Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Newsletter - December 2005
Arbella
The Newsletter of the First Parish of Watertown
December 2005
Please click on calendar for updated listing on current events
at www.fpwatertown.org
Sermons/ Services
Sunday, December 4, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Proper Preparations” Mark W. Harris
Holidays require lots of preparation. This is also true of our efforts to stave off potential disasters such as Avian flu. What does it mean to be prepared? Are we as a church community prepared for growth? A discussion on growth will follow this service.
Music: Guest Musician, Edward Harney, trumpet, playing music by Corelli and Francoeur
Greeters: Meredith Montague and John Portz
Social Hour: Johanna Swift Hart and Kyle Hart and Norah Mulvaney Day and Paul Day
Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“We Come to Follow Jesus,
Not Worship Him” Mark W. Harris
This is the third part of a series on UU religious paths. Today we will look at the Christian path, which is the tradition we have directly evolved from. How Christian are we, and is it still a valid path among us? What does it mean to be a Protestant? This will be a good Sunday to learn about UUism, and thus it is Bring a Friend Sunday. Please invite someone you know to come to church with you today!
Music: Open Choir and Youth Choir sing together
Greeters: David Morrison and Martha Scott
Social Hour: Marianne and Michael Collins and Sue Demb
Sunday, December 18, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
Intergenerational Holiday Service -
This service for all ages includes our annual
holiday pageant - “A World of Gifts in our Neighborhood” Our Religious Education program under Roberta’s direction is preparing another pageant of story, music and fun.
Greeters: Kathy and David Warren
Social Hour: Jean Merkl and John Gorman
Come back that evening for the
Winter Solstice Service at 7:00 p.m., conducted by Darrick Jackson. Join us to celebrate the longest night and the impeding return of light in this pagan inspired service. This will be a child-friendly service.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Christmas Eve Services
Our Christmas Eve Services include special music, a story, and the candlelight that envelops Silent Night. Join us at 5 or 7 (identical services) with a social hour in between. If you have no preference we encourage you to come at 7:00 p.m. Please bring cookies to share. Guest at Your Table boxes returned (checks made out to UUSC)
Sunday, December 25, 2005
“The Best Gift Ever”
This will be an informal service where we ask ourselves, what is the best gift I ever received? What was yours? Did you get it today? This will be an intergenerational service with Mark Darrick, and Roberta leading.
Music: Guest Musician: Jennifer DeVore, cello, playing Christmas music
Sunday, January 1, 2006
Question Box Sermon - Mark W. Harris
To ring in the New Year, Mark will conduct a question box sermon. What are the religious, political or other questions you have always wanted to ask the minister? Also, please bring a New Year’s wish to share.
Captain’s Log - Rev. Mark W. Harris
Where did the time go? I was thinking about the end of our 375th celebration and suddenly Thanksgiving was over and here comes Christmas! I did not grow up with an Advent calendar in my family of origin, but as an adult I have made it a ritual every year. Perhaps it is the historian in me that likes to number and date things, but it is also the minister in me that knows how important it is to savor the days of our lives, and live with hope that something wonderful or magical might happen. It is vital that we find special times and celebrations to give ourselves a context for living. We remind ourselves in cold seasons of despair that new life can come into our lives, if we have the patience to wait, and if we have the perseverance to find new ways of living and being. And so we celebrate the return of light to life. We light candles to remind ourselves of the light in the darkness. We give gifts to remind us that people are often kind to us, and remember us with expressions of their love. We put up green things to say life will come again, even if it seems dreary now.
Soon we will begin our advent rituals. For a number of years now, Andrea and I have asked our three boys to help us mark the 25 December days of preparation with three rituals that they alternate doing. One of them opens the advent calendar, and will make the little Lego kit that is found behind the door that day. I know it sounds commercial, but it makes them happy, and each succeeding day gives them a bigger part of a larger scene or object they will be able to make once Christmas Eve arrives. Many days of building make up one whole in the end. So we begin by marking the time together. We set off our family time as an important ritual, but we also say these are important days of celebration and preparation.
The second ritual is to light the candle. We have an angel candle that we bought many years ago. I also use it on Christmas Eve, as the first candle we light in our candle lighting ritual before singing Silent Night. Angels of course herald the coming of the babe, but they are also people who come into our lives in the midst of despair and help us or encourage us to keep looking for hopeful signs in our lives despite the difficulty we are going through. They are our lights of hope, just as lighting the candle is symbolic of light coming into the darkness.
The third ritual is feeding the box. The Guest at Your Table box needs a nightly donation of coins. It represents that Universalist vision of long ago - that none of us can really celebrate having a full stomach, and a peaceful life, until every hungry child is fed, and every child in need is the recipient of our compassion. Ultimately religious faith is about bringing justice and equality into an unjust world. So these are our Advent rituals. We count our time together as magical and special, we bring light so that our hearts have hope, and we give to others so that one day all might know peace and plenty. And so I wish you a magical, hopeful, giving holiday season this year.
Mark
Christmas Gift Giving / Giving Box
Once again the Social Action Committee will be sponsoring a Gift program for children at the Grow Clinic of Boston Medical Center. We have about 60 names of children who need gifts. Please sign up on Sunday morning after church during social hour. Gifts are due by December 11. Thanks for your support of this great program. Also, please remember that our Giving Box for December is the food pantry at Boston Medical Center. We need your non-perishable items.
The Social Action Committee will also be selling Equal Exchange Coffee, Hot Chocolate and Chocolate bars during social hour. This coffee comes to us through the UU Service Committee. What great holiday gifts! Also, Isabel Tappan-deFrees will be selling CD’s by her brass band to help benefit the church, along with our own mugs and ornaments. Come take a look!
Obyat Family - Social Action
In December, the Social Action committee hopes many of you will consider helping to financially adopt a family in need. We will be signing up families to commit to contribute $10 to $20 (or more, if you like) per month during 2006 to support this family. The Obyat family is caught in a terrible catch-22. As Jordanians, they can’t legally work in the U.S., but neither can they leave because their son needs ongoing, lifesaving treatment available only at Children’s Hospital. They desperately need financial support.
The Obyats‚ 14-year-old son, Abood, has a rare disease that causes aberrant blood vessel growth in his abdomen and leg, a condition that causes serious internal bleeding and can strangle vital organs. The family is from Jordan and, originally, the government of Jordan financially supported Abood and his father, Habis Obyat, to come to Children’s Hospital, where a specialist is able to treat Abood.
Abood responded well initially, but because he missed his mother, he became depressed and stopped responding. His mother, Fatima Hussein, left her other four children in Jordan under the care of their eldest, an 18-year-old, to come be with Abood. It worked. He started to respond to treatment again.
Unfortunately, after about 9 months, the Jordanian government cut off support. And to make matters worse, Habis was hit by a car in front of the hospital over the summer. Mr. Obyat is still having significant problems from his accident and he is not fully recovered. A family that the Obyats met at the hospital have generously allowed them to live in an apartment they own in Watertown rent-free. In addition, the Helen Robinson Wright Fund and the Friends of Matt Galligan have provided some financial support.
But their situation is still precarious. Will Twombly has contacted state and federal officials, and, currently, Senator Kennedy’s office is working to get a Visa for the family to remain and work in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds. That process, however, is a long one, especially since the reorganization of the bureaucracy under the Dept. of Homeland Security has created a situation where no one knows who’s responsible for granting humanitarian Visas.
The Obyat’s biggest need right now is for a stream of dependable income to buy clothes, food and pay bills. We believe First Parish can help.
We’ll have more details at the December 5th service. Thank you for considering this.
Guest at Your Table
The UU Service Committee Guest at Your Table program is an annual event at our church It usually becomes the largest fund raiser for any service organization with over $1,000 donated. Boxes were given out on Sunday, November 20, but you can still pick one up. The idea is that you will welcome an unseen guest at your table at mealtime, and make a donation to the box. We collect the boxes on Christmas Eve (or 12/18, 12/25 or 1/1/ if you cannot be here Christmas Eve). Please convert all loose coins and cash to a check made out to UUSC. Membership in UUSC begins at $40 and a gift of $75 will be doubled through a matching grant. We also have additional information leaflets.
