You’ll notice sometimes I begin my column with the word “prophetic” and sometimes, as today, with the word “pastoral.” This is because care of self and others and our capacity to engage in social justice in our larger world are intertwined – and sometimes we need to lead with the pastoral and sometimes with the
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 →We have very high aspirations as Unitarian Universalists, and these are reflected in our values and principles. It’s what makes our faith tradition so powerful and draws so many of us to it out of disappointing experiences with other traditions or keeps us connected to it if we were lucky enough to grow up within
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
Read More →Those with power and privilege would like us to believe the world is the way it is, our national politics is as good as it gets, and there is no use trying to change it. Those who try to end oppressive practices or seriously work for a world of peace and justice are considered “idealists”
Read More →I’ve been writing about covenant lately. My last two columns in this newsletter were about covenant. We had a “coffee hour discussion” about the redrafting process that the whole Unitarian Universalist Association has embarked upon involving the words of the covenant that forms our Association. Talking about covenant is important because it is how Unitarian
Read More →The Rev. Erika A. Hewitt writes about courage: The word courage comes from the Latin cor, which means heart. According to poet Mark Nepo, the original use of the word courage meant to stand by one’s core: a “striking concept that reinforces the belief found in almost all traditions that living from the Center is
Read More →There are over a thousand Unitarian Universalist congregations, community and advocacy ministries, and youth and student groups. In addition, there are support networks for identity-based groups, such as UU Scholars Network and the Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries. There are thousands of individuals who consider themselves to be Unitarian Universalists but are not affiliated
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