This Week in Virtual Worship

June 20, 2021

JUNE THEME: Arrival

Sermon: “Showing Up”

Facilitated by:  Rev. Lisa Ward

Worship Associate:  Joe Ayoub

Music:  Karl Pastore

Audio Engineer:  Daniel Truog

Please see the zoom link below. Please log in at 9:20, to give some lead time for the service at 9:30. 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 to FRRACS (Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station).  Funds will support the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station(FRRACS), a local community group that has been fighting the proposed and now built fracked gas compressor station in Weymouth. Your support will help the group in their legal battle to shut down the compressor station as well place an air quality monitor near the site to follow changes in air pollution. This compressor station poses a serious threat to the health, safety, environment, and economy of the South Shore and FRRACS has been courageously fighting it from the beginning! Learn more athttps://www.nocompressor.com/.

Summer months begin in just a few days, and for some it will be a wild ride.  Our reopening pace is particular with each individual.  Some are finding it hard, already, to remember what it was like to leave their home masked, while others feel something’s missing without them. 

There will be moments when a surge of anxiety, even fear, will arise.  This is natural with most adjustments, but we are adjusting out of a prolonged “danger” response.  Our fear signals are evolutionary responses to threat.  It’s in our cells to signal responses to harm, which sometimes includes memory of harm.  We’ve been doing our level best to function within a constant threat, made even more difficult by experiences of loss and physical trauma. 

It’s important to give yourselves, your bodies, your adjustments time to settle into a new groove, a new flow.  So listen to your body, your sensibility, as you venture out into the world.  Give yourself permission for your pace and possibly your need for help or counsel.

We cannot really say “welcome back” to the way of our lives.  Instead let us say “welcome forward”, “welcome to the new”, “welcome to all we’ve been through”.  Easy does it, step by step.

Blessings Be, Rev. Lisa

Religious Exploration

Family Spirit Circle: During this physically distanced year Family Spirit Circle newsletters and packets replaced Sunday morning RE classes. The email newsletters contained links to books, music and videos related to the themes. The packets contained information and history on the theme, arts and crafts supplies for theme-related projects, and a family connection section suggesting ideas for discussions or activities to deepen understanding and connection to each other. Each theme also had a Padlet page for families to post photos of completed projects. Thank you to all of the families who posted fun photos and who sent feedback on how much their families enjoyed the packets!

List of Family Spirit Circle Packets: Ocean and Water, Our UU Chalice, Fall Bounty, Day of the Dead, Gratitude, Celebrations of Light, Release and Receive (New Year), Wisdom of the Stones, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, Creativity, Easter, Prayer, Ideas of God, Welcoming Rainbows and Flower Sunday.

Youth Notes: Socks for graduating high school seniors will be mailed out this week. The colorful rainbow UU chalice socks are a symbol of our congregational blessing for these seniors as they set forth on the next part of their personal journeys:

May these rainbow socks wrap you in the warmth of our care, protect you from the buffets of the world and provide a colorful reminder that you are valued, loved and welcome here anytime!

Summer camp opportunity: Explore social justice issues for children entering grades 3 to 5 next fall (posted on the Milton for Social Justice FB page): Imagining More Just Futures. It is a virtual social justice summer camp run by  Harvard grad students. 

~ Our bodies may not be touching, but our hearts are still connected.

MUSIC THIS WEEK

Karl Pastore will be leading music this Sunday

Table of Contents

For Events, News and Announcements 

1. Pledges

2. MCC Final Report

3. Meditation

4. Yoga  

5. UU Ministry Community Conversations

6. Worship Committe News: Summer Worship

7. SJ&E Action Committee News

2021-2022 Pledges

Thank you to all the generous First Parish members and friends who have made pledges for our next fiscal year, starting July 1, 2021. I wanted to remind everyone of how we in the office handle pledges.

1. If you pay by Vanco or another automated payment through your bank, you may want to review your pledge amount and make sure it’s still an accurate number. Many people increase their pledge yearly, but forget that if you want to pay your pledge in 12 equal installments, you need to change the monthly amount. We in the office are more than happy to help you with changing your Vanco account- but require your express permission to do so.

