This Week in Worship

Sunday, April 7th @ 10:30 am in Meetinghouse

Last week in this space I talked about a lot happening around the church, so this week let me give you some details about all of those things. Though first let me just quickly thank everyone who put together the auction it was a huge success in every way possible.

All Church Clean Up: Sunday April 17th. On this Sunday we are inviting you all to come to church in “work clothes” as on this day we will have a brief worship service and then we will devote the rest of the morning to getting our beautiful church into ship-shape so that when your candidate for ministry arrives the following week the place will be glowing. At this point what is needed is to have a few “captains” who will take on the responsibilities for each of the areas. Please let me know if you would be willing to be a captain by dropping me a line at revhank@fpmilton.org

Candidating Week: April 24th – May 1st. Everyone knows that the candidate for ministry will give two sermons and after the second sermon the congregation will vote, but did you know that there is more? Yes, during the entire week there will be opportunities for you to meet, mingle and ask questions of the candidate. The search and parish committees are putting together a number of events for the candidate as we speak so please keep a look out for those events for the whole family.

Union Sunday: Memorial Day Weekend. For decades our church and our sister congregation across the town green have joined together for a worship service. This year we get to host the minister and members of First Congregational and afterwards we will head to the Milton Cemetery and jointly recognize the ministers who served our founding church.

Pax,
Hank

Religious Exploration

Classes as usual this Sunday. The nursery is open for children 4 and under.

Cradles to Crayons

A very successful volunteer effort on Sunday after worship at Cradles to Crayons.
100 books were donated.

Stewardship

Your pledge will help determine our plans for worship, social action, religious exploration and so much more … and provide a strong foundation for our next settled minister.

Please pledge today!

Pledges as of April 6, 2016: 199,176.00  (representing 77 households)

News from the Ministerial Search Committee

Important News: Candidating Week is now scheduled for the week of April 24th through May 1st.

Throughout Candidating Week there will be multiple opportunities for members of the congregation to connect with the candidate. Stay tuned for further details. And PLEASE mark your calendars for SUNDAY, MAY 1ST. That is the day on which members of the congregation will vote on whether to call the candidate to be our next settled minister.

You don’t want to miss it!

Debbie Alsebai, Charlie Franich, Franc Graham, Elise Henricks, Jim May, Brigitte Miller, and Tracey Robinson

News and Announcement

First Parish’s annual Passover seder will be held on Wednesday, April 27th at 6:30pm. Look for an evite with more details in the weeks to come! This is an intergenerational event.

Meditation Sundays at 9 am and Thursdays at 7pm

Come enjoy quiet contemplation or meditation in our lovely children’s church for 30 minutes. We meet Sunday’s at 9am and Thursday evenings at 7pm.

Questions? Contact Tracey Robinson, robi301@yahoo.com

Social Action News – from UU Urban Ministry

From: Rev. Rebecca Hinds

Director of Congregational and Volunteer Engagement

I am writing because Michael Curry, president of the Boston NAACP and recent speaker at our UU Urban Ministry Anti-Racism Summit has asked for our help and support.

Attorney Curry says:

“I’m on the National NAACP Board of Directors and involved in a national rally and protest planned in Washington D.C. from April 16 – 18 to urge Congress to act on repairing the Voting Rights Act. At a recent meeting we were discussing James Reeb and the Boston NAACP’s history of working with faith communities to mobilize activists. I mentioned our local efforts to reestablish those partnerships, especially as we face challenges, locally and nationally. Well, I’m emailing now to see if we can get your help filling a bus to D.C. to attend the Democracy Awakening event in April. We plan to secure a bus, leaving early on Sunday, April 17 and returning late Monday, April 18. The National NAACP and the other national partners have secured local churches in D.C. that will house the riders overnight on Sunday.”

Here is the link to the website for this effort: http://democracyawakening.org/

As a partner of the NAACP, the UUUM would like to help and support this vision of getting a multi-racial, multi-generational bus full of people from the Boston Area for the Democracy Awakening Rally in DC. The NAACP specifically asked for UU’s to join them on the bus. Any chance you or your congregation would like to support this effort?

Support the NAACP and Democracy Awakening in one of three ways:

1. Get on the bus!
2. Donate food, snacks, and water for riders to take on the bus
3. Donate money to offer scholarships (it costs $40 per person) Checks can be made out to the NAACP

Please feel free to share this information widely in your newsletters, orders of service, etc.

In faith,

Rebecca

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

Social Action Committee Ongoing Activities:

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.

How to Make a Pledge

Electronically (Via our webpage)

• Go to www.fpmilton.org
• On Home Page – Click on Members Page
• Login
• Scroll down on Left Side until you find Donations
• Then click on Online Pledge Form
• Top of the page reads: Stewardship FY2017, Financial Commitment
• Complete the form

Or… the old fashion way (Paper)

Alternatively you can complete a paper pledge form and return to the office via snail mail 535 Canton Ave., Milton, MA 02186 or drop off in the gray box outside the office in person. Pledge forms are available in the narthex, the Parish Hall foyer, and on the bulletin board next to the office.

Have you already pledged but we don’t know who you are?

We have three pledge forms with creative signatures but there is no name printed on the form. Two were signed on January 30 during Camp Run-a-muk and one was signed during the Auction on Saturday night. If you think you may have forgotten to complete the top of a blank form, please email me and we can see if we can figure it out together.

Questions? Email, call or see Kiki Giatis

Kiki’s Corner

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.

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

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!