When I was young, say going on 7 years, I remember my grandparents would ask me to remember “our ancestors — who are dancing for you.” I was told they had persisted in the times of danger, that they had walked in the good way. Their lives were a blessing on us who lived now.
Read More →March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day of commemoration and celebration that was born in the USA and is celebrated in many countries with big parades and rallies. It began in New York City on March 8, 1857, when female garment workers protested unfair working conditions and unequal rights for women. News of the
Read More →A congregation is a voluntary organization; that is the employed staff function to facilitate the work of the organization, yet most of the activity and functions are performed by member volunteers. Ideally the members and staff are guided by a common mission and vision. In the middle of the last century there were more members
Read More →If we were to get our ideas from Hallmark Greeting Cards, we might think Love was a sentiment, something we could have and to hold. But Unitarian Universalists have taught us that “Love” is something we do. And we get better at it by doing it. We love by remembering we must be peacemakers as
Read More →Unitarian Universalists often ask me, “How can we celebrate Christmas when we’re not Christians?” Or for those who went to catechism, “How can we commemorate the birth of God’s Son when we doubt the Holy Trinity?” Last year I preached a sermon called Have a Merry UU Christmas in which we explored the contemporary meaning
Read More →Every year we Unitarian Universalists designate a book as our Common Read. In a Common Read, individuals and book reading groups read that book over the course of the year. This allows for conversation and the hearing of different points of view, which is the best way to learn new ideas. Here is some information
Read More →At the August leadership retreat, the Parish Committee had some very good discussions about Mission and Vision. These discussions built on and deepened the discussions we had last year. What is vision? What is a mission? Vision is what the congregation wants to be in the future. The visioning exercise helps the congregation’s leaders articulate
Read More →I was recently asked at coffee hour why a discussion of Article Two of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) bylaws was relevant to members of First Parish. What is the relevance to us meeting in Canton? Why should we care? First, I should confess something about myself. I have either gone to Sunday school, belonged
Read More →Saturday night, April 22, First Parish hosted its 16th annual coffee house, albeit the first coffee house after a three-year hiatus. It was successful, both from the point of view of the artists and from the point of view of the audience. It was excellent! I won’t attempt to review the artistic content. I will
Read More →The Parish Committee, Elizabeth Foster, and I have been discussing the covenant that informs the congregation we call First Parish Unitarian Universalist. In our March discussions, we projected that the church year 2023-2024 will be a time of renewal of the covenant and that renewal should also include revisiting our congregation’s mission and vision. In
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