Only a Child
Do you remember how we heard about the Only a Child Program at a service in June? George Leger spoke about his involvement with homeless street kids in Guatemala. Unfortunately, we really had no follow up that day. Mark Harris has contacted George to ask about what we can do. The children in Guatemala City receive instruction in the carpentry shop, and the major fund raiser for the group is the production of beautiful wooden boxes. You can see more by visiting the website: Onlyachild.org. If there are members of our congregation who would like to order boxes, it is best to place your order directly with George at this email: Onlyachild@aol.com. The current price for boxes is $20 each, 3 for $48. The selection of styles available at this time:
1.The Heart 2.The Star 3.The Sea Shell
4.The 1/4 Moon 5.The Butterfly 6.The Dove
7.The Slender Fish 8.The Rounder Fish 9. The Dolphin 10.The Flower
Thanks for caring about these young lives.
Thanks to Many Helping Hands
Over the past two months we have had many helping hands with major church events. Here is a list of helpers who we wish to thank publicly. We apologize if your name should appear here but does not.
October 1st concert / 375th Events
For flyers, tickets, food etc. : Paul Dansereau, Judy Kamm, David Morrison and Martha Scott, Martha Urban, Sue Kuder, Charlyn Bethell, Susan Guidrey, Jean Merkl, Gretchen Brown, Aurora Sherman and Jeff Miller, and Marilyn Boenau.
David and Martha were especially active in making all the 375th events happen. Thanks to Meredith Montague and Missy Shay for our wonderful reception after the October 23rd Service, and thanks to all who made tasty items. And what a choir, too! Thanks to Patty and all the singers.
Newcomer Breakfast
Thanks to the Fellowship Committee for its great newcomer breakfast - Bobbie Brown, Diane Shepard, Carole Berney and Jan Klein
Clean up Day
Thanks to all those who helped spruce up the church on November 5: David Benson, Elizabeth Tappan-deFrees, Isabel Tappen-deFrees, Elijah, the window washer, Martha Scott, David Morrison, Jane Knuttunen, Rebecca Sheehan and Kyle Hart.
In terms of work, we raked and bagged leaves, removed lawn debris (particularly along CVS side) , de-molded the 'yellow' room off the
social hall, scraped and painted bathroom partitions, washed sanctuary windows, emptied, cleaned and restored order to the tool
shed, and trimmed some unruly brush along the back wall, near the back door.
Thanks For Auction
Thanks to Jean Merkl for organizing this year’s auction and to Paul Day for his auctioneering talents. Also thanks to all who donated or bought items. We set a new proceeds record of approximately $4,300. Thank you one and all!
Thanks to Will
Special thanks to Will Twombly for all his donated labor on the newly refurbished First Parish sign. Please note our night time illumination. Also thanks to Will for all his efforts to make professional quality labels for all our portraits and the eight pieces of church silver, which were here for Thanksgiving.
Amateur Historian
Our 375th Anniversary is coming to a close. It is time for the Amateur Historian to get back to work before the year ends. Because I have a hard time remembering important dates, I decided to put together a Watertown timeline as a memory aid. I pulled out all my history books. Tucked inside A History of the Modern World by R.R. Palmer (a relic from my college
years), lay folded a couple of pieces of paper, "TIMELINE FOR UU HISTORY IN AMERICA - Watertown perspective." Thank you, Mark Harris! I have also consulted Mark's Historical Dictionary of Unitarian Universalism. Perhaps for another column I will create a bibliography of Watertown history books, Some of them, such as Crossroads on the Charles, are still available for sale. (Ask me if you want to purchase a copy of Crossroads.)
A WATERTOWN TIMELINE
1536 John Calvin published "Institutes of the Christian Religion"
1614 Captain John Smith mapped the Northeastern coastline and named our river
the Massachusetts, after the people who lived here. Somehow the name changed
to the Charles River, in honor of Prince Charles.
1620 Plymouth Plantation
1625 Prince Charles becomes King Charles, whose oppressions motivated the
Puritan exodus.
1629 Charles I granted a charter incorporating the Massachusetts Bay Company.
1630 Watertown established under the leadership of Sir Richard Saltonstall.
1632 Watertown, under the leadership of Reverend George Phillips, voted to refuse to pay a tax to build a fort for Cambridge, as demanded by the General Court of Massachusetts. "No tax without a vote in it"
1634 Thomas Mayhew built the first mill along the Charles.
1635 The General Court granted a few adventuresome residents of Watertown
permission to move upstream.
1636 Dedham incorporated.
1637 Pequot War.
1638 John Harvard died and bequeathed half of his estate and all of his books toward the founding of a new college, which was named in his honor. The six towns of Boston, Cambridge, Charlestown, Dorchester, Roxbury and Watertown supported Harvard College for the education of the ministry.
1675-1676 King Philip's War.
1713 Weston, the western reaches of Watertown, incorporated with its own
meetinghouse.
1724 Seth Storer called as Watertown minister.
1738 Waltham, another chunk of the original land grant, incorporated as a separate town.
1775-1776 The Massachusetts Provincial Congress moved to Watertown.
1816 Watertown Arsenal officially opened for business.
1818 Convers Francis called as minister of Watertown.
1833 The General Court ruled the disestablishment of the Standing Order of
Churches. Taxpayers no longer mandated to support the Standing Order of
Churches and their ministers' salaries.
1835 First Parish elected to follow the Unitarian path.
1842 Seventh Meetinghouse built to replace the building that burned in 1841.
1851 The General Court passed enabling legislation for the formation of public
libraries.
1869 The Watertown Free Public Library opened on the first floor of the old
Town Hall. Reverend John Weiss, minister of First Parish, was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees.
1870 Watertown Savings Bank founded.
1884 The Watertown Free Public Library moves into its very own building on
Main Street.
1889 The Unitarian Building, designed by architect Charles Brigham, opened.
1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey
1930 Tercentenary Celebration of Watertown. First Parish acquired a model of the Arbella, among other treasures.
1975 The Seventh Meeting House was torn down and the Unitarian Building became
the Eighth Meeting House.
1995 The U.S. Army vacated the Watertown Arsenal.
2005 375th Anniversary of Watertown and First Parish. Groundbreaking Ceremony
for the Library Building Project. Grand Opening of the Arsenal Center for
the Arts.
When building the timeline, I thought back to a service led by Andrea Greenwood, during which, if memory serves me correctly, she used a real rope to illustrate the history of First Parish. My humble timeline leaves out much important history. Feel free to fill in the gaps.
Yours truly,
The Amateur Historian
Katherine Button
Painless Giving for First Parish!
Finance Committee
This is the time of year when the Finance Committee reassembles to check in with our treasurers. FPW has experienced the loss of some committed members this year and one place we have felt it is in pledges. We'll be doing our 2nd annual Christmas special offering to help fill in the gaps a bit as we head into budget season, so when the time comes, please help First Parish continue.
Also, an easy way to help us earn money! (Is there such a thing?) If you're buying books or supplies through Amazon, start at our First Parish website homepage and click on the Amazon link. That way, we get a percentage of what you spend on Amazon. We have the information about linking to Powell's as well, but haven't set that up yet.
Musical Musings
from Patty deVore, our music director
Great News! By popular demand we are having another open choir sing on December 11th. The Adult Open Choir will be joined by the Youth Choir to sing 2 festive songs and then sing "Douglas Mountain" by
themselves. We will have only two rehearsals, Monday: Dec 5th, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: Dec 11th 9:45, and perform at 11:00 a.m. Please, save the dates and join us!
A Midshipman’s Musings
This semester I'm taking a class on the New Testament. With the Christmas holidays coming up, I'm reminded of my studies of the four Gospels earlier in the semester and the complexities of understanding the life of Jesus based on these four very different narratives. For example, the birth narrative that we are so used to hearing never occurs in the bible. It is a conglomeration of the stories from Matthew and Luke. Mark does not include a birth narrative, and John's narrative is so esoteric that it does not fit in with the others (This is true with most of John).
Matthew is concerned with the fulfillment of Jewish scriptures about the Messiah. So the gospel begins with a genealogical table that connects Joseph’s lineage to David and Abraham. This fulfills the prophecy that the messiah would be a descendant of David. Then we see that Mary is pregnant and Joseph is planning to call off the engagement. He is stopped by an Angel who announces the importance of this baby. They marry, and Mary gives birth to Jesus. Three wise men or astrologers see a star rising in the East and relate it to the prophecy that the king of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem. So they followed the star to the home of Jesus, and paid homage to him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Luke’s Gospel tends to reverse the common understandings around status. So Luke has angels announcing to Mary that she is to bear the Son of God. This shows that women have equal status with men when it comes to God. Mary and Joseph live in Galilee, which at that time was a town of no importance. When the Roman census is called, they travel to Bethlehem to register. While in Bethlehem she bears a child in a manger because there was no room at the inn. It was important for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, because this fulfilled the prophecies. When Jesus is born, an Angel appears to shepherds in the fields announcing Jesus' birth. And so they went to worship him in the manger. This is another instance of Luke reversing the conventions of status.