2. Sunday Contributions:  We assume that any contributions that come in on Sundays are gifts to the church, separate from your pledge. If you would like us to put your Sunday contribution towards your pledge, please contact Susan at manager@fpmilton.org.

3. If you want to set up an automatic pledge, and need help- we’re happy to send you instructions on how to do so.

Just email the office  at office@fpmilton.org[mailto:office@fpmilton.rg] Thank you for your commitment to First Parish!

MCC FINAL REPORT

On behalf of Milton Community Concerts I thank you for your support during this past year. Through ticket sales and donations our three live-stream concerts raised a total of $3289 to support two local charities: the Neponset Neighbors Together Fund through the United Way, and Rosie’s PlaceWomen’s Shelter in Boston. If you would like to make a donation to MCC to support next year’s season you can visit miltoncommunityconcerts.com. Much appreciated! Tim

Meditation 

All are welcome to join for 30 minutes of silent meditation/prayer on:

Thursday evenings at 6:45 pm-7:15 pm 

Sunday mornings at 9:00am-9:30am

Newcomers and friends welcome.

Please contact Tracey at tdr02186@gmail.com if you have questions or want to join us!  

We are thrilled to report that our yoga instructor, Elyse Siegmann and her husband have a new baby!  Theodore Glenn Siegmann was born on Memorial Day.  All are doing well. There will be a guest yoga instructor, Jayne Ogata, this summer until we welcome Elyse back in the fall.

If you have never joined, you are invited to try your first class for FREE !

Discussion about in-person yoga have started. Stay tuned to this space for updates!  For now we will continue to meet over Zoom at 6:30pm on Monday evenings.

Facing Yesterday to Face Today and TomorrowJune 22nd 6:00pm First Parish Milton is sponsoring an upcoming Community Conversation at the Urban Ministry. The UUUM mission is to “work across race and place to dismantle racism and white supremacy and to advance racial, economic, and social justice”. This year’s UUUM Community Conversation will wrap-up with the engaging speaker and historian Byron Rushing who served in the MA House of Representatives for over 30 years. Through his life he has been a champion for justice. Find more info at uuum.org or save this link in your calendar:Jun 22, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Worship Committee News

2021 Summer services ‘Lay Leaders & Themes

6/20    Rev. Lisa Ward, On Behalf of Fathers: A Father’s Day Sermon

6/27    Penny Partridge, 10 Things Poetry Has Done for Me

7/4      TBD

7/11    Robert Johnson-The Buddha and the Universe

7/18    Leslie MacPherson, What Covid Has Shown Me

7/25    Jim May, Stories from Stone House

8/1      Katie Vhay, Being Present

8/8      Jeff Stoodt, The Benefits of Being Religious Rather than Spiritual

8/15    Elise Henricks, Making Meaning: Handcraft as a Spiritual Practice

8/22    Joe Ayoub, TBD

8/29    Jennie Mulqueen, Emerge with a Song

9/5      Elise Henricks and Penny Partridge, Our Labyrinth

From S&EJ: Social Action Committee News

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 19th. If you want to volunteer please sign up on Signup Genius by Thursday evening before the event. Start time and locations vary depending on FairFoods’ needs, but typically start between 8:00 and 10 a.m. at Fair Foods’ warehouse in South Boston. You can sign up to volunteer on Signup Genius.  Any questions or for more information contact Tony Dutzik at tdutzik@gmail.com

Last chance this spring for Mainspring lunches – June 30!!! We have decided to take a break this summer from our bi-weekly lunch program. Our last delivery before the break will Wednesday June 30th.   Please signup if you are able to help – volunteers still needed!!! The Social & Environmental Justice team will be discussing future plans for supporting Mainspring at our summer retreat.  Many thanks to all the generous volunteers who have helped make the lunch program a success over the last 14 months. You are the best!   For more info contact Peter Schneider at peterlschneider@gmail.com  or Pat Gallivan at plgallivan@verizon.net  for instructions;  if you already know the drill, signup on our schedule Mainspring SignupGenius – please include number of lunches you will bring in the note field – do not use “quantity” field.