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 Ward
- Music
- Religious Exploration
- News & Announcements
- Events
- Social & Environmental Justice
- Beyond First Parish
Sunday, Service June 21th Service “Share a Poem”
You can come just to listen. Or bring a poem or two to share (by you or someone else). You can read or recite it with no comment, or you can share why you chose it. This is a reprise of a summer service we did two years ago. People came with a wonderful variety of poems, and we had a great time.
Worship Leaders: Penny Partridge & Tracey Robinson
(in Children’s Church)
This Sunday is the First Summer Service!
Service is at 9:30am!
No Zoom this week
*Full Summer Schedule Below
Another great send off, this time within our faith community. The music, the picnic, the farewell gifts and reflections will stay with me for a long time to come. Thank you, thank you, thank you. There has been some interest in my playful ode the First Parish in Milton.
Scroll down to see it in full should you so desire.
Blessings Be, Rev. Lisa
Religious Exploration
Want more ? Find all things Kids and Youth on the RE Linktree. For more information on any of the above contact Susannah at redirector@fpmilton.org or call 470-223-0337
News & Announcements
ODE TO FIRST PARISH IN MILTON (June 2026)
It all began in twenty sixteen
With a presidential election we hadn’t yet seen
The hopes for a woman to win were smashed
A candlelight vespers immediately tasked
Some wonderful members arrived in this time
Understanding that gathering would ease the felt crime.
And gathering we did to welcome each to their own
Talents were offered, admiration grown
We had some things to deeply discuss
Some with trust and calm, some with some fuss
The cross as a symbol, solar panels and mission
Leadership gracefully welcomed each decision
And then, bam! A pandemic occurred
Digital worship was swiftly procured
The desire to see worship in this space was strong
None of us knew for how much nor how long.
An interesting thing began to emerge
On zoom there were new ways we found to converge
And who could forget the Christmas pageant on line
Angels of all ages dancing devine…
Gathering back in person was a bit of a slog
So an adhoc response team helped clear the fog
Once again you found each other as people to trust
Showing up, a desire; communication, a must
And oh all the art and artists that bless this place
Through hallway displays and culinary taste
With music, of course, a huge part of our days
A way to hear each other, a way to amaze,
Many music discussions from the start would compile
About choice of sound and type of style
If you think those discussions were easy
If you think the navigating was breezy
Check your own passion for musical sounds
And multiply that where opinions abound
But oh the results is a variety of song,
Some, some would love while others go along.
Thus is the way our faith community plays it
Something for everyone, that is if you state it.
And public ministry became an important service
The share the plate a beloved purpose
Also our neighbors, the UCC, who shares our history
Moved to a sense of welcome away from the blistery
It went from what are they doing, what is their weather
To what can we find to do things together.
And all these things along with much more
Has made my heart sing every year to the core
Thank you for such an amazing ride
I hope you embrace each other with gratitude and pride.
Ever sending love, Rev. Lisa
We are pleased to announce that Reverend Beverly Waring will join First Parish of Milton on August 1st for two years as our Interim Minister. Many thanks to the Interim Search Committee Members Lisa White, Mark Ostrem, Jeff DellaRovere, and Jen Pinkus. We were joined by Susan DeMinico and Susannah Bales. Since February the team worked to develop our Congregational Profile (for review by interested candidates), our interview questions and protocol to come to the best possible decision-making process. The process, managed by the UUA, resulted in six candidates for our review. During a ten-day period in May we reviewed, interviewed, checked references and identified our top candidates. And we are thrilled that Rev Bev is our match! She brings the right skills at the right time for First Parish with a wealth of experience in Interim Ministry.
Rev. Bev Waring is an Accredited Interim Minister (AIM) currently finishing her ministry at the First Universalist Society in Franklin, MA. She has served as an interim minister in seven diverse congregations in Massachusetts and NY State.
Rev. Bev’s journey to ministry has been a winding road. She received an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the State University of New York at Brockport, and it was her first engineering job that brought Bev from Western New York to Massachusetts. Twelve years later, feeling the need to connect more with people instead of machines and numbers, Bev changed careers and earned her Master of Social Work degree. Her social work experience ranged from working with people experiencing psychiatric emergencies to assisting mentally ill and addicted homeless people access services to a specialty in hospice social work. She is also a trained mediation consultant. When her call to ministry came, Bev went back to school and in 2009 received her Masters in Divinity degree at Andover Newton Theological School.
Bev describes her personal theology this way: “I feel a kinship to much of what defines a Humanist. I embrace free will, reason, ethics, and justice as essential for a moral code. My approach to spirituality does not assume the concept of a supernatural being but rather finds that which is holy and sacred in between and among human beings and the natural world while being equally interested in living daily life in a rational, ethical and purposeful way. The final piece of my theology comes from Process Theology which asserts that the unfolding present is not yet concrete but is ever changing. In Process Theology, divine energy, or the spirit of life, or God, is an energy, which lures us towards what is good.”
Beyond her professional life, Bev is a devoted geocacher and enjoys puzzles of all kinds including jigsaw, Sudoku, logic and crosswords. She is an avid reader and volunteers for a local cat rescue group. Bev lives in Marlborough, MA with Donna, her spouse of 44 years. Experienced dog-rescue fosters, they are awaiting their next dog to “find them” as many others have done in the past.
Upcoming Summer Services Schedule
6/28 Robert Mussey: One for All and All for One
7/5 Geoff Wilkinson: Fire
7/12 Dan DeAngeli: The Journey Through Memoir
7/19 Cynthia Guise, Natalie Monroe, & Deb Larson-Venable:
Standing with Our Migrant Neighbors
7/26 Steve Yakutis: Meditation and Me (A Semi-Silent Service)
8/2 Amy Kavadlo & Jennie Mulqueen: Hymn Song
8/9 Leslie MacPherson: What It Means to Be a Unitarian Universalist
8/16 Katie Vhay: TBA
8/23 Songs of Protest (in courtyard)
8/30 Chris Clifford: Blue Hills Forest Bathing* (location TBA)
9/6 Elise Henricks: Walking Our Labyrinth* (in courtyard)
Join us online from anywhere; but if you can, please come in person.
* Not available online
Legacy Giving @ First Parish
Generations of First Parish members and friends have honored the First Parish community through a legacy gift.
A legacy gift is a commitment to make a future donation to First Parish Milton. The most common legacy gift is a bequest in your will.
Gifts of any amount build and sustain the First Parish legacy. Our vibrant community, our activities and programs, and the beautiful campus, meeting house, and children’s church could not be maintained without legacy giving.
Consider a gift that embraces and sustains the values and future of this vital place.
For more information visit our website page https://fpmilton.org/members-page/legacy-giving/ or contact Susan Diminco (manager@fpmilton.org), or a member of the committee: Mike Bello, Roger Gray, Andrew Maloney, Roberta Williamson, or Allison Zippay.
Thank you for your generosity.
Social & Environmental Justice
SAVE MASS SAVE
Massachusetts Climate Action Needs YOU!
Please call or email your MA State Senator NOW before a vote to dismantle a climate-critical program occurs on Beacon Hill, possibly next Thursday.
- Urge her/him/them to oppose proposed cuts ($1B) to the “Mass Save” program. Lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry contact them daily — they need to hear from YOU, their constituent!
- First Parish and many others in our congregation have benefitted from Mass Save rebates and retrofits to gain energy efficiency through lighting, heating/cooling, solar, insulation, windows, etc. improvements. Why? To reduce our bills AND our fossil fuel use.
- Helpful (inspirational!) information here is summarized by Zero Carbon MA, and Mass Power Forward’s letter-writing portal is here. FYI: Unitarian Universalist Mass Action is a key planning partner in Mass Power Forward’s coalition to uphold climate JUSTICE.
Beyond First Parish
NEXT DATE IS June 17th
First Parish makes and delivers lunches to MainSpring (Fr. Bill’s Brockton site) at two locations in Brockton. We provide 70 lunches on the third Wednesday of each month. The drop-off location will remain at the lower parking lot of FP, and will take place between 12:40 and 1:00. Cynthia Guise will be driving this day – any questions can be directed to her at clguise@comcast.net
The Social & Environmental Justice committee thanks you for your continued participation in this effort.
Pat & Tracey
Beyond First Parish
Hello Neighbors – Celebrate Black History in June!
~Juneteenth in Hyde Park – Sat. June 13th, 10am-2pm, Martini Shell on Truman Pkwy Click here for more information
~5th Annual Juneteenth – Sat. June 20th, 4pm-7pm, Eustis Estate, Milton click here for more information
~Community Reading of Frederick Douglass, Thurs. June 25th, reception 6pm-7pm, reading at 7pm, with Introduction by Winston Daley
sign up here to read a small part of the speech.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together
Thursday, June 25, 2026 6:00PM – 7:30PM
A special evening of music, theater, and a community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Co-hosted with Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice, this outdoor tented event will begin with live classical music and light refreshments, followed by a short excerpt from the play, “This Is Not a Bill,” by Boston playwright Alexia Rowe. The play tells the story of an enslaved couple escaping from the South along the Underground Railroad during the threat of the Fugitive Slave Act.
The community reading will begin at 7:00 pm with volunteers taking turns reading individual paragraphs from Douglass’s speech. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. Sign up by clicking the button below.
This program is made possible by a grant from Mass Humanities, which provided funding through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
The Historic Meetinghouse Tour
Jun 25, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
First Church Roxbury (UU Urban Ministry), 10 Putnam St, Roxbury, MA 02119, USA
A guided tour of the historic First Church in Roxbury, led by Executive Director of UUUM, Rev. Mary Margaret Earl. Explore the rich legacy and recent refurbishments of this landmark building at the heart of the UU Urban Ministry.
Susan DeMinico: Summer Hours for July and August
In office on Tuesday &Thursday – Off Mondays and Fridays, 1/2 day remote Wednesdays.
Vacation: June 22nd, June 24th-July 6th
Vacation: August 9-17
Susannah Bales
Vacation: 6/18-29 ; 7/6-12; 7/22-27
Study Leave: 7/20 & 7/21, 8/3-8/6, 8/10, 8/12, 8/13
Sherri Moldaver
In office Monday thru Thursday 8:30am-1:30pm
Kevin Harnden
Monday-Thursday 8am-11am
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, 10:30 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: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D44ACA728A02-57884860-20252026#/
You can sign up for one our our Sunday volunteer positions.