This is just a sample of how the gospels are similar, and very different at the same time. None of the Gospels are meant to be historically accurate. Instead, they are sermons based on the life of Jesus. Each one is meant for a different audience to convey a different message. This highlights for me that no matter what people may say about the bible, there is no unified message.
And so as I go through this holiday season, I will think about the real Jesus. Who was this person that has sparked a religion? What are the real truths behind his life? And what would he think about Christianity today?
Blessed be.
Darrick Jackson, student minister
Youth Group Needs Your Help!
Cody Urban and Giles Holt are interested in going to a Con in January. A Con is an overnight weekend conference filled with workshops, worship, games, and camaraderie. Youth who attend a con are required to have an adult go with them. If you are available Jan. 13-15 and would like to join Cody and Giles on this adventure, please leave a message for me at the church. They are also looking to do different projects every month. If you have a project idea (especially around environmental awareness), please let me know.
Thanks, Darrick.
R.E.flections by a chaliceDREamer
by Roberta Altamari
It's hard to believe that the holiday season is already upon us. Rehearsals for our annual Holiday pageant are beginning and it promises to be another great show. As always, I'm sure the kids will be fabulous performers and it will be a wonderful celebration. In addition to the joy of seeing our children perform, the holiday pageant includes some inspiring messages for all of us.
This year continues our new tradition of rotating between our UU Peace Angels pageant and our World Religions pageant. So this will be our third time presenting "A World of Gifts in Our Neighborhood". Of course, it will be edited accordingly to complement the skills and interests of this year's performers. The theme of the pageant is diversity ~ that many holidays are celebrated this time of year and there are different ways to celebrate some of these holidays, such as Christmas. Most important is that there is a beautiful message at the basis of each of those holidays. When we take a moment to consider this, we realize that many people around our world are sharing good wishes with each other. Here are some of those holidays.
Christmas is celebrated by Christians because it was the birthday of Jesus. His birth was considered a miracle and he grew up to become an important religious leader. Christians believe he is a part of their Trinitarian God of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Through the years, Christmas lost some of its Christian focus as it became a popular and commercialized cultural holiday. Some American families exchange little talk about baby Jesus as they focus on the arrival of Santa Claus and gift giving.
On the longest night of the year, many people honor Winter Solstice. They gather around a warm fire to share music, food, and gratitude for the gifts darkness brings. They also celebrate the returning sun.
Swedish people celebrate the Feast of St. Lucia. Legend has it that Santa Lucia was a Sicilian maid who traveled about wearing a crown of candles as she fed the poor during a great famine. Santa Lucia became known as the patron Saint of Light.
Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah in honor of the courage they had to have to fight for their freedom. During Hanukkah, they light a candle each night for eight days in memory of a miraculous light that continued to shine during their fight for freedom.
Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day in honor of the day Buddha found the light of truth. Buddhists call this enlightenment and it is very special to them.
People from all the major religions believe treating each other with kindness is important. They each even have their own version of the Golden Rule. Some holidays, like the Sikhs' Day of the Maghi highlight loving and serving all human beings.
Ramadan is celebrated during the 9th lunar month, which sometimes lands during the holiday season. When Ramadan is honored, Muslim people fast for a month to understand how it feels to be poor and suffering. Then they celebrate their own good fortunes and promise to help those who are less fortunate.
Hindu people use candlelight to welcome the goddesses of good fortune into their homes during the Festival of Divali. Then they use noisemakers to scare away the goddess of bad fortune.
Wow! There certainly are a variety of holidays being celebrated this time of year. When we travel to the homes of our neighbors, we may not find evergreen trees and Santa Claus, but we will find holidays being honored that have just as much meaning as the holidays we celebrate. It is interesting to me that most of these holidays include "light" somehow. It seems that most people want to find some warmth and good feelings during the cold, dark days of December.
Here, at the Unitarian Universalist church in Watertown, we are also doing are part to spread good feelings like love and peace around our world. As for the exact holidays we each celebrate and the way we honor them, that is as unique as each of our families. Most of us celebrate both Winter Solstice and Christmas. For Christmas, many of us honor the birthday of Jesus as a symbol of the birth of all children being holy and special.
Throughout this holiday season, I hope you realize this ... that as the season turns dark and cold, it is important to spend some quality time with your loved ones. As you celebrate the holidays of your choosing, feel free to add your own loving touches to make it unique. That's what will make it most meaningful to you, your family, and your friends.
Announcements:
We will be performing our annual Holiday Pageant on Sunday, December 18th during the worship service. This year's pageant is "A World of Gifts in Our Neighborhood", a fascinating exploration of the many holidays being celebrated this time of year. Any and all folks interested in participating are welcome to join us for rehearsals at 10:15 AM on (Sunday) November 27, (Sunday) December 5, (Sunday) December 12, and (Saturday) December 17. Please see Roberta for more information and to sign up.
A BIG thank you to Charlyn Bethell for directing our children's choir and our youth choir (and to Guy Urban for his help). The children's choir sang at the intergenerational Thanksgiving service and were absolutely wonderful! The Youth Choir will be singing again this month and we are looking forward to hearing them. I did some research on children's choirs and discovered that the UU churches that have choirs as significant as ours are paying more money than the tiny stipends we are giving Charlyn. She's giving an incredible gift to our community ... so please thank her next time you see her.
Social Action Corner:
Thanks to everyone who donated their surplus Halloween candy! (It filled up the entire back of my car.) It was donated to Birthday Wishes to be used in piñatas and goodie bags for the birthday parties of children living in homeless shelters. The Birthday Wishes folks were very grateful.
Thanks also to everyone who helped make 24 Thanksgiving Baskets for local families in need! From grocery shopping and packaging to gift bag decorating and candle making, there were various activities that many folks participated in. Tim and Linda Tracy of the Miller/Tracy Children's Foundation (who so generously fund this project) were so pleased with our work that they asked to collaborate on more projects during the coming year. Good work, everyone!
All families are invited to join with the First Parish community and participate in our two important projects happening this December. Imagine that there is a Guest At Your Table all month and donate as much as you can to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to bring much needed resources and education to people living in developing countries. Also, check out the Social Action Committee's table and sign up to purchase a holiday gift for one of the children served by the Grow Clinic in Boston. It can be a valuable part of your child's holiday season to experience giving to those in need.
Blue Christmas
Blue Christmas is for those who are depressed, lonely or living with loss this holiday season, and their friends. It will be held on Tuesday, December 6 at 6:30 p.m.. There will be an interfaith service from 6:30-7:15 p.m. This will be followed by a reception at 7:15, and then a discussion at 7:30 p.m. led by Nicholas Kontos, Associate Director of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Cambridge Health Alliance. This will be held at the Greek Orthodox Church, 25 Bigelow Ave., Watertown. It is sponsored by the Watertown Ministerial Association and the Circle of Healing Ministry.
The Newsletter of the First Parish of Watertown
December 2005
Please click on calendar for updated listing on current events
at www.fpwatertown.org
Sermons/ Services
Sunday, December 4, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Proper Preparations” Mark W. Harris
Holidays require lots of preparation. This is also true of our efforts to stave off potential disasters such as Avian flu. What does it mean to be prepared? Are we as a church community prepared for growth? A discussion on growth will follow this service.
Music: Guest Musician, Edward Harney, trumpet, playing music by Corelli and Francoeur
Greeters: Meredith Montague and John Portz
Social Hour: Johanna Swift Hart and Kyle Hart and Norah Mulvaney Day and Paul Day
Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“We Come to Follow Jesus,
Not Worship Him” Mark W. Harris
This is the third part of a series on UU religious paths. Today we will look at the Christian path, which is the tradition we have directly evolved from. How Christian are we, and is it still a valid path among us? What does it mean to be a Protestant? This will be a good Sunday to learn about UUism, and thus it is Bring a Friend Sunday. Please invite someone you know to come to church with you today!
