Table of Contents
- Message from Rev. Lisa Ward
- This Week in Worship
- This Week in Religious Exploration
- This Week in Music
- Events and Meetings
- News and Announcements
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Beyond First Parish
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Office Administrator, Susan DeMinico will be out of the office from May 17th thru May 31st.
Rev. Lisa will be attending the Greenfield Minister’s Study Group in New Hampshire from May 23-25. She is on call.
Message from Rev. Lisa Ward
I was asked to write a column for the Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice Newsletter. Here is an excerpt:
Eighteen years old. He makes a decision to partake in genocide at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York. He drives 3 and a half hours to eliminate people of color as a soldier to combat “the great replacement theory”, a malignant doctrine of white nationalists that sends an alarm that white people are losing societal and political power to people of color. The voices, the vocations, the very existence of people of color must be reduced in this fear-based doctrine.
Eighteen years old. News media have already categorized this young white man as mentally ill, and the act “pure evil”; a habit of distancing that keeps this trance of malice alive in our society. Yes, the horrid act is evil, yes, a young man overtaken by this trance of white supremacy is unstable. But make no mistake – this extreme act is merely a part of the spectrum of white dominant culture, which permeates all of society. I do not write this as a statement of condemnation but a call to clarity about our continued widespread complicity in white privilege. Until we see this, dismantling it wherever we can, horrific delusions of grandeur and exceptionalism will violate rights, livelihood and people’s lives.
Let us concentrate on the harm in a way that spurs us toward transformation and the many levels of advocacy needed. Let us name the terror in a way that identifies its beginnings in malignant philosophies. Let us concentrate on the grief to honor the loved ones lost and spur our hearts to herald into our collective consciousness “no more”, “NO MORE”.
In justice and peace, Rev. Lisa
This Week in Worship
“To Touch Inward Springs”
Facilitated by: Rev. Lisa Ward
Worship Assistant: Penny Partridge
Music: Tim Steele
Audio: Brynne Mershon
Social Hour Hosts: Brigitte Miller and Richard Venable
Worship Services are hybrid.
Join us in person or on Zoom.
Please see the zoom link below. 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.
Sunday’s offering will go towards the service and ministry of First Parish.
This Week in Religious Exploration
This Week in Religious Exploration
This Sunday is RE Sunday! We hope all of our Soul Matters schoolhouse and OWL participants, as well as graduating high school seniors will join us to celebrate our year together. We will be in the meetinghouse for this multigenerational service and look forward to seeing all of you!
Interested in teaching a class or mentoring a Coming of Age student next year? The RE Committee is starting to plan next year’s classes and would love to hear from anyone who might have one Sunday a month to share with our children and youth. Please reach out to bridget@sitkoff.net if interested!
This Week in Music
This Sunday guest musician Ed Broms will be joining our worship while Tim is out of town attending two college graduations. Ed will be presenting selections by Frank Zappa and Duke Ellington, as well as one of his own compositions on the organ during the postlude. He is a musician, writer, and yogi, currently living in Milton.
Events and Meetings
Adaptive Change Meeting with RE Transition Specialist, Lily Rappaport
We have the opportunity to meet with a Religious Exploration Transition specialist at our next meeting to focus on ways to envision building and growing our Religious Exploration Programming as an integral part of our faith community. This will be a zoom gathering, to be held Saturday, June 4th 4:00 pm-5:30 pm. Lily Rappaport is a Senior Consultant for the Guild of Interim Religious Educators (GIRE).
The team would like to invite anyone in the Parish to attend & observe/participate in our work/conversations.
Yard Sale
The Yard Sale will be June 18th, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Start your spring cleaning and organizing your treasures for donation. We’ll be collecting items from June 4th – June 15. Reach out to Jen Pinkus (jennifer.pinkus@gmail.com) if you want to be part of the organizing committee.
Social and Environmental Justice
It’s Crunch Time for the Better Bottle Bill!
Calling all anti-plastic pollution activists. Updating the better bottle bill (H3289/S2149) would reduce waste and litter and improve recycling volume in MA. With only two months left in this legislative session, the time to act is NOW. Please contact your representative and senator by phone, email, during community “office hours,” or look for them at public events. The list of legislative endorsers is here: Bottle Bill Legislative Cosponsors. If a Rep. already endorsed, thank them and request they tell TUE Committee* Chairman Jeff Roy that this is a priority and you want to see it voted out of committee. If not an endorser, ask them to jump on. Likewise, thank your senator if an endorser and request their follow-up with Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues If they are not an endorser, ask them to do so. Most plastic that is not recycled gets incinerated, often in environmental justice communities with public health risks from breathing particulate-filled air — not to mention emissions from diesel-burning container trucks.
The Racial Justice Focus Group invites you to join us in understanding the Widening the Circle of Concern UUA report.
In a nutshell, the report, which reads more like a book than a report, is about addressing the White Supremacy Culture within Unitarian Universalism.
