This Week in Virtual Worship

Summer Worship Begins 

Sunday, June 21, 2020 9:30am

“ Coming of Age Credo Service”

Facilitated by: Laurel Whitehouse

Worship Associate:  Chris Clifford

Music: Liz Alvarez

(Please note: this service will not be recorded in accordance with safe congregations protocol)  ZOOM LIVE-STREAM WORSHIP PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE TO 9:30AMPlease see the zoom link below. Please log in at 9:20, to give some lead time for the service at 9:30. A zoom greeter will admit you into the zoom room. 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 ​​B-Safe.

You can donate anytime between June 18th and June 21st. See below for  text donation instructions.  We will continue having a social hour after services. The full schedule of diverse and thought provoking topics will be available next week.  It will be good to worship together. Do join us on Sunday if you can!

Minister

Rev. Lisa Ward

minister@fpmilton.org

Hello dear members and friends of First Parish:

A lot is going on right now in the Milton community.  I will touch on three congregational happenings, while keeping brief, in this column.

— Below is a notice for a Juneteenth rally and march at Kelly Field in Milton on Friday.  This is a time to remind ourselves of our congregation’s mission, “we welcome all to build a just and healthy world, with faith, love, and compassion.”  It’s important to pay attention to both the welcome and willingness of this mission for the long haul.  Justice and wholeness (healthy world) call for the art of transformation: facing the reality of the moment, recognizing that we are all in this together, and having the courage to open ourselves to a different level of consciousness about how we are living and the choices we are making.  Avoid the guilt/shame/blame vortex of name calling and pointing towards others.  Come together to learn together, to be accountable together, to love justice together.  No one of us knows how we’ll get there.  All of us have something to learn.  Let’s truly dive deep. Inch by inch, liberative moment by liberative moment, shedding systemic racism and white privilege from our ways and walking.  Stay in this for the long haul and for generations to come.

— Speaking of generations to come, our first summer worship, convening at 9:30 am this Sunday, is the Coming of Age service where youth share current belief statements.  You don’t want to miss this service.  Also, it will not be recorded nor posted on Youtube, so come to it live on Sunday morning.  Come, listen, learn and honor the journeys shared.

— And third, I thank you all for your care and support around the sudden death of my brother.  Some have expressed hesitation in contacting me for church work.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I have a support network and am able to work.  You can count on me to be honest about my ability to be present.  I take much meaning from doing my job, so please feel free to contact me.  That is, when I am working.  Please find below the staff summer vacation/study leave schedule.

Blessings, Rev. Lisa

Religious Exploration

The Passages Program will meet online on June 21 at 9:45 am. The final celebration for the children in this much-loved program will be held during the 9:30 am worship service on June 28.

Children and Middle Schoolers: Programming will resume next fall. Wishing all families a summer full of moments of connection, beauty, and spiritual renewal!

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

The Coming of Age worship service will be held online on June 21 starting at 9:30 am. 

Virtual Youth Chat: All youth should have received Zoom links to join Youth Chat online each week. Each session will give youth an opportunity to connect and share what is on their hearts and we will play fun group online games. Please let Laurel know if you need the link info. Our final session before summer break will be a farewell to Sara Elizabeth and Alex on Thursday, June 18, at 7:30 pm.

Events, News & Announcements

Date Change

All Church Council has been rescheduled from Friday, June 19th to Friday, June 26th.

Last Sunday’s Donations

Last Sunday, we collected $606.60 in donations for Fair Foods.

From today 6/18 through 6/21, we are accepting donations for B-Safe. B-SAFE is a summer program of St. Stephen’s Youth Programs that provides a safe, fun, academically enriching environment for more than 600 elementary and middle school students at six Episcopal church and school sites in Boston and Chelsea. 

HOW TO GIVE: Simply text (617) 539-7576 with the amount that you’d like to give. Do not add words, simply put the amount. You’ll get an automatic text message back, asking you to do a 1-time set up to create an account with your credit card/debit number. After the one time set-up, you can simply text the number with an amount to give, and it’ll be automatically debited from the account of your choosing. This is contained and safe — it goes directly to a designated First Parish account. We will write one check of the compiled donations to the organization.

“What does this sign mean to you? And what do you want to do about it?”  Please email suggestions to the Social and Environmental Justice chair, Pat Gallivan: pl.gallivan@verizon.net

Friday, June 19th 5:00pm-6:45pm

Juneteenth Rally & March for anti-racist education in Milton Public Schools

hoted by Milton Schools Educators Association

Please join us in a rally and march to support educators and students of color in Milton Public Schools and demand an anti-racist education for the students of Milton. We want educators of color to have a voice in choosing an anti-racist curriculum; a comprehensive review of MPS policies around staff and student discipline; and an intentional policy and strategy addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the district.

Bring a sign! We will start at Kelly Field, walk past Pierce Middle School and end at Central Administration at Milton High School.

Community members from First Parish in Milton will meet at 4:45 near the tennis courts.
Wear a mask and maintain social distancing to ensure the safety of all attendees.

World Refugee Day – Listen to Diverse Voices

From the International Institute of New England

Several weeks ago, First Parish collected a Sunday offering to send to the International Institute of New England to support their special COVID relief work for the immigrant community.  Several people asked about this organization that provides services and education for the immigrant community in Boston.  On June 20, IINE is hosting a storytelling event which would be a wonderful way too spend your Saturday evening.  Here is the promo for the event and a link to their website where you can get tickets.