Music: Open Choir and Youth Choir sing together
Greeters: David Morrison and Martha Scott
Social Hour: Marianne and Michael Collins and Sue Demb
Sunday, December 18, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
Intergenerational Holiday Service -
This service for all ages includes our annual
holiday pageant - “A World of Gifts in our Neighborhood” Our Religious Education program under Roberta’s direction is preparing another pageant of story, music and fun.
Greeters: Kathy and David Warren
Social Hour: Jean Merkl and John Gorman
Come back that evening for the
Winter Solstice Service at 7:00 p.m., conducted by Darrick Jackson. Join us to celebrate the longest night and the impeding return of light in this pagan inspired service. This will be a child-friendly service.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Christmas Eve Services
Our Christmas Eve Services include special music, a story, and the candlelight that envelops Silent Night. Join us at 5 or 7 (identical services) with a social hour in between. If you have no preference we encourage you to come at 7:00 p.m. Please bring cookies to share. Guest at Your Table boxes returned (checks made out to UUSC)
Sunday, December 25, 2005
“The Best Gift Ever”
This will be an informal service where we ask ourselves, what is the best gift I ever received? What was yours? Did you get it today? This will be an intergenerational service with Mark Darrick, and Roberta leading.
Music: Guest Musician: Jennifer DeVore, cello, playing Christmas music
Sunday, January 1, 2006
Question Box Sermon - Mark W. Harris
To ring in the New Year, Mark will conduct a question box sermon. What are the religious, political or other questions you have always wanted to ask the minister? Also, please bring a New Year’s wish to share.
Captain’s Log - Rev. Mark W. Harris
Where did the time go? I was thinking about the end of our 375th celebration and suddenly Thanksgiving was over and here comes Christmas! I did not grow up with an Advent calendar in my family of origin, but as an adult I have made it a ritual every year. Perhaps it is the historian in me that likes to number and date things, but it is also the minister in me that knows how important it is to savor the days of our lives, and live with hope that something wonderful or magical might happen. It is vital that we find special times and celebrations to give ourselves a context for living. We remind ourselves in cold seasons of despair that new life can come into our lives, if we have the patience to wait, and if we have the perseverance to find new ways of living and being. And so we celebrate the return of light to life. We light candles to remind ourselves of the light in the darkness. We give gifts to remind us that people are often kind to us, and remember us with expressions of their love. We put up green things to say life will come again, even if it seems dreary now.
Soon we will begin our advent rituals. For a number of years now, Andrea and I have asked our three boys to help us mark the 25 December days of preparation with three rituals that they alternate doing. One of them opens the advent calendar, and will make the little Lego kit that is found behind the door that day. I know it sounds commercial, but it makes them happy, and each succeeding day gives them a bigger part of a larger scene or object they will be able to make once Christmas Eve arrives. Many days of building make up one whole in the end. So we begin by marking the time together. We set off our family time as an important ritual, but we also say these are important days of celebration and preparation.
The second ritual is to light the candle. We have an angel candle that we bought many years ago. I also use it on Christmas Eve, as the first candle we light in our candle lighting ritual before singing Silent Night. Angels of course herald the coming of the babe, but they are also people who come into our lives in the midst of despair and help us or encourage us to keep looking for hopeful signs in our lives despite the difficulty we are going through. They are our lights of hope, just as lighting the candle is symbolic of light coming into the darkness.
The third ritual is feeding the box. The Guest at Your Table box needs a nightly donation of coins. It represents that Universalist vision of long ago - that none of us can really celebrate having a full stomach, and a peaceful life, until every hungry child is fed, and every child in need is the recipient of our compassion. Ultimately religious faith is about bringing justice and equality into an unjust world. So these are our Advent rituals. We count our time together as magical and special, we bring light so that our hearts have hope, and we give to others so that one day all might know peace and plenty. And so I wish you a magical, hopeful, giving holiday season this year.
Mark
Christmas Gift Giving / Giving Box
Once again the Social Action Committee will be sponsoring a Gift program for children at the Grow Clinic of Boston Medical Center. We have about 60 names of children who need gifts. Please sign up on Sunday morning after church during social hour. Gifts are due by December 11. Thanks for your support of this great program. Also, please remember that our Giving Box for December is the food pantry at Boston Medical Center. We need your non-perishable items.
The Social Action Committee will also be selling Equal Exchange Coffee, Hot Chocolate and Chocolate bars during social hour. This coffee comes to us through the UU Service Committee. What great holiday gifts! Also, Isabel Tappan-deFrees will be selling CD’s by her brass band to help benefit the church, along with our own mugs and ornaments. Come take a look!
Obyat Family - Social Action
In December, the Social Action committee hopes many of you will consider helping to financially adopt a family in need. We will be signing up families to commit to contribute $10 to $20 (or more, if you like) per month during 2006 to support this family. The Obyat family is caught in a terrible catch-22. As Jordanians, they can’t legally work in the U.S., but neither can they leave because their son needs ongoing, lifesaving treatment available only at Children’s Hospital. They desperately need financial support.
The Obyats‚ 14-year-old son, Abood, has a rare disease that causes aberrant blood vessel growth in his abdomen and leg, a condition that causes serious internal bleeding and can strangle vital organs. The family is from Jordan and, originally, the government of Jordan financially supported Abood and his father, Habis Obyat, to come to Children’s Hospital, where a specialist is able to treat Abood.
Abood responded well initially, but because he missed his mother, he became depressed and stopped responding. His mother, Fatima Hussein, left her other four children in Jordan under the care of their eldest, an 18-year-old, to come be with Abood. It worked. He started to respond to treatment again.
Unfortunately, after about 9 months, the Jordanian government cut off support. And to make matters worse, Habis was hit by a car in front of the hospital over the summer. Mr. Obyat is still having significant problems from his accident and he is not fully recovered. A family that the Obyats met at the hospital have generously allowed them to live in an apartment they own in Watertown rent-free. In addition, the Helen Robinson Wright Fund and the Friends of Matt Galligan have provided some financial support.
But their situation is still precarious. Will Twombly has contacted state and federal officials, and, currently, Senator Kennedy’s office is working to get a Visa for the family to remain and work in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds. That process, however, is a long one, especially since the reorganization of the bureaucracy under the Dept. of Homeland Security has created a situation where no one knows who’s responsible for granting humanitarian Visas.
The Obyat’s biggest need right now is for a stream of dependable income to buy clothes, food and pay bills. We believe First Parish can help.
We’ll have more details at the December 5th service. Thank you for considering this.
Guest at Your Table
The UU Service Committee Guest at Your Table program is an annual event at our church It usually becomes the largest fund raiser for any service organization with over $1,000 donated. Boxes were given out on Sunday, November 20, but you can still pick one up. The idea is that you will welcome an unseen guest at your table at mealtime, and make a donation to the box. We collect the boxes on Christmas Eve (or 12/18, 12/25 or 1/1/ if you cannot be here Christmas Eve). Please convert all loose coins and cash to a check made out to UUSC. Membership in UUSC begins at $40 and a gift of $75 will be doubled through a matching grant. We also have additional information leaflets.
Only a Child
Do you remember how we heard about the Only a Child Program at a service in June? George Leger spoke about his involvement with homeless street kids in Guatemala. Unfortunately, we really had no follow up that day. Mark Harris has contacted George to ask about what we can do. The children in Guatemala City receive instruction in the carpentry shop, and the major fund raiser for the group is the production of beautiful wooden boxes. You can see more by visiting the website: Onlyachild.org. If there are members of our congregation who would like to order boxes, it is best to place your order directly with George at this email: Onlyachild@aol.com. The current price for boxes is $20 each, 3 for $48. The selection of styles available at this time:
1.The Heart 2.The Star 3.The Sea Shell
4.The 1/4 Moon 5.The Butterfly 6.The Dove
7.The Slender Fish 8.The Rounder Fish 9. The Dolphin 10.The Flower
Thanks for caring about these young lives.
Thanks to Many Helping Hands
Over the past two months we have had many helping hands with major church events. Here is a list of helpers who we wish to thank publicly. We apologize if your name should appear here but does not.
October 1st concert / 375th Events
For flyers, tickets, food etc. : Paul Dansereau, Judy Kamm, David Morrison and Martha Scott, Martha Urban, Sue Kuder, Charlyn Bethell, Susan Guidrey, Jean Merkl, Gretchen Brown, Aurora Sherman and Jeff Miller, and Marilyn Boenau.
