. We expect those results very soon and will send a separate email with her full bio.

We can tell you now that she is (obviously) a female with considerable experience as a settled minister. She comes to us from out of state, she loves swimming and cycling, and she has a labyrinth in her back yard! She is now an “empty nester” with two children, both currently in college. She is a major voice for social justice both in her region and in her state. In contacting her references, we heard from a current mentee who is in her third year of ministry in the Midwest and a mentor from her current region who has been in his own settled ministry for over 30 years. Each of them said independently to us, “I would like to be more like her.”

Candidating Week will be Sunday, April 24th through Sunday, May 1st, with the congregational vote on whether to call her to be our next minister taking place immediately after the service on May 1st.
The committee is still in the process of finalizing the calendar for that week. It will include
many opportunities for members of the congregation to connect with the Candidate over the course of the week. The calendar and Evites for several of the events will be coming soon.

Please mark your calendars NOW to meet the proposed minister, and to participate in this important vote. Note that to vote, you must be a member of First Parish and present for the vote. “Friends” will not be eligible to vote, and there will be no proxy voting.
Please know that you may contact the members of your Ministerial Search Committee with questions or concerns:

Debbie Alsebai, Charlie Franich, Franc Graham, Elise Henricks, Jim May, Brigitte Miller, and Tracey Robinson. how to make Candidating Week a rich experience for all of us.

News and Announcements

First Parish’s annual Passover seder will be held on Wednesday, April 27th at 6:30pm. An evite was sent out this week, please contact the office if you did not receive your evite. This is an intergeneration gathering. Our ministerial candidate is planning on being there.

Family Friendly Volunteer Opportunity!

Next Date: April 16

Please join us the 3rd Saturday of every month (April 16, May 21, June 18) at 9:00 AM at First Parish Milton’s parking lot. We will then caravan into Roxbury to help unload, sort and distribute fresh produce to an underserved community. This is a family-friendly event… kids of all ages are welcome. Feel free to stay for 30 mins or 3 hours!” Very happy to report 15 First Parish volunteers participated in March.

I hope you will join us for this important annual tradition at First Parish: http://www.mothersdaywalk4peace.org

We invite you to participate in the historic 20th Annual Mother’s Day Walk For Peace. Peace isn’t simply the absence of violence; peace is the presence of healing, reconciliation, and accountability. The Mother’s Day Walk is a celebration of our potential to create communities where all families can live in peace and all children are valued. More than that, the Mother’s Day Walk is a commitment to do the work necessary to bring that vision of peace to life. We are walking to raise $600,000 so that we can sustain the Peace Institute as a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families impacted by murder, grief, trauma, and loss. You are an important part of the peacemaking process: when you invest in survivor-led, solution-drive programs and services—you interrupt cycles of violence. Walk with us toward peace!

REGISTER HERE

Sunday, May 8, 8am-11am

*This year’s walk is re-routed to City Hall where it will conclude with a Rally for Peace. Please note that it is a different, extended route this year that may preclude your joining the service at FP Milton. Perhaps some will be able to join for part of the walk. They are also asking for folks to wear PURPLE this year!

Walking with you is our prayer…we hope you will join us!

Join in the celebration of the coming of Spring following the service and voting

When: Sunday, May, 1

Members of the Great Blue Hill CUUPS Chapter will lead a pagan ceremony in the Courtyard and invite you to join in the dance around the Maypole. Bells and noisemakers welcome!

Great Blue Hills CUUPS, Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans

REMINDERS:

Committee Chairs: Committee Annual Reports are due Friday April 15.

Any forms or notes you want to leave should go into the gray box next to the office. This includes pledge forms, caring committee forms, notes for Kiki or Miriam, checks that did not make the offeratory. This insures that your papers are getting to us.

First Parish, Milton Congregational Meetings

• Sunday, May 1 , Vote for next Settled Minister
• Sunday, May 15, Annual Meeting
• Mass Bay District Annual Meeting: Saturday, April 23 9 am – 1 pm First Parish Lexington, MA
• UUA General Assembly: Wed. June 22 – Sun. June 26 – General Assembly, Columbus, OH

“Choose or Be Chosen” for next year 2016-17

SIGN UP IN THE PARISH HALL BEGINNING SUNDAY< APRIL 17 through MAY 22

Friends: As you know, this has been a good year for First Parish. Last spring, we revived our Choose or Be Chosen model for organizing our slate of ushers, Social Hour sponsors, and flower-providers – and it worked beautifully! Things have been simple and smooth. During the year, one detail that the Worship Committee got feedback about was a lack of children and families lighting our chalice on Sunday mornings, which we are addressing in the sign-up for next year.

We are including chalice lighting in our slate and ask that next year, families and couples light our chalice as a group at the start of worship.

Starting this Sunday, there will sheets for signing up that will include all the Sundays for the next worship year, beginning in September. Every able member should sign up for at least one Sunday of ushering, one Sunday of Social Hour, one Sunday of flowers, and one Sunday of chalice-lighting.

Sign-ups will continue through the end of May. Any spots not filled by that date will then be “drawn” by members of each committee and the entire calendar will be posted. Like last year: first come, first served. If you choose your Sundays in the next month, you should be able to pick the weeks that will work best for you.

We are so happy with the way everything ran this year, and we want our new minister to come to First Parish knowing that all details for next year are already in place. If you have any questions, please speak with Leslie MacPherson Artinian or any member of the Worship Committee. Thank you all for everything you have done this year!

Leslie MacPherson Artinian
lmacpherson@hds.harvard.edu

First Parish FUNraiser

We raised over $12,000 at the FUNraiser.

A great time was had by all.

We are grateful for those that donated items, bids on items, and individual help in many ways to make the evening such a success.

Special thanks to:

The FUN Organizing Committee: Ruth Hannon, Ruth Heiden, Carolyn Newman, Jen Pinkus, Amy Kavadlo,
Pat Neves, Melinda Collins and Anita Penta

Auctioneer: Jen Erbe Leggett

Music: Joel Hiller, Tim Steele and Grace Allendorf

Heads and Tails Mastermind: Dottie Pitt

Kiki’s Corner

Need a check during the first two weeks of May? Please get any requests request for reimbursement or other need) in by Thursday, April 21. David Leggett, our treasurer and authorized signatory, will be away for the first two weeks of May. So we will be processing checks the last week of April and then not again until the week of May 16.

Special Circumstances? Please send an email to director@fpmilton.org and treasurer@fpmilton.org to describe.

Ask not what your congregation can do for you but what you can do for your congregation (a bit of a steal from a famous inagural address) Committee members wanted. We are trying to check in with folks both currently serving on committees or we think might be interested in joining a committee. We are always looking for champions of a church-wide project. So if you want to be part of lay leadership, please let me know and we will see if we can connect you with the right folks. Caring Committee, Religious Exploration, Building and Grounds are groups that are definitely looking for some more talent to join them.

STAY CONNECTED

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EVERY SUNDAY

Worship, 10:30am in the Meetinghouse

Silent Prayer & Meditation, 9:00am in the Children’s Church

THE SUNDAY PLANNER

Please consider volunteering for important Sunday worship positions like ushering, hosting social hour, providing flowers for worship, and lighting the chalice. Sign Up Here!