Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- This Week in Worship
- Briefly with Bev
- Religious Exploration
- Music
- News & Announcements
- Events
- Social & Environmental Justice
- Beyond First Parish
Sunday Service September 20th
Great Expectations
This service will explore how our expectations can color our experiences. When we enter a situation with preconceived notions of what will happen and how we will feel, how likely is it our experience will match our expectations? How likely is it we will be disappointed? This can affect our worship experience, our personal relationships and how we move forward in this journey we call life. Come Sunday and explore how letting
go of expectations can free us to be fully present.
Worship Associate: Lisa White
Social Hour: Hospitality & Membership Committees to Host the Welcome Back Brunch
Audio:Holden DriscollThis week’s offering will go towards the service and ministry of First Parish.
Briefly With Bev
Be Like Water
I start this column with gratitude. I am grateful that you accepted and participated in the water ritual in our ingathering service and my first worship service with you. Those of you who remember it as a travelogue expressed some concern prior to Sunday and I hope you found meaning in it the way it was done. Water is such an important resource and creating time and space to acknowledge this is, in my opinion, important in our faith communities. In addition to water as an actual natural resource, there is also profound symbolism to how people of faith think about water.
Here is a piece of writing that I find thought provoking. It is difficult to find one person to attribute the following writing to, but it is widely believed to be a poetic interpretation of the Taoist Philosophy written about water by Bruce Lee, yes that Bruce Lee.
Be Like Water
run deep run clear
fill any space to its own dimensions
respond to the moon, to gravity
change colors with the light
hold your temperature longer than the surrounding air
take the coast by storm
go under ground
bend light
be the one thing people need, even when they’re fasting
eat boulders, quietly
be a universal solvent
With Love and Peace,
Rev Bev
Religious Exploration
We’d love to bring everyone to Muse Paint Bar in Dedham on Nov. 1 from 3-5pm, but we need to have at least 10 folks before we reserve the space! Wanna go?
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
Music
The choir anthem for this Sunday is “I Will Be the Light” by Gerald Custer. Written in 2015 for a high school choir festival in Long Island, NY, this anthem is a “gesture of solidarity, a promise by the singers that they will bear witness to the power of light over darkness, and a pledge that they will be a voice for the voiceless”. Grace Allendorf and Michael Aoun will also be presenting a straightforward duet arrangement of “Amazing Grace”, with a bit of a gospel flavor.
MILTON COMMUNITY CONCERTS
Milton Community Concerts will be busy this fall with concerts on Saturday, October 3 at 7pm (“Sing For Their Supper 13”), and on Sunday, November 8 at 2pm (a world premiere of a new musical called “Faces of Love”). The October 3rd concert will feature ten outstanding singers from all over New England in a free benefit concert to support the Milton Food Pantry and Milton Residents Fund. Please mark your calendars.
News & Announcements
First Parish needs YOU to help with our weekly support for services.
We need folks to sign up to Greet on Sundays AND to host Coffee Hour.
Please click HERE to Sign-up and choose your dates now!
A Celebration of Life
Invitation to Sam’s Celebration of Life from Ellen Barr
October 3rd, 2026
12:00pm to 3:00pm
Trailside Museum
First Parish Welcome Back Brunch
SAVE THE DATE: September 20th
Members and Friends ~ It’s Brunch Time! Soon we will be back in regular community at First Parish. Save the date for our annual brunch. Presented by Hospitality and Membership, we will have a delightful array of treats for you to enjoy as you catch up with each other after church. September 20th is the date; mark it on your calendar!
Events
First Parish Welcome Back Brunch this Sunday, September 20th
happening right after Worship Service
Members and Friends ~ It’s Brunch Time! Presented by Hospitality and Membership, we will have a delightful array of treats for you to enjoy as you catch up with each other after church.
Social & Environmental Justice
ELEVENTH HOUR STANDOUT
Friday, September 11th
Assemble by 6:00 p.m.
First Parish Front Lawn
535 Canton Avenue (Milton Town Center)
This date is layered with significance including Rosh Hashanah at sunset and the anniversary of the World Trade Center Attack in 2001, and our current times are conflicted with many significant issues. Whatever your cause(s) — peace, jobs, healthcare, trans rights, affordable housing and food access, ICE OUT, immigration — this monthly event offers a brief time to unite. So BYO signs, flags, chairs, singing voices, percussion, friends, and neighbors. 30 ENERGIZED minutes will amplify continued resilience and resistance. Quoting Katie, a dedicated participant, “I believe events like this are important because they fuel us in this marathon and give us chances to connect with one another… feeling filled up with energy and courage, with a heart of renewed hope.”
The next event will be Sunday, October 11, same time and place. All are welcome.
TWO WAY$ TO $UPPORT DEMOCRACY THIS MONTH
Highlighting the Movement Voter Project
1. Dance the night away at a local benefit event (Saturday, September 19 — see flier above)
– OR –
2. Share the Plate collection & guest speaker in church (Sunday, September 27), sponsored by First Parish Milton’s Social & Environmental Justice Committee. To be clear, funds collected in church will go to the Movement Voter Project, a 501(c)4 educational organization. The Movement Voter PAC is a “hybrid political action committee” (per website).
– OR BOTH –
Every Vote Counts
Help Get Out the Vote — Postcard Writing on Oct. 4
On October 4, join us in the Parish Hall after Social Hour to help get out the vote for the midterms. Teaming up with Reclaim Our Vote, we’ll write postcards to voters in underrepresented communities in swing states and encourage them to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
Bring your energy and we’ll supply the rest – including stamps and the script for the postcards. There’s nothing more democratic than voting!
(Can’t stay for the event? Pick up a packet and write the postcards at home – but you’ll need your own stamps.)
Beyond First Parish
Join First Parish Friends to see the musical “Operation Mincemeat” at the Colonial Theatre on October 25th at 6;30 PM. Debbie Alsebai will be leading a group to carpool to the theater and potentially have a Potluck diinner beforehand.
‘Operation Mincemeat” is the true story of the secret mission that won World War II. The show won an Olivier Award and Tony for the Best New Musical. Entertainment Weekly said it was the #1 Broadway Show in 2025!
Email Debbie Alsebai at Alsebai@verizon.net or text tel:(617) 821-9460 with number of seats, seat location and at cost group price you prefer.
Please note there is no elevator to the Dress Circle or Balcony.
- Orchestra $155, $140 or $118
- Dress Circle $100 or $78 (Senior >65 and Students $80 or $70)
- Balcony $62 and $51 (Senior >65 and Students $62 or $51)
Tickets are limited so get your orders in ASAP
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/4090D44ACA728A02-64605820-copy#/
You can sign up for one our our Sunday volunteer positions.