David and Martha were especially active in making all the 375th events happen. Thanks to Meredith Montague and Missy Shay for our wonderful reception after the October 23rd Service, and thanks to all who made tasty items. And what a choir, too! Thanks to Patty and all the singers.
Newcomer Breakfast
Thanks to the Fellowship Committee for its great newcomer breakfast - Bobbie Brown, Diane Shepard, Carole Berney and Jan Klein
Clean up Day
Thanks to all those who helped spruce up the church on November 5: David Benson, Elizabeth Tappan-deFrees, Isabel Tappen-deFrees, Elijah, the window washer, Martha Scott, David Morrison, Jane Knuttunen, Rebecca Sheehan and Kyle Hart.
In terms of work, we raked and bagged leaves, removed lawn debris (particularly along CVS side) , de-molded the 'yellow' room off the
social hall, scraped and painted bathroom partitions, washed sanctuary windows, emptied, cleaned and restored order to the tool
shed, and trimmed some unruly brush along the back wall, near the back door.
Thanks For Auction
Thanks to Jean Merkl for organizing this year’s auction and to Paul Day for his auctioneering talents. Also thanks to all who donated or bought items. We set a new proceeds record of approximately $4,300. Thank you one and all!
Thanks to Will
Special thanks to Will Twombly for all his donated labor on the newly refurbished First Parish sign. Please note our night time illumination. Also thanks to Will for all his efforts to make professional quality labels for all our portraits and the eight pieces of church silver, which were here for Thanksgiving.
Amateur Historian
Our 375th Anniversary is coming to a close. It is time for the Amateur Historian to get back to work before the year ends. Because I have a hard time remembering important dates, I decided to put together a Watertown timeline as a memory aid. I pulled out all my history books. Tucked inside A History of the Modern World by R.R. Palmer (a relic from my college
years), lay folded a couple of pieces of paper, "TIMELINE FOR UU HISTORY IN AMERICA - Watertown perspective." Thank you, Mark Harris! I have also consulted Mark's Historical Dictionary of Unitarian Universalism. Perhaps for another column I will create a bibliography of Watertown history books, Some of them, such as Crossroads on the Charles, are still available for sale. (Ask me if you want to purchase a copy of Crossroads.)
A WATERTOWN TIMELINE
1536 John Calvin published "Institutes of the Christian Religion"
1614 Captain John Smith mapped the Northeastern coastline and named our river
the Massachusetts, after the people who lived here. Somehow the name changed
to the Charles River, in honor of Prince Charles.
1620 Plymouth Plantation
1625 Prince Charles becomes King Charles, whose oppressions motivated the
Puritan exodus.
1629 Charles I granted a charter incorporating the Massachusetts Bay Company.
1630 Watertown established under the leadership of Sir Richard Saltonstall.
1632 Watertown, under the leadership of Reverend George Phillips, voted to refuse to pay a tax to build a fort for Cambridge, as demanded by the General Court of Massachusetts. "No tax without a vote in it"
1634 Thomas Mayhew built the first mill along the Charles.
1635 The General Court granted a few adventuresome residents of Watertown
permission to move upstream.
1636 Dedham incorporated.
1637 Pequot War.
1638 John Harvard died and bequeathed half of his estate and all of his books toward the founding of a new college, which was named in his honor. The six towns of Boston, Cambridge, Charlestown, Dorchester, Roxbury and Watertown supported Harvard College for the education of the ministry.
1675-1676 King Philip's War.
1713 Weston, the western reaches of Watertown, incorporated with its own
meetinghouse.
1724 Seth Storer called as Watertown minister.
1738 Waltham, another chunk of the original land grant, incorporated as a separate town.
1775-1776 The Massachusetts Provincial Congress moved to Watertown.
1816 Watertown Arsenal officially opened for business.
1818 Convers Francis called as minister of Watertown.
1833 The General Court ruled the disestablishment of the Standing Order of
Churches. Taxpayers no longer mandated to support the Standing Order of
Churches and their ministers' salaries.
1835 First Parish elected to follow the Unitarian path.
1842 Seventh Meetinghouse built to replace the building that burned in 1841.
1851 The General Court passed enabling legislation for the formation of public
libraries.
1869 The Watertown Free Public Library opened on the first floor of the old
Town Hall. Reverend John Weiss, minister of First Parish, was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees.
1870 Watertown Savings Bank founded.
1884 The Watertown Free Public Library moves into its very own building on
Main Street.
1889 The Unitarian Building, designed by architect Charles Brigham, opened.
1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey
1930 Tercentenary Celebration of Watertown. First Parish acquired a model of the Arbella, among other treasures.
1975 The Seventh Meeting House was torn down and the Unitarian Building became
the Eighth Meeting House.
1995 The U.S. Army vacated the Watertown Arsenal.
2005 375th Anniversary of Watertown and First Parish. Groundbreaking Ceremony
for the Library Building Project. Grand Opening of the Arsenal Center for
the Arts.
When building the timeline, I thought back to a service led by Andrea Greenwood, during which, if memory serves me correctly, she used a real rope to illustrate the history of First Parish. My humble timeline leaves out much important history. Feel free to fill in the gaps.
Yours truly,
The Amateur Historian
Katherine Button
Painless Giving for First Parish!
Finance Committee
This is the time of year when the Finance Committee reassembles to check in with our treasurers. FPW has experienced the loss of some committed members this year and one place we have felt it is in pledges. We'll be doing our 2nd annual Christmas special offering to help fill in the gaps a bit as we head into budget season, so when the time comes, please help First Parish continue.
Also, an easy way to help us earn money! (Is there such a thing?) If you're buying books or supplies through Amazon, start at our First Parish website homepage and click on the Amazon link. That way, we get a percentage of what you spend on Amazon. We have the information about linking to Powell's as well, but haven't set that up yet.
Musical Musings
from Patty deVore, our music director
Great News! By popular demand we are having another open choir sing on December 11th. The Adult Open Choir will be joined by the Youth Choir to sing 2 festive songs and then sing "Douglas Mountain" by
themselves. We will have only two rehearsals, Monday: Dec 5th, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: Dec 11th 9:45, and perform at 11:00 a.m. Please, save the dates and join us!
A Midshipman’s Musings
This semester I'm taking a class on the New Testament. With the Christmas holidays coming up, I'm reminded of my studies of the four Gospels earlier in the semester and the complexities of understanding the life of Jesus based on these four very different narratives. For example, the birth narrative that we are so used to hearing never occurs in the bible. It is a conglomeration of the stories from Matthew and Luke. Mark does not include a birth narrative, and John's narrative is so esoteric that it does not fit in with the others (This is true with most of John).
Matthew is concerned with the fulfillment of Jewish scriptures about the Messiah. So the gospel begins with a genealogical table that connects Joseph’s lineage to David and Abraham. This fulfills the prophecy that the messiah would be a descendant of David. Then we see that Mary is pregnant and Joseph is planning to call off the engagement. He is stopped by an Angel who announces the importance of this baby. They marry, and Mary gives birth to Jesus. Three wise men or astrologers see a star rising in the East and relate it to the prophecy that the king of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem. So they followed the star to the home of Jesus, and paid homage to him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Luke’s Gospel tends to reverse the common understandings around status. So Luke has angels announcing to Mary that she is to bear the Son of God. This shows that women have equal status with men when it comes to God. Mary and Joseph live in Galilee, which at that time was a town of no importance. When the Roman census is called, they travel to Bethlehem to register. While in Bethlehem she bears a child in a manger because there was no room at the inn. It was important for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, because this fulfilled the prophecies. When Jesus is born, an Angel appears to shepherds in the fields announcing Jesus' birth. And so they went to worship him in the manger. This is another instance of Luke reversing the conventions of status.
This is just a sample of how the gospels are similar, and very different at the same time. None of the Gospels are meant to be historically accurate. Instead, they are sermons based on the life of Jesus. Each one is meant for a different audience to convey a different message. This highlights for me that no matter what people may say about the bible, there is no unified message.
And so as I go through this holiday season, I will think about the real Jesus. Who was this person that has sparked a religion? What are the real truths behind his life? And what would he think about Christianity today?
Blessed be.
Darrick Jackson, student minister
Youth Group Needs Your Help!