Never before has it been more important to LISTEN. That’s part of the reason IINE supports storytelling. 

Now, more than ever, our communities need stories like those from healthcare workers responding to COVID-19, and especially to hear from people directly impacted by racism.  

Storytelling helps us form new opinions and take in new information, and can lead us to a different perspective, while creating empathy and building community.

Yoga Classes Are Back !

First Parish has restarted  Monday night yoga classes- virtually via Zoom! Elyse, our yoga instructor for many years, will be teaching Mondays from 6:30-7:30pm. Elyse describes her yoga classes as slow flow Vinyasa with modifications offered to allow for all levels. Use your breath, poses and meditation to regulate your nervous system and allow yourself to come up for some air. This class is open to all- even  if you never attended the in-person yoga classes before!

Cost for the yoga classes: $15 for one class, or 8 for $80. If you previously paid for yoga classes that were cancelled due to the pandemic, we are honoring those payments.

If you are new and need to pay for classes, you can do so with ease from your cell phone. Text (617) 539-7576 and the amount you are paying with the word “yoga”- so a text message would say “$15 yoga”. For those of you that have already set up text giving with us, it is the same phone number and system, so you will not have to set up another account. If you haven’t set up text for giving, when you text the number, it’ll prompt you to create an account. Once you create the account, giving really is as simple as a text message. You can always mail a check to the church (putting yoga in memo line) if that is more comfortable for you.

Green Gleanings

Social & Environmental Action Committee [S+EJ]

There are several easy, specific things you can do between now and Election Day on Tuesday, November 3 to make a potential difference in its outcome.  “Polls also show that tens of millions of Americans strongly prioritize progressive environmental policies – the real problem is that these people do not vote. Indeed, even in recent nation-wide elections, over 15 million individually identifiable environmentalists have stayed at home on Election Day,” 

Take the Environmental Voter Pledge, “I pledge to be a consistent voter, and I will always prioritize environmental issues.”  Register to vote; your family members and friends/neighbors, too.  VOTE! Volunteer with Sierra Club’s Battleground Campaign (AZ, FL, MI, PA) or the Environmental Voter Project.  An earnest personalized letter, phonecall, or text message can influence a person to vote.  All of these organizations provide advance training and specific scripts or content.  Please consider devoting time (it feels good!) is something we might consider as a parish.  Who’s in? 

These actions do not endorse candidates or tell people how to vote. This is not engaging in partisan politics such that our status as a church non-profit is threatened.  The much bigger goal is to fundamentally change the electorate so that policy makers respond to issues: climate change treaties; carbon polluter fees; Green New Deal; renewable energy investment; clean public transit; post-Covid just transition; etc. 

“Voting is an act of faith. It is profound. In a democracy, it is the ultimate power… Vote because we deserve leaders who see us, who hear us and who are willing to act on our demands,”  Stacey Abrams (NYT op-ed 6/4/20).  Climate justice is racial justice, too. 

 SPROUTS 

Second Chance Native Tree Seedling GiveawayWeekdays only Mon Jun 8 – Fri. Jun 19, 9 a.m. – NoonMary May Binney Wakefield Arboretum, 1465 Brush Hill Rd., Milton  

While supplies last, choose from four native species of deciduous plants (Northern Red Oak-tall at maturity, Red Maple-tall, River Birch-med., and Serviceberry-low) and a naturalized conifer, Norway Spruce-tall. Native trees have co-evolved over time with native wildlife species and provide the best food and shelter.  Sponsored by Blue Hills Climate Action Coalition  in honor of Earth Day 2020.  Special thanks to REI Co-op for funding this project. 
Social distancing protocols will be followed; please wear a mask.  People will stay in their cars and simply drive though. Volunteers will load potted trees into your trunk. There is a limit to two trees per family.  Please plant trees promptly, instructions provided! 

 For more info,  call 617-967-4578
 

Offered by First Parish The Social and Environmental Justice Committee

Fair Foods is back!

After shutting down in the wake of COVID-19, Fair Foods is back up and partially running again, rescuing produce and other food items that would otherwise go to waste and distributing them in Boston and beyond. Currently, volunteers are needed on Fridays and Saturdays at First Parish in Dorchester, typically from 10:00am-1:00pm, though details vary by week.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Tony Dutzik at tdutzik@gmail.com

Meditation continues ….

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

Thursday evenings at 6pm 

Sunday mornings at 9 am

Newcomers and friends welcome.

Here are the links — these should remain consistent every week 

but note that the link for Thursday is different from Sunday!

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

OFFICE SUMMER SCHEDULE

Rev. Lisa Ward, Minister

Vacation:  June 27 – July 6

In office weeks of July 7 and July 14

Vacation:  July 19-July 26

Study Leave:  July 27 – Aug. 3

Vacation: Aug. 24 – Sept 1

Susan DeMinico, Office Manager

Tuesday and Wednesday 8:30-4:40, Thursday mornings

Sherri Moldaver, Administrative Assistant

In the office on Monday-Thursday 8:30am-1:30pm

Laurel Whitehouse, Director of Religious Education

Contact Laurel directly for her hours

Tim Steele, Music Director

Back in the Fall