Explore with us why we are engaging in studying the recommendations in the report with the intent of taking action toward implementing the recommendations. For example, many UU churches, have placed BLM signs on their front lawns, now many are adopting or in the process of deliberating adoption of the 8th principle which is about building a “beloved” community and dismantling racism and other systems of oppression within ourselves and within our communities. These are great first steps, but what does it mean to actually “live” the 8th principle?
We meet on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 7-8:30PM. All are welcome. Contact Rev. Lisa for the zoom link: minister@fpmilton.org.
If you can’t stomach yet another zoom meeting, we encourage you to at least pick up a copy of the report to read on your own and provide suggestions or feedback on what recommendations speak to you. Several copies are available at the office. You can also access a pdf, with audio access, here: https://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/committees/cic/widening.
Membership Committee
This Saturday, May 21st, we are working with the Social Justice team to cook up a meal that will be taken to Father Bill’s in Quincy. On the morning of May 21st from 10-noon, Debbie Alsebai and Guy Pugh will lead another fun Zoom Cooking Gathering. Our recipes will include: chicken and ziti with broccoli & butterscotch oatmeal cookies. You don’t have to join the Zoom to cook for the meal but it’s certainly fun, if you do. We will have aluminum trays available for pick-up at church, if you need one.
Please let Leslie (Lesliecmacpherson@gmail.com) know if you plan to cook. and reach out to Debbie for the recipes (debalsebai@gmail.com).
Once we know how many are cooking, we will coordinate with everyone about dropping off the meal that afternoon. Let’s get cooking !
Milton Community Concerts
PETER KRASINSKI THIS WEEKEND!:
Saturday evening, May 28 at 8pm: “A Night of Cinema Magic”, a rare opportunity to view two feature silent film classics with live organ accompaniment by Peter Krasinski;
ALSO: Sunday afternoon, June 12 at 3pm: “Sing For Their Supper” free benefit concert to support Milton Food Pantry and Milton Residents Fund.
News and Announcements
Social and Environmental Justice
The S&EJ committee would like to thank First Parish walkers and supporters
of the Louis D. Brown Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. We exceeded our goal of
$1,500 and raised a total of $1,950.
Worship Committee – SUMMER SERVICES
Looking for one more lay leader for our Summer Services. Take a look at the first four, and see if they inspire you. On eleven summer Sundays, we will have hybrid services. You can come to the Meeting House, which is wonderful for the people leading these services. Or you can zoom in from wherever you are. The last summer Sunday will be outside in the courtyard with First Parish’s portable labyrinth.
6/19 Penny Partridge and Franc Graham, “In Awe and Praise of Friendship”
6/26 Guy Pugh and Steve Yakutis, “Simple Gifts: Lessons from the Shakers”
7/3 Jeff Stoodt and Lisa White, “Musings on Independence Day”
7/10 Jennie Mulqueen and Amy Kavadlo, “Sing a Song into Prayer”
Please contact for more information: Penny (ppartridge@icloud.com) and Katie (katievhay@msn.com)
Volunteer Opportunities
Greeters Needed
Membership wants to reach out to those of you who have done Greeting in the past to help us from now until the end of the year. Please let Leslie Lesliecmacpherson@gmail.com know if you can help us on one of the Sundays between now and June 12thl
We have appreciated your help in the past and hope you can help again. Please sign up here if you are interested.
Main Spring Lunch Program
LUNCH MAKERS NEEDED! Wednesday, June 1st. QUESTIONS? tdr02186@gmail
Fair Foods
Fair Foods is a non-profit program that rescues fresh produce that wwould 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 25th.
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 on weekdays from early morning until mid-afternoon.Any questions or for more information contact Tony Dutzik at tdutzik@gmail.com or 617-291-4685.
AFAB
Early in December, Carline Desire spoke to our church about AFAB. It is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering low-income Haitian women and their children. They are looking for a volunteer for mornings or afternoons to help out with office work. For more information and an application, check their website at afab-kafanm.org or call Carmelle at 617-286-0096.
Beyond First Parish
General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Participants worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. Anyone may attend; congregations must certify annually to have voting delegates.
Multi-Platform General Assembly
General Assembly is the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists, where we conduct business of the Association, explore the theological underpinnings of our faith, and lean fully into our mission and principles. That remains true even when we cannot gather physically. In 2021, GA had more than 4,000 registered attendees participate from remote locations around the world. Although we give up the face-to-face interaction and hugs that are prevalent when we meet in-person, we retain our dedication to community and make our experience more accessible and more environmentally sustainable.
In 2022, we will have the option of meeting online or in-person! For those who enjoyed the convenience and accessibility of remote participation, General Assembly will continue to offer virtual attendance with robust programming and enhanced delegate discussion tools. For those who have been missing the physical experience, GA 2022 will also feature face-to-face interactions, hanging banners, a browsable exhibit hall, meals with friends old and new, local site attractions, and more! Join us June 22 – 26, 2022 online or in-person in Portland, Oregon.
Registration for General Assembly 2022 in-person in here
Visit for https://www.uua.org/ga more information.
2nd Anniversary
Standout for Justice
Let us not forget why we stand in solidarity for equity & justice for ALL
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Parkway Methodist Church
6:00 pm-6:30 pm
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STAY CONNECTED
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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.