Cody Urban and Giles Holt are interested in going to a Con in January. A Con is an overnight weekend conference filled with workshops, worship, games, and camaraderie. Youth who attend a con are required to have an adult go with them. If you are available Jan. 13-15 and would like to join Cody and Giles on this adventure, please leave a message for me at the church. They are also looking to do different projects every month. If you have a project idea (especially around environmental awareness), please let me know.
Thanks, Darrick.
R.E.flections by a chaliceDREamer
by Roberta Altamari
It's hard to believe that the holiday season is already upon us. Rehearsals for our annual Holiday pageant are beginning and it promises to be another great show. As always, I'm sure the kids will be fabulous performers and it will be a wonderful celebration. In addition to the joy of seeing our children perform, the holiday pageant includes some inspiring messages for all of us.
This year continues our new tradition of rotating between our UU Peace Angels pageant and our World Religions pageant. So this will be our third time presenting "A World of Gifts in Our Neighborhood". Of course, it will be edited accordingly to complement the skills and interests of this year's performers. The theme of the pageant is diversity ~ that many holidays are celebrated this time of year and there are different ways to celebrate some of these holidays, such as Christmas. Most important is that there is a beautiful message at the basis of each of those holidays. When we take a moment to consider this, we realize that many people around our world are sharing good wishes with each other. Here are some of those holidays.
Christmas is celebrated by Christians because it was the birthday of Jesus. His birth was considered a miracle and he grew up to become an important religious leader. Christians believe he is a part of their Trinitarian God of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Through the years, Christmas lost some of its Christian focus as it became a popular and commercialized cultural holiday. Some American families exchange little talk about baby Jesus as they focus on the arrival of Santa Claus and gift giving.
On the longest night of the year, many people honor Winter Solstice. They gather around a warm fire to share music, food, and gratitude for the gifts darkness brings. They also celebrate the returning sun.
Swedish people celebrate the Feast of St. Lucia. Legend has it that Santa Lucia was a Sicilian maid who traveled about wearing a crown of candles as she fed the poor during a great famine. Santa Lucia became known as the patron Saint of Light.
Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah in honor of the courage they had to have to fight for their freedom. During Hanukkah, they light a candle each night for eight days in memory of a miraculous light that continued to shine during their fight for freedom.
Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day in honor of the day Buddha found the light of truth. Buddhists call this enlightenment and it is very special to them.
People from all the major religions believe treating each other with kindness is important. They each even have their own version of the Golden Rule. Some holidays, like the Sikhs' Day of the Maghi highlight loving and serving all human beings.
Ramadan is celebrated during the 9th lunar month, which sometimes lands during the holiday season. When Ramadan is honored, Muslim people fast for a month to understand how it feels to be poor and suffering. Then they celebrate their own good fortunes and promise to help those who are less fortunate.
Hindu people use candlelight to welcome the goddesses of good fortune into their homes during the Festival of Divali. Then they use noisemakers to scare away the goddess of bad fortune.
Wow! There certainly are a variety of holidays being celebrated this time of year. When we travel to the homes of our neighbors, we may not find evergreen trees and Santa Claus, but we will find holidays being honored that have just as much meaning as the holidays we celebrate. It is interesting to me that most of these holidays include "light" somehow. It seems that most people want to find some warmth and good feelings during the cold, dark days of December.
Here, at the Unitarian Universalist church in Watertown, we are also doing are part to spread good feelings like love and peace around our world. As for the exact holidays we each celebrate and the way we honor them, that is as unique as each of our families. Most of us celebrate both Winter Solstice and Christmas. For Christmas, many of us honor the birthday of Jesus as a symbol of the birth of all children being holy and special.
Throughout this holiday season, I hope you realize this ... that as the season turns dark and cold, it is important to spend some quality time with your loved ones. As you celebrate the holidays of your choosing, feel free to add your own loving touches to make it unique. That's what will make it most meaningful to you, your family, and your friends.
Announcements:
We will be performing our annual Holiday Pageant on Sunday, December 18th during the worship service. This year's pageant is "A World of Gifts in Our Neighborhood", a fascinating exploration of the many holidays being celebrated this time of year. Any and all folks interested in participating are welcome to join us for rehearsals at 10:15 AM on (Sunday) November 27, (Sunday) December 5, (Sunday) December 12, and (Saturday) December 17. Please see Roberta for more information and to sign up.
A BIG thank you to Charlyn Bethell for directing our children's choir and our youth choir (and to Guy Urban for his help). The children's choir sang at the intergenerational Thanksgiving service and were absolutely wonderful! The Youth Choir will be singing again this month and we are looking forward to hearing them. I did some research on children's choirs and discovered that the UU churches that have choirs as significant as ours are paying more money than the tiny stipends we are giving Charlyn. She's giving an incredible gift to our community ... so please thank her next time you see her.
Social Action Corner:
Thanks to everyone who donated their surplus Halloween candy! (It filled up the entire back of my car.) It was donated to Birthday Wishes to be used in piñatas and goodie bags for the birthday parties of children living in homeless shelters. The Birthday Wishes folks were very grateful.
Thanks also to everyone who helped make 24 Thanksgiving Baskets for local families in need! From grocery shopping and packaging to gift bag decorating and candle making, there were various activities that many folks participated in. Tim and Linda Tracy of the Miller/Tracy Children's Foundation (who so generously fund this project) were so pleased with our work that they asked to collaborate on more projects during the coming year. Good work, everyone!
All families are invited to join with the First Parish community and participate in our two important projects happening this December. Imagine that there is a Guest At Your Table all month and donate as much as you can to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to bring much needed resources and education to people living in developing countries. Also, check out the Social Action Committee's table and sign up to purchase a holiday gift for one of the children served by the Grow Clinic in Boston. It can be a valuable part of your child's holiday season to experience giving to those in need.
Blue Christmas
Blue Christmas is for those who are depressed, lonely or living with loss this holiday season, and their friends. It will be held on Tuesday, December 6 at 6:30 p.m.. There will be an interfaith service from 6:30-7:15 p.m. This will be followed by a reception at 7:15, and then a discussion at 7:30 p.m. led by Nicholas Kontos, Associate Director of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Cambridge Health Alliance. This will be held at the Greek Orthodox Church, 25 Bigelow Ave., Watertown. It is sponsored by the Watertown Ministerial Association and the Circle of Healing Ministry.
The Arbella - November 2005 Newsletter
The Arbella - November 2005
Newsletter of the First Parish of Watertown
Sermons and Topics
Sunday, November 6, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Plugging In” Mark W. Harris
How have computers and technology changed our lives? They make a big difference in the ministry in terms of what I do all day, but more than that they change our whole concept of what a person is or what a machine is. Which is it?
Greeters: Sarah McSweeney and John Chamberlain
Social Hour: Kathy and David Warren
Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Fish and Snails, Parental Travails....” Andrea Greenwood
Why do we go to church?, asked Patricia Fox, who purchased this sermon at last year’s service auction. Especially those of us who did not feel the need before we had kids? Maybe we go to answer questions about life and death and what it all means. Or maybe we go to escape all that meaning!
Greeters: Jean Merkl and John Gorman
Social Hour: Sarah McSweeney and John Chamberlain and Marilyn Boneau
Music: Debbie Thompson and her daughter, Ashima Scritt, cellists
Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
Thanksgiving Service
Our annual Thanksgiving Intergenerational Service will feature some special music, stories, and perhaps some eating and drinking as well. Guest at Your Table program begins.
Greeters: Jeff Miller and Aurora Sherman
Social Hour: Paula Chase and Holly Cachimuel
Music: Frank Grimes, soloist
November 2005
Sunday, November 27, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Religious Naturalism” Mark W. Harris
How has nature informed your faith? What is the interplay between the urban and nature? Can we find beauty in the city? Not paganism or humanism, religious naturalism looks to the sacred depths of nature and forges a mystic relationship to all of life.
Greeters: Julie Miller and Paul Dansereau
Social Hour: Cornelia Janke and Denise Carver
The Captain’s Log
Our 375th anniversary celebration is now at an end. It was quite a month. We can all be proud of the three wonderful events that capped off our celebration which began with Roger Thompson’s lecture in June. Between the Seven Times Salt concert, the Hall lecture, and the anniversary service (as well as the wonderful town wide celebration at the new Arsenal Center for the Arts), we have done our share of lifting up a truly amazing 375 years of history.
