Due to the snow storm, services have been canceled for this morning – December, 20th 2009
There will be no religious education and no church services, please check back this afternoon for an update on the Concert Series planned for today.
Hope everyone stays warm and safe and gets to have some fun in the snow!
First Parish Unitarian Universalist Cohasset
E-mail Update – December 15, 2009
Christmas at First Parish will brim during the days ahead! On Friday, come by the Parish House anytime between 10 AM and noon. Come share your favorite story of Christmas, and bring along a few cookies to share with all who assemble. I’ll have coffee and tea and warm cider waiting.
On Saturday, join us at the Parish House at 3:45, warmly clad and flashlights in hand, for our Annual Caroling on the Common.
On Sunday, we’ll gather in the Meeting House for “A Holiday Service of All Ages.” Our choir will sing Bach’s cantata, Wachet Auf! Our children will perform a Christmas pageant. Sylvia Berry, forte pianist who performed here in October, will play the organ. I’ll offer a Christmas homily.
On Sunday afternoon, the a cappella group, Cappella Clausura, will perform “Gloria: A Renaissance Christmas Pageant,” in the Meeting House.
On Christmas Eve at 8 PM, we’ll gather in the Meeting House for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service.
Tonight, many of us will honor the fifth night of Hanukkah, lifting the shamash, the servant candle, to kindle five candles commemorating the legendary miracle of temple oil that burned far beyond expectation.
Amid these holidays of light, may our spirits be renewed with hope and peace and love.
Love and Hope, Peace and Shalom for each and all of you—
Jan
Good news spreads on the Guatemala Trip of our Common Hope Vision Team!
Check out the illustrated stories of our First Parish UU Common Hope Vision Team hard at work in Guatemala this past October. Two stories are now up on the Common Hope website. Visit www.commonhope.org/volunteernetwork and enjoy!
Events for this week and more include:
Tuesday, December 15
11:30 AM – Staff Holiday Lunch
7:00 PM – Parish Committee – Atkinson Room
Deadline for January newsletter
Wednesday, December 16
9:15 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Polly Cowen & Linda Daignault) and meeting this month on the 2nd & 3rd Wednesdays)
7:00 PM – Circle Ministry (group led by Jane Goedecke & Lisa Marder and meeting this month on the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays)
Thursday, December 17
7:55 PM – Choir Rehearsal – Meeting House
Friday, December 18
10:00 AM – noon – Christmas Stories with your minister – Atkinson Room
Come share your favorite Christmas story. 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 will be waiting.
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
8:00 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Joan Kovach & Susan Meikleham and meeting on the 1st & 3rd Sundays)
8:00 AM – Circle Ministry (group led by Bill Baird & John Kornet and meeting this month on the 1st & 3rd Sundays)
9:45 AM – Childcare for our youngest in the Parish House. All other children will participate in the holiday service in the Meeting House.
10:00 AM – “A Holiday Service for All Ages”
The music of J.S. Bach sounds from our choir, who will sing the Bach cantata, Wachet Auf. Our children will present a holiday pageant, “The Stable Where Jesus Was Born,” based on the book by Rhonda Gowler Greene. Sylvia Berry, who performed for a Meeting House concert this October, will play Baroque Christmas music on the organ, and Jan will offer a Christmas homily. Come, as we celebrate Christmas for all ages.
Everyone is invited for refreshments and fellowship in the Parish House right after worship and RE classes.
4:00 PM – First Parish Concert Series – Cappella Clausura
“Gloria: A Renaissance Christmas Pageant”
This is a concert for all ages, for friends and family and neighbors too. Cappella Clausura has drawn rave reviews for their splendid a cappella performances. “Gloria” recreates the story of Christmas and features dancers, costumes, and giant puppets! Tickets are available at the door and are $15/adult and $5 for children under 12. Admission is free if you can volunteer. Simply contact Allegra at allegra.martin@gmail.com.
Christmas Eve:
8 PM – Christmas Eve Candlelight Service – The Meeting House
What else?
Poinsettias for the Holidays—for the Meeting House & You
It is still possible to ensure that we have poinsettias on our holiday chancel by contributing one. You can do so 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. 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!
“A Welsh Christmas,” performed by The Unicorn Singers and the Broad Cove Chorale, resounded with delight and raised funds for Wellspring
This much-loved concert last Sunday afternoon played to a full Meeting House and, with the Saturday concert at House of Prayer Lutheran Church in Hingham, netted $3,901 for the Diane Edson Fund benefitting Wellspring, the multi-service agency serving the needs of so many among us going through tough times. Bravo to all who sang, to all who attended, and to all who contributed!
Christmas is a full time, but not everyone is full.
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.
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.
May your holidays shine!
Religious Education
for
December 13, 2009
OPENING WORSHIP CIRCLE
All youngsters participating in religious education classes are welcome to join our opening worship circle from 10:00am to 10:15am in the Atkinson Room. Our gathering this Sunday will include rehearsing the children’s holiday choir song to be performed at our December 20th holiday service. ALL ARE WELCOME!
Pre-K through 6th
ONE ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE: Holiday Pageant Preparation
This Sunday, Sarah Borek & Kristen Winikoff will lead a One Room Schoolhouse where youngsters from Pre-K through 6th grade are invited to put their artistic gifts into action as we continue preparation for our December 20th holiday service pageant.
GRADES: 7 and 8
OUR WHOLE LIVES PROGRAM
7th & 8th graders enrolled in the Our Whole Lives program will continue meeting this Sunday morning from 10:00am to 11:30am at First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Scituate. Parents are asked to have youth at the church by 9:45am so that the class can begin and end on time.
GRADES: 9 through 12
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH GROUP
Youth from First Parish UU in Cohasset and First Parish UU in Scituate will meet this Saturday, December 12th from 12:00 – 3:00 pm to engage in a community service project. 9th-12th graders and 7th and 8th grade youth are invited to participate in a Scituate Community Christmas – organizing and wrapping presents for families in need this holiday season. We’ll meet at the Knights of Columbus Hall (located at 234 Chief Justice Cushing Way in Scituate). We’ll conclude our volunteer work with donuts and discussion at Dunkin Donuts on the Driftway. For more information, contact Laura Carson-Laciner at Laura@laciner.com. Rides provided upon request. All are welcome!
++++++++++++++++++++
Jim FitzGerald
Director of Religious Education
First Parish UU in Cohasset
23 North Main Street
Cohasset, MA 02025
Office Hours in Cohasset: Tuesdays, 9:15am to 1:15pm
Church Phone: 781-383-1100
First Parish UU in Scituate
330 First Parish Road
Scituate, MA 02066
Office hours in Scituate: Tuesdays, 1:30pm to 5:30pm
Church phone: 781-545-3324
Email: JFitzG2038@yahoo.com
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!
