First Parish Unitarian Universalist Cohasset
E-mail Update – April 13, 2010
Earth Day Sunday! We’ll celebrate it here this coming Sunday, April 18th, the closest Sunday to Earth day, April 22nd, for which there aren’t other plans. Yes, I know April 25th is closer, but on April 25th, we’ll celebrate Union Sunday with five South Shore Unitarian Universalist congregations joining in worship at First Parish UU/Old Ship in Hingham. So…this Sunday’s the Sunday to open wide our hearts and minds in reverence and commitment to the well-being of our earth home.
Lay leaders JoAnn Mirise and Eric Kluz will lead our worship. JoAnn will offer a homily, “A Story, Rewritten.” Eric will lead other segments of the service—in addition to offering our chalice reflection. JoAnn is an advocate and practitioner of permaculture—along with her husband, Kevin, and their children Willow, Perrin, and Sunny. Surrounding their home, you’ll find a thriving eco-system with vegetables and herbs and fruit trees and chickens and even bees! It’s all “family managed.” Eric is a celebrated “green architect.” At the 2008 General Assembly of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), Eric received the President’s Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service to our UUA. Additionally, Eric has served as our Ballou Channing District’s president and as President of the District Presidents’ Association and has provided highly valued counsel to our UUA leaders on eco-friendly practices. Our choir will be back and with eco-friendly music.
It may not be “easy being green,” but it’s one of the core ways in which we honor our earth mother and our mission statement that includes, “working for a safe, just, and sustainable world.” So come, bring your kids, bring your un-churched friends and neighbors, and worship together on this Earth Day Sunday.
Where will I be? In Montpelier, VT at the baby shower of our daughter, Sarah. She and husband Robb are expecting their first child, a boy, just four weeks from Friday. We hope that this newborn and all our children grow up in a world that is still friendly to humankind. It can only happen if we as humans are kind to this earth of which we are a part.
Love you—
Jan
Sunday Ushers & Coffee Hour Hosts Needed – May & June!
Hospitality is the first step to growth. Won’t you agree to usher and provide flowers or to host our coffee hour sometime during May or June? All Sundays of both months are open, except for June 27th, when summer worship begins and worship leaders agree to provide simple refreshments. So please, think any of the following Sundays: May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 or June 6, 13, or 20th. Then simply contact Sandy Bailey at 781-383-1100 or sbailey@firstparishcohasset.org with “Yes, I will and here’s what I can do when!” Thanks for all you do to make First Parish UU Cohasset even more hospitable!
The events of this week are as follows:
Tuesday, April 13
9:15 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Annie Spang & Nancy Robertson and meeting on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays)
11:30 AM – Staff Meeting – Minister’s study
7:30 PM – Circle Ministry (group led by Jack & Carol Martin and meeting on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays)
7:30 PM – Music & Worship Committee – Atkinson Room
Wednesday, April 14
Note: The Circle Ministry group led by Polly Cowen & Linda Daignault and meeting usually on the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays will meet this month on the 3rd & 4th Wednesdays – April 21st & 28th.
10:00 AM – Ballou Channing District UUMA Executive Committee – Minister’s Study
7:00 PM – Circle Ministry (group led by Jane Goedecke & Lisa Marder and meeting on the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays)
Thursday, April 15
7:55 PM – Choir Practice – Meeting House
Sunday, April 18
8:00 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Joan Kovach & Susan Meikleham and meeting usually on the 1st & 3rd Sundays, but during April on the 2nd & 3rd Sundays)
9:45 AM – Childcare for our youngest. Youngsters from third grade up will join their parents and the full congregation for the intergenerational service in the Meeting House. Our Whole Lives (OWL) meets at 9:45 AM at First Parish UU in Scituate.
10:00 AM – Worship in the Meeting House – Earth Day Sunday
JoAnn Mirise will offer the sermon, “A Story, Rewritten.” Eric Kluz will lead worship with JoAnn.
(see above column for details)
Refreshments and fellowship in the Parish House will directly follow the service.
Note that Monday, April 19th, is Patriots Day in Massachusetts. Church offices will be closed.
What else?
Our Cohasset Food Pantry needs you to help hungry neighbors! Please contribute.
During this time of continuing economic challenge, more and more of our neighbors are turning to local food pantries. May those of us with an ample store of food and more share with those of us who are struggling. We can do this through our Cohasset Food Pantry. Our Outreach Committee reminds us to keep those baskets in the Meeting House and at the entrance to the Parish House full. Items needed are posted at both locations.
Register now for our Ballou Channing District Spring Conference & Annual Meeting
Saturday, April 24 – Conference: 9:00 am–1:00 pm; Annual Meeting: 1:15–3:00 pm
First Unitarian Church, One Benevolent Street (corner of Benevolent & Benefit), Providence, RI
Community Service Project for non-delegates: 1:00-3:00 pm
Can Unitarian Universalism survive? At the morning conference, we’ll look into the future and explore what changing culture and demographics may mean for our congregations. How might we have to transform our worship, our approach to spiritual exploration, and faith formation and education to meet the changing dynamics of our society in this decade? Through presentations and discussion-centered workshops, participants are invited to explore these matters. The annual meeting will follow at 1:15 pm.
Registration fee: $22 for adults; $7 for youth. You can register on-line at http://bedfaithforward.eventbrite.com/. For a mail-in form and more conference information, please see the front bulletin board in the Parish House, ask Jan, or visit www.bcduua.org.
Sunday, April 25 at 10:25 AM – Union Sunday at First Parish UU/Old Ship in Hingham
Union Sunday is for the whole family, with some exciting activities for children. Come, gather with members and friends of five Unitarian Universalist congregations on the South Shore, as our choirs join their voices and we all join across congregations in worshipping around “Old Threads, New Textures: Growing from Our History.”
Sunday, May 2 – Plan now for the Second Annual First Parish Clean-up Day
Plan now to stay after church on this first Sunday of May to help with the Second Annual First Parish Clean-up, a festival of rolling up our sleeves, enjoying one another’s company, and spring cleaning our church home and grounds. We’ll begin right after coffee hour and work until about 3:00 PM. Wear your work clothes to church. A light lunch will be provided for workers early in the afternoon. This is coordinated by the Circle Ministry groups led by Annie Spang & Nancy Robertson and by Jack & Carol Martin.
Sunday, May 2 – Plan now for the Second Annual First Parish Clean-up Day
Plan now to stay after church on this first Sunday of May to help with the Second Annual First Parish Clean-up, a festival of rolling up our sleeves, enjoying one another’s company, and spring cleaning our church home and grounds. We’ll begin right after coffee hour and work until about 3:00 PM. Wear your work clothes to church. A light lunch will be provided for workers early in the afternoon. This is coordinated by the Circle Ministry groups led by Annie Spang & Nancy Robertson and by Jack & Carol Martin.
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!
Come, and bring your children and your un-churched neighbors!