I thought of this history as I listened to Ron Heifetz along with 12 other FPW members at a special evening at the Wellesley Village Church on Monday, October 24. Heifetz, who is the founding director of the Center for Public leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, presented a new model of leadership - adaptive leadership - that recognizes the internal and external conflicts in our worlds and offers a different approach for leading. We hope to schedule some kind of follow-up on this.
A perfect example of adaptive leadership here was when the congregation voted to tear down the old meetinghouse, and entered a long term lease arrangement with the bank. The congregation chose to adapt to the changes in Watertown rather than doing things as they had always been done, which was clearly leading toward ultimate failure, as the numbers diminished and the building fell apart.
They planned for the future, and it clearly worked!
What kinds of adaptive leadership do we need now? What are we doing about making our faith known in Watertown? What role should our web site play, for instance? How can we tell others about our faith? How can we have a impact on our community? Heifetz talked about change in the context of biological evolution. When things change, they always bring more than 90% of the past with them as they forge into the future. Not that much needs to change, and we can take the best of the past, but if we are not perceptive enough to know what must adapt to changing worlds, then we become extinct. What innovations do we need? How do we avoid being dinosaurs?
Perhaps the greatest adaptive problem we have always faced and never resolved is the unwillingness of Unitarian Universalists to be evangelical about their faith. My predecessor David Rankin did have some success here in the 1960’s because he was willing to go door to door, but he was also willing to say I have this great faith that might be meaningful in your life. So it is a matter of both style and commitment. Commitment has been a problem because we often have not expected much of our members. I do it myself by saying, it is so easy to join - EASY may imply it doesn’t mean anything. Style has to do with the kind of people who traditionally come to our congregations. We may say it is a thinking person’s religion. That may be fine, but a lot of UUs want to feel, too. They want to get their hands dirty tackling a problem rather than just talking about a problem. What new skills could we develop to become a more vital, lively voice in the world?
#######
Some of you have asked me about historical tours of Mt. Auburn Cemetery, where I take people to the grave sites of a variety of famous UU people. If you have not gone on one before, I am taking some theological students on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 10:00 a.m. Let me know if you are interested.
Prior to this month, we only had one mail box at First Parish for email. Now if you wish to send me a private email at church on a confidential matter, you may send it to: minister@fpwatertown.org. Please feel free to email me at home as well. That address is available in the new fall directory, which you will find in the foyer of the church (blue cover)
Mark
November Book Club
Come support your FPW Book Club! The next selection is a short, easy read, but a fascinating story. “The Jew Store: A Family Memoir” by Stella Suberman. Join us on Tuesday, November 15 at 7pm. Speak to Jean Merkl or Kathy Warren for details.
Giving Box
The Giving Box for November and December will be the Food Pantry at the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center. This giving box will culminate with our annual Christmas gift program in December. Thanks to all who brought food for the Watertown Food Pantry.
Keep Door Open for Folk Dancers
I am asking all church members who have a key and come into the church on Thursday evenings to NOT lock the door behind them while the Folk Dancers are renting the downstairs space. The group has people coming in at various times form 7:45 to 11:00 pm. On Thursday,10/6, after the rental had started , a man (obviously a church member ) left the building , locked the door and left on a bicycle. Luckily someone from the dance noticed in time and unlocked the door again.
Please help me to ensure the downstairs door stays open on Thursday evenings.
Thank You,
Brigitte Bender
Rental Representative
Musical Musings
Thanks to all the singers!!! Many thanks to members of the Waltham and FPW congregations for singing with us for the 375th celebration. It was a great success and really fun! How wonderful to have four strong sections...especially the tenors and basses!
I want to thank Guy Urban for producing a readable score and parts for the singers...as well as numbering the pages to make rehearsals go
smoother. Guy, you were such a great help!
I am looking forward to having another choir sing on December 11th when we will be joined by the Youth Choir. Again, we will have
only two rehearsals.., so please save the dates ...Dec. 5th and rehearsal and service on Dec. 11th.
Patricia DeVore, Music Director
Clean Up Day
The Buildings and Grounds Committee
are looking for volunteers who are willing to commit a few hours of time to the FPW Fall Workday on Saturday Nov. 5. Most of
the work (all, if it is raining) will be indoors, and will involve cleaning, painting, rearranging, milling, and socializing. So check your calendars and if you have some time available between 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM on Saturday Nov.5, You can sign up electronically with an e-mail to Nick Haddad at nickhaddad@earthlink.net
Among Us
A warm welcome to three new members:
Susan Guidrey and Valy McDonald
Celeste Oliva.
We hope to schedule a new member welcome for early December. There is occasional confusion about how one becomes a member. In order to be a voting member of the church, you must sign the membership book. Please speak to Mark Harris if you wish to join.
R.E.flections by a chaliceDREamer
by Roberta Altamari
As the season of thanks quickly approaches, I find it increasingly hard to forget the season of anniversary celebration that we just finished. The more I think about our 375-year history, the more I am truly thankful to be a part of this incredible community.
To prepare for my part of Anniversary Sunday, I dove into our historical stories. I found it fascinating! The first interesting fact I discovered was that we haven't been Unitarian Universalist for all this time. We didn't become Unitarian until 1835. For the 200 years before that, we were the town's church as town meetings and church happened in the same space. You had to be a church member to vote on town affairs and you didn't get to pick what church you went to. And becoming a member was much harder than simply signing your name in a book like we do now!
Many people cringe to think that our roots go back to our Puritan founders. Puritans were known to be judgmental and harsh. But it is important to look at our historical stories with the understanding that things happened in the context of the time period people were living. Our ancestors were products and prophets of their times. As we let go of our "modern day" judgments, we might find some gifts that each story brought to our church. Like the gift of democracy and freedom that the Puritans gave us. To this day, our church is led in a democratic style that keeps the power and decision making in the hands of our community. Major decisions at First Parish happen by us and not some distant King or religious leader. We aren't like some of our Catholic neighbors who are having their religious leaders closing their churches against their wishes. And that's something to be very thankful for.
Fast forward through more than half of our church's lifetime and we begin to meet our Unitarian ancestors. And some of these people are pretty amazing. We've got Convers Francis who led us to become Unitarian and was friendly with famous Unitarians like Emerson and Parker. And don't forget his famous sister, Lydia Maria Child, and the little known fact that it was his idea to have Social Hour food after church. Then later we've got John Weiss who was both a First Parish minister preaching the value of science and the founder of our public library.
The 20th century saw some struggle for individuals and the church. But we survived with the dedication of people like Rev. David Rankin who walked around Watertown spreading the good word of our faith and the kindness of folks like Helen Robinson Wright who often put her Unitarian faith into action by helping local people in need and hardships. Their hard work on our behalf is another something to be very thankful for.
I shouldn't spend too much time of retelling our history because most of you have heard it already. We shared it in many ways during our anniversary celebrations. One thing I really ended up liking about our anniversary worship service was hearing this history from the perspective of someone not from Watertown. At first, I was surprised that Mark got Rev. John Buehrens to preach the sermon on this very important day. No offense to Rev. Buehrens as he's the author of my favorite UU book, but I thought our own UU history guru should be preaching for this significant event. Mark knows it, he has lived through a small piece of it, and he loves it - I trusted that he would do our special anniversary justice. But in the end he did honor the event very well by organizing an absolutely wonderful service and by including Rev. Buehrens.
In the big scheme of UU churches across the country, we may be small but we sure do have a long and colorful past. As a past president of the UUA, Rev. Buehrens knew that and highlighted some of the shining stars that came from our congregation. But what was most impressive for me was how Rev. Buehrens made our past relevant to modern times by using it as an example of how we need to be careful to insure our survival in the future. We are a church in a "transient" town where people come and go more frequently than other towns. That means we lose church members more often than the average UU church because they move away. That means we must have a consistent and constant understanding of our need to always be welcoming to potential new members. That means we must strive to find a balance in our programming that interests new visitors and longtime members alike.
We also need to continue to be welcoming to new friends after the first visit. It's important to consider the perspective of newer members in all of our church programming. Something as simple as the way we automatically schedule greeting responsibilities to new friends can be quite surprising to the someone when they first see their name assigned. Do we need a welcome to First Parish letter that summarizes these types of details for new friends? On a similar note, maybe we should make the process for joining our church clear and easily accessible to new folks coming in. We currently have people making great contributions of time and money to First Parish, yet they still haven't signed the membership book. Do they realize that signing the book is simply a statement that they want to be active members of the First Parish community? If they are already doing the harder parts of pledging and volunteering, they already are active ... so what stops them from taking the simple step of signing their name?
