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… 
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
“Emergence”
Worship Assistant: Dottie Pitt
Faith Reflection: Katie Vhay
Music: Tim Steele
Social Hour: Owen & Cathy McGonagle
Audio: Atticus D’Alessandro
Sunday’s offering will go towards the service and ministry of First Parish Church.
In 1870, Unitarian author Julia Ward Howe wrote a “Mother’s Day Proclamation”. She had witnessed first-hand the terrible realities of the Civil War, not only on the battlefield, but among broken families through loss and injury. She found that peace was an urgent cause for the world. Realizing that mothers (in her time) were the primary care-givers of children in their formative years, she urged women to come together internationally and find ways to claim the common needs for peace, understanding and justice. She wanted to “promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”
Though such a general congress did not form, Julia Howe proposed a women’s day for peace in 1872, which was celebrated on June 2nd for the next 30 years. In 1913 Congress declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother’s Day, without the added phrase “for peace”. President Woodrow Wilson declared the first National Mother’s Day in 1914.
The legacy of urging peace is still known, however, and lifted up each mother’s day in varying ways. The Mother’s Day Walk for Peace is one such carry through to stem violence and find different ways of relating to one another.
Thank you, First Parish, for participating in this event year after year, through fiscal and walking witness. I look forward to gathering with you for the walk this Sunday at Town Field Park, Dorchester.
Blessings Be, Rev. Lisa
Music For Sunday
This Sunday you will hear an instrument due, “Country Bicycle” by composer and mandolinist Owen Hartford with Karl Pastore on the guitar. As a special musical offering for Mother’s Day, Grace Allendorf will be singing a song of admiration and love, “Mama, A Rainbow”, from the musical Minnie’s Boys by Larry Grossman and Hal Hackady.
Religious Exploration
This Sunday, May 14th will be a multi-generational service.
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.
May 21st
June 4th
Events and Meetings
Join the First Parish Walking Team this Sunday for the Louis D. Brown Mother’s Day Walk beginning at 8:30 am at the ball field at Fields Corner (Dorchester Ave.). Sign-in begins at 8:00 AM.
Email Jennie Mulqueen with questions or concerns
If you are unable to participate in the walk, you can support the event through a donation on-line to Team First Parish UU Milton.
Save the Date:
Sunday, May 21st
(after worship in Parish Hall )
A light lunch will be served.
May 23 Annual Meeting Warrant pdf
From the Membership Committee
Walking Group
Like to walk and chat? First Parish Membership is starting up our walking group again. Dianna Wilson will gather interested walkers at 12:15 pm on May 28th at the entrance to the Pope John Paul Park in Dorchester.
And afterwards if there is interest, going to lunch at a nearby spot!
Contact Dianna for more information: diannaw710@gmail.com
News and Announcements
We sincerely thank you for your generous gift to the organizations below. We are so lucky to have your support.
4/22 AFAB-Association of Haitian Women, Inc. $925.49
4/30 Louis D. Brown Institute $686.86
First Parish’s Solar Impact
Since the solar panels were installed, we’ve saved 209.000 lbs of Co2 emissions, the equivlant of planting over 1,600 trees!
Standing for Racial Justice: Adopting the 8th Principle
On Sunday, May 21st, at the annual meeting of First Parish Milton, congregants will, in addition to other issues, vote on adopting the proposed 8 th Principle, which focuses on pursuing racial justice. The principle reads:
“We covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”
For background and additional details please click here.
Racial Justice Task Force: Debbie Alsebai, Dottie Pitt, Elise Henricks, Ellen Barr (co-chair), Jim May, Katie Vhay, Rev. Lisa Ward, Pat Gallivan, Pat Neves (co-chair)
We’re having another Yard Sale!
Start your spring cleaning ! The First Parish Yard Sale is happening again. We’ll be collecting items in June, specific dates and times TBD. The yard sale date is:
June 24th, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Much more to come…
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 May 17th 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 !!
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, June 3rd.
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.
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.
Beyond First Parish
APRIL COMMUNITY SERVICE MITZVAH PROGRAM
Children’s Summer Clothing Drive
Sunday, May 7th – Sunday, May 21, 2023
Drop off bins: available outside of Temple or
Drop off in person: Monday – Friday 9am-3pm
All types of clothing needed for children ages 1-12
tops, bottoms, shoes, sandals, bathing suits, etc.
Please bring your new and/or gently used children’s summer clothes to:
Congregation Beth Shalom of the Blue Hills
18 Shoolman Way, Milton, MA 02186
For more information contact the CBSBH office:
E-mail: office@bethshalombluehills.org or call: 617-698-3394
SAVE THE DATE
June Community Service Mitzvah Program
Blood Drive – June 29th
Call or e-mail the office for further information or to register.
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.
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.