First Parish Unitarian Universalist Cohasset
E-mail Update – December 8, 2009
Anticipation and beyond expectation are at the heart of Advent and Hanukkah. We anticipate another birthday of a child who touched hearts beyond imagining. We anticipate a festival of lights in which sacred oil burned beyond imagining.
As in centuries past, we light our candles and hold hope—for ourselves for our world turning in its timeless cycle—rising with joys, and wrenching with sorrows.
As these holidays unfold, may we open our hearts to hope, our hands to mindful action, and our minds to the unexpected. May our souls sing carols of peace, honest-to-goodness peace. May our lives open to new surges of love and justice in this world where life itself is on the edge and justice goes begging. May we light our candles in anticipation.
Love and hope for each and all of you—
Jan
Thank you!
To all who worked so hard to make our ReUUsable Sale a success. Special thanks to co-chairs Margie Brown and Kay Mixon. To all who brought items for sale, who purchased these reUUsable treasures, who presided at the cashier’s box, who helped shoppers find their items and their price, who sold coffee and tea and cider and donuts, and who cleaned up and carted off what was left, THANK YOU! The coffee, donuts, and gingerbread raffle (thanks to the generous donation of Ron and Shirley Wallace) and the ReUUsable Sale brought in $2600! The bonus? A great time!
To our Rusty Skippers, under the direction of Steve Biagini, for performing a memorable Holiday Concert in the Meeting House. Founded in 1995 by the late Rev. Ed Atkinson, the Rusty Skippers has grown into an assembly of musicians from throughout the South Shore and to perform for so many community events. The concert this past Saturday during our Village Fair also raised $500 for our Cohasset Food Pantry.
To Carol Martin and Shirley Wallace for organizing Sunday’s Baby Shower welcoming Nathan Paul FitzGerald, born October 19 to our beloved DRE, Jim FitzGerald, and his partner, Jaimy George. Thanks to all who participated through gifts of brunch-friendly food and gifts of books and more.
To all who participated in the Advent Blessing of the Animals. Thank you to Jim FitzGerald for sharing this service with Jan and to readers and ushers Nadiya Roy and Brodie and Ellie Jackisch. This year, we welcomed not only dogs and cats but a bearded dragon! And $126, shared equally between the Hull and Scituate Animal Shelters.
Events for this week and more include:
Tuesday, December 8
9:15 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Annie Spang and meeting on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays)
10:30 AM – Staff Meeting – Minister’s study
7:30 PM – Circle Ministry (group led by Jack & Carol Martin and meeting on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays)
Wednesday, December 9
9:15 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Polly Cowen & Linda Daignault and meeting on the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays)
Thursday, December 10
7 PM – International Human Rights Day celebrated with our Unitarian Universalist Service Committee – Media Arts Center, Roxbury Community College (across the street from the Roxbury Crossing T Stop. Free parking also available)
At this annual Rights Night, our UUSC will honor pioneering activist Mel King with the UUSC’s Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award for his commitment to social justice and human rights. Stay on for refreshments and fellowship. If you can make it, RSVP to rsvp@uusc.org or phone 617-01-4381.
7:55 PM – Choir Rehearsal – Meeting House
Friday-Saturday, December 11-12
24-Hour Prayer Vigil for the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change
From 6 PM – 6 PM we’ll gather in shifts at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for this community wide witness supporting positive outcomes at this timely conference of international leaders. Sign up on the 24-hour pie chart poster in the Parish House, and be assured that no one will be there alone in the middle of the night!
Sunday, December 13
8:00 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Bill Baird & John Kornet and meeting this month on the 2nd & 3rd Sundays)
9:45 AM – Childcare for our youngest begins and all other children and youth will continue to prepare for the holiday service pageant – Parish House. Our Whole Lives (OWL) meets at 9:45 AM at First Parish UU in Scituate.
10:00 AM – Worship in the Meeting House – “Hearth and Home”
Everyone is invited for refreshments and fellowship in the Parish House right after worship and RE classes.
Please remember your gifts for our Angel Tree!
4 PM – Holiday Concert – Unicorn Singers and Broad Cove Chorale
This year’s performance features Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, read and sung and the music of William Mathias. All ticket proceeds benefit the Wellspring Multi-service Center. Tickets are $15 at the door or call 781-749-0162. You can become a patron by contributing $25 or more for each ticket. Send your check payable to Wellspring to: Kathy Reardon, 9 Steamboat Lane, Hingham, MA 02043, and note that this is for the concert in Cohasset on December 13. Another performance will take place at House of Prayer Lutheran Church in Hingham on Saturday, December 12, at 8 PM
More Holiday Happenings
Friday, December 18, 10 AM to noon – Christmas Stories with your minister – Atkinson Room
Won’t you join me for sharing our favorite Christmas stories? Just bring your story ready to tell (no longer than 15 minutes please), and half a dozen cookies to share. Coffee and tea and warm cider are “on the house.” Come and enjoy!
Jan
Saturday, December 19 – 3:45 PM – Caroling on the Common
Caroling on the Common calls us once again to gather at the Parish House with family, friends, and neighbors and go out onto the Common and sing familiar carols that warm our hearts and raise community spirits. Everyone is welcome to join in this community happening for all ages. You don’t need a great voice. Carols will be familiar and simple, and there will be song books for everyone. We’ll gather between 3:45 and 4 PM at the Parish House. Be sure to bring flashlights. We’ll then carol around the duck pond and at 4:45 return to the Parish House for hot cocoa, cider, and cookies. Cookie donations are most welcome! Again this year, there’s one more item to remember, please—socks, two or three pairs of new white cotton socks in men’s and women’s sizes. The socks that we gather will warm the feet of our neighbors at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless.
Sunday, December 20
10 AM – “A Holiday Service for All Ages”
4 PM – First Parish Concert Series – Cappella Clausura
December 24
8 PM – Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
What else?
Poinsettias for the Holidays—for the Meeting House & You
‘tis time to order poinsettias for the chancel of our holiday Meeting House and later, your homes or a friend or even stranger in need of holiday cheer! You can contribute, in honor or in memory of a loved one or simply in celebration of the season, by sending a check for $15 payable to First Parish UU-Cohasset and earmarked “poinsettias.” Send or deliver to the attention of Sandy Bailey, Parish Administrator, by December 10. After our Christmas Eve service, enjoy the same poinsettia that has given beauty to our Meeting House in your own home or bring it to someone whose holiday might be brighter because of your gift given again!
Going to the supermarket? Please remember The Cohasset Food Pantry!
As we consider our holiday purchases, let’s remember that many of our neighbors and perhaps some among our own congregation are going through hard times. The Cohasset Food Pantry continues its ministry to hungry neighbors on the South Shore. Our Outreach Committee reminds us that we can help keep its shelves full by filling those baskets in the Meeting House and at the entrance to the Parish House. Items especially needed are posted in the entrance to the Parish House.
Microwave Request
The microwave in the Parish House kitchen has gone the way of all microwaves—caput! If you have an extra that you don’t need, we would be so grateful to receive it. Simply contact Sandy Bailey to let her know. She can also give you a receipt for your tax-deductible in-kind contribution.
For more information on activities at First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Cohasset, refer to our December newsletter, The Common, and to our website at www.firstparishcohasset.org.
We have a faith worth sharing and a church worth growing!