So in honor of this upcoming season of thanks, may we take a moment to show appreciation for the lessons and gifts we receive from our past. May we give thanks to everyone who is helping us create a vibrant and growing present. And may we look ahead to our future with hope and gratitude that the actions we are doing today will insure our healthy survival. Blessed be.
Announcements:
Donate your surplus Halloween candy!
Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. Please remember to bring your surplus Halloween candy to church on one of the next two Sundays (November 6 or 13th) as we will donate it to Birthday Wishes to be used in piñatas and goodie bags for the birthday parties of children living in homeless shelters.
Our next Potluck and Sing-A-Long ...
Thanks so everyone who joined us for our first potluck and sing-a-long for all ages in October. Due to the great enjoyment for all those attending, we will do another one on Saturday, November 26th at 6pm. EVERYONE (regardless of talent) is very welcome to join us. If you have a copy of Rise Up Singing, please bring it.
Holiday Pageant is coming ..
Children of all ages are welcome to join us on Sunday, November 27th at 10AM to begin planning the pageant. There are a wide variety of parts ranging from parade marchers to nice solo acts to interest different kids. If you want to be in the pageant but can't make it that Sunday, please let Roberta know your interests before this meeting and we'll save you a part.
A Midshipman’s Musings
As I mentioned last month, I have been spending half of my Sundays teaching the Our Whole Lives (OWL) curriculum to Waltham and Watertown’s 7th-9th graders with Elizabeth Tappan-deFrees. Some of you may not be familiar with this curriculum, and so I thought I would share what it is and what we do.
OWL is a lifespan sexuality education course that was developed by the UUA and United Church of Christ. Its underlying principle is that sexuality is a lifelong experience. We do not become sexual beings only at a certain age; we are always sexual beings. That is why there are several age-appropriate curriculums that span from Kindergarten to Adults.
Sexuality is defined in OWL in terms of 6 categories, known as the circles of sexuality. These categories are Sensuality (relationship with our bodies and the bodies of others), Intimacy (our emotional connection to others), Sexual Identity (gender roles and identity, and sexual orientation), Sexual Health and Reproduction (physiology facts), and Sexualization (using sexuality to influence, control or manipulate others).
We are also using a supplement to the curriculum entitled “Sexuality and our Faith.” This addition to OWL focuses on relating the lessons to our faith as UU’s. It reminds us that there is a spiritual dimension to our sexuality. Because of this, we do a chalice lighting and a chalice extinguishing at the beginning and end of every session.
Each session is very different. Throughout the program we do readings, mini-lectures, discussions, gender breakout groups, play games, do art projects, and view slides. All activities are designed to process information, as well as prepare them to make healthy choices in their lives.
This program is really important, because youth do not often get to talk about sexuality in a healthy way. They may receive the facts at school, but they also receive a lot of misinformation from peers. OWL serves to separate the myths from the facts, as well as understand the issues surrounding sexuality. We do not know what situations our OWL participants may face, but we hope that through the program, they will be bettered prepared to deal with them.
Blessed Be,
Darrick
Magnets
Do you want to add to your refrigerator magnet collection? First Parish now has new refrigerator magnets printed in honor of ur 375th anniversary. Thanks to Bobbie Brown for arranging this. Take one home! Better yet, why not give a magnet to that neighbor or friend of yours who would just love to be part of FPW. You can pick up a magnet this Sunday!
Sunday Covenant Group
The Sunday Covenant Group remains open to new members. We had five at our last meeting, and would like a couple more. Our next meeting will focus on the topic: Death and Immortality. The date is Sunday, November 20, but we are trying a new time. It will be after church at 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., so that people will not have to make two trips on a Sunday. Hope to see you there!
The First Parish Service Auction!
Auction bidding has begun! Only one more Sunday for silent bidding - Look after church
on November 6 (downstairs during social hour), at all the great items in the booklet beautifully prepared by Jean Merkl. Each item has a bid sheet and you can make a bid right then. On November 12th there will be a Pot luck Dinner at 5:30 (Please bring main dish, salad or dessert) and a live Auction at 7:00. There will be 20 items auctioned off live in wild First Parish style and the rest will be won in the silent auction by the highest bidder (close of bidding will be at the time the live auction begins). There will be childcare the night of the auction. Everyone (kids too!) is welcome to participate even if you can’t make it on the 12th. The booklet is now available at coffee hour. We emailed it out as well. This year the dinner begins at an earlier time, and we are auctioning off fewer items live, so that things will move along quickly. It’s a great way to get to know others and have some fun!
See you on the 12th
Women and Work
Women and Work will meet on Tuesday, November 29th at 6:30pm in the conference room. This is a change from our usual meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month. There will be no December meeting.
Patsy Murray, a member of Women and Work, and a life coach will give us tools to design the seven environments in our life to support reaching our goals and/or changing a behavior. According to Patsy, designed environments reduce stress by setting things up to get done more easily and with less effort.
Not sure what the seven environments are - come and explore with us. If you are interested in coming and are not on the e-mail list, please contact Joani Mountain at joanimountain@aol.com or call her at 617-596-1895.
LOOK - Minns Lecture at First Parish
One of the prestigious MINNS LECTURES for 2005 will be given here in Watertown: (see November 17 below)
THE BOSTON RELIGION
Special Themes Celebrating 375 Years !
Nov. 8 “The Boston Religion:” in Slides and Commentary (7:00 p.m.)
Kings Chapel House, 64 Beacon St.
Nov. 10 “Congregational Life: From Standing Order to Free Association”
(10:30, a.m.)
First Church, Roxbury, John Eliot Square
Nov. 15 “Transcendentalism and Its Transformations” (7:00 p.m.)
First Church, Boston, 66 Marlborough St.
Nov. 17 “From Unsectarian Sect to Multifaith Faith” (7:00 p.m.)
First Parish, Watertown, 35 Church St.
Lecturer: Rev Peter T. Richardson, author of The Boston Religion: Unitarianism In Its Capital City, and Four Spiritualities: A
Psychology of Contemporary Spiritual Choice, and several other titles. He is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society,
Secretary of the U. S. Chapter of I.A.R.F. and President of the Maine Association of Psychological Type. Peter is a friend of Mark and Andrea’s and emeritus minister in Andover
He preached here a couple of years ago.
Earthquake Relief
This has been a difficult year for people around the globe with tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes. The UU Service Committee has set up a fund in response to the recent earthquake in Pakistan, where thousands are without homes. Some 2.5 million people are without homes. People are dying of exposure and untreated wounds. Thousands are living out in the open in their destroyed
villages, without adequate food, water, or medical care in rapidly dropping temperatures and frequent rainstorms. There simply are not enough doctors, tents, blankets, and medical supplies going out to people yet. It is essential to step up the aid distribution effort now. Donations to the UUSC-UUA South Asia Earthquake Relief Fund can be made online or by mail at P.O. Box 845259, Boston, MA 02284-5259. For more information about the UUSC-UUA response to the earthquake or to make a donation online, visit our website, www.uusc.org.
See Chicago!
The congregation of Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist invites you to join us for a weekend getaway to the city of Chicago, June 2 – 4, 2006. For the two nights of your stay, you’ll be hosted by members of Countryside’s friendly and welcoming congregation in the northwest suburbs. Your weekend includes hearty dinners with entertainment, breakfast at your host's home, and a full-day visit to the city.
The highlight of the weekend is the city’s celebrated architecture. Countryside has arranged for our guests to enjoy two of the best architecture tours the city has to offer. See the soaring towers of the downtown area, acclaimed landmarks, and the new Millennium Park, which features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists, and designers.
After a busy Saturday in the city, you’ll appreciate the peaceful setting of Countryside’s award-winning building and prairie garden. For details on this unique opportunity, email ccuu@ccuu.org or call 847-359-8440, ext. 1.
Experience The People and Places Of The Civil Rights Movement
Some of the places of the civil rights movement are readily accessible: the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, the church whose burning drew Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman to Philadelphia, Mississippi. But fewer and fewer of the people who gave such places their meaning survive to talk with us. Both places and people are included in a tour being offered in March of 2006 by Meadville Lombