This Week in Virtual Worship

Sunday, July 23, 2020 9:30am

“Poetry that Sustains Us”

Facilitated by: Linda Goodrich

Worship Associate:  Robert Johnson

Music:  Liz Alvarez

Virtual Social Hour Host: Anita PentaZOOM 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. 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. 

Please be on the lookout for an Order of Worship which will be emailed to you on Friday, 7/24.

Sunday’s offering will be dedicated to the services and ministry of First Parish Milton.

We’ve added the offering to the service with a new way to give- text to giving!

We will continue having a social hour after services. Just stay on the Zoom worship call. It will be good to worship together. Do join us on Sunday if you can!

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Below in the LINK: 

1. IT Projects

2. Wanted: compurter and or laptops

3.Milton Community Forum on Police and Race Relations

4. MA Climate Legislation Landscape

5. Where are we in the cultural shift toward racial justice?

6. Solar Panel update

7. Yoga

8. Fair Foods volunteer opportunity

9. Main Spring volunteer opportunity

10. Meditation

11. Office Summer Hours

Minister

Rev. Lisa Ward

minister@fpmilton.org

Rev. Lisa will be out of the office from July 19 – August 3.  Pastoral concerns can be directed to the Caring Committee chair, Brigitte Miller at miller.brigitte@gmail.com​ 

Administrative concerns can be directed to the office: office@fpmilton.org

Religious Exploration

Religious Exploration

Children, Middle School and High School: 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.

Events, News & Announcements

 First Parish Projects

Summers are typically very busy times at First Parish- this year is no exception. However, our focus on big projects has shifted a bit this year; with the need for strong virtual connections, we’ve working on two big  IT projects.

The first- we’re migrating our email system to google. This will give us fewer delays (hopefully!) and perhaps be a step towards maintaining more first parish data in the cloud.

The second is a complete remodel of our website. For this project, I am asking for your patience and grace. The new demo site is up. You can take a look! It is incomplete, has many blank pages, and needs much work. However- it’s a start towards the goal of a more complete website by mid-September.  The goal is to make the website cleaner, more user friendly, and more intuitive. Stay tuned for more updates!

Cameras that attach to computers and/or working laptops are wanted.  Please kindly contact the office if you would like to donate.  Thank you.

Milton Community Forum
On Police and Race Relations

Wednesday, July 29th, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Join Courageous Conversations Towards Racial Justice for a Milton Community Forum on Police and Race Relations with Milton Chief of Police John King, MA State Rep. Russell Holmes, and Moderator Mark Conrad.

 Register to join our Zoom call.

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSft44LOomKVLS0-PcwaKDwHgAp8vzRhwvwkrALhbtnyxORZIw/viewform

Tech requirements: Our event will be held over Zoom. Be sure to download Zoom prior to the meeting.

MA CLIMATE LEGISLATION LANDSCAPE

Yes, it is head-spinning to TRY to keep up with and advocate for environmental legislation in our Commonwealth, even in the best of times.  Thank you to those in First Parish’s community who are doing all they can: communicating with senators and representatives, attending standouts, supporting candidates who reflect their values, writing letters/postcards/emails/texts, and more.  We are putting Beacon Hill decision-makers on notice that the environment with its many interconnected crises MATTERS. This week, over 200 people Zoomed to hear incumbent Congressman Stephen Lynch (D – US 8th District) and challenger Robbie Goldstein answer town hall-style questions about the Green New Deal, renewable energy vs. fossil fuels, carbon fees, greening public transportation, retrofitting homes. and equity for all.  Covid-19 “lifted the veil” on overlapping social crises and will require “multi-solving” legislation.  Keep it up!

AND NOW: A SIMPLE PRIMER – “GREEN MONEY FOR MASSACHUSETTS”

https://www.greenmoneyma.com/plan

This concise website presents everything you need to know, simply explained, about the importance of an equitable carbon pollution fee. “This website was created by a grassroots group of MA constituents motivated by passion and hope, [who] believe that carbon pollution pricing must be part of our path to a livable future…. Massachusetts has an unprecedented opportunity to implement carbon pricing with rebates.  We did our research and built this website with volunteer hours and our own checkbooks.”  If it moves you, call or email your state senator and representative to tell them how YOU feel about this before July 30, or sooner!.  Google “Find My Legislator MA” for contact information.

Offered by First Parish The Social and Environmental Justice Committee

Where Are We In the Cultural Shift Toward Racial Justice?

Bi-weekly Conversations by Zoom with Rev. Lisa and Debbie Alsebai

We are postponing the start of this group till August, come share your voice!

Wednesdays at 7 pm: August 5 & 19, September 2

The isolation due to Covid-19 and the stark, unequivocal events of racialinjustice in this nation has encouraged a widespread willingness to examinewhat is needed for true equity and justice for all.  Let’s answer the call.Part of the work is seeing more clearly.  This does not call for shame andblame, but for the courage of discomfort and openness to new choices and newchanges. What does it mean that history is white washed?  How does white privilegeplay out, even among well-meaning liberals?  What is the networking ofsystemic racism?  We’ll meet every other week to share stories, examinearticles and short videos, and encourage one another to further see theculture we have been taught to navigate.  This is a hope-filled endeavor.Please join us and invite your friends.  A zoom link will be sent out theweek of the conversation. Interested?  Contact the office: office@fpmilton.org.

Solar Project Update

The solar project at First Parish is moving full steam ahead! After months of paperwork and permits, we now have the approvals needed to start construction, which we hope will be complete by the end of the summer.

We are excited to announce the recipients of the “community solar” credits generated by our system, which represent the solar energy the system produces above and beyond our own needs. 90% of the credits will go to the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry in Roxbury and 10% to the youth center at First Congregational Church in Milton. Recipients of the credits will receive discounted electricity from our panels while also enjoying the benefits of clean electricity and taking action in the fight against climate change.

Other good news is to date the Solar Panel Legacy Project Committee has received pledges in the amount of $65,400 to cover 81.75 panels. We are more than 1/3 of the way there and appreciate all the donations made this far. 

If you missed out on the initial offering there are still 123 panels left to sponsor so consider being part of this important First Parish legacy project and make a pledge today! (Pledges can be paid on an annual or monthly basis over the next 3 fiscal years.) Please send an email to the office (office@fpmilton.org) and we will be happy to send you a copy of the solar pledge form electronically.

 If you already made a pledge please try to get your donation in by July 31, 2020 by check or electronic Vanco payment. Extensions are available by request for year 1 payments until 12/31/2020.   

The committee is also interested in your ideas or vision of what the donor recognition installation on the campus should be. This installation will creatively list all donors of $200, or more, on a permanent structure.

Please email creative installation ideas or pledge extension requests to Debbie Alsebai at alsebai@verizon.net

For questions about the solar project as a whole, please contact Tony Dutzik at tdutzik@gmail.com.

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.

To join, please use the meeting ID/password below.

Meeting ID: 655 820 3977

Password: 271089

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 10:00 am and on 9:30 am Saturdays at First Parish in Dorchester,  though details vary by week.

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

Mainspring lunch program – HELP needed! 

First Parish has delivered more than 800 lunches to Mainspring in Brockton since the COVID emergency was declared. We plan to continue providing 100 lunches every other Wednesday through the summer. We noticed a drop in volunteers last week and are hoping we can get a few new volunteers for our delivery on July 29 & August 8.  Volunteers acquire food and pack 10-20 lunches and deliver to the church between 12:45-1pm on Delivery day. One team lead drives all the lunches to the shelter in Brockton.

 If you can help, please contact Peter Schneider for instructions or if you already know the drill, signup on our Mainspring Signup Genius website – please indicate number of lunches you will bring.

As always, thanks for your generosity!

Meditation continues ….

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

Thursday evenings at 7:00pm 

Sunday mornings at 8:45am

Newcomers and friends welcome.

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

Summer hours:

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

vacation: August 15-22

Sherri Moldaver, Administrative Assistant

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

Laurel Whitehouse, Director of Religious Education

Out of Office June 25-June 30 & July 20-24

Tim Steele, Music Director

Back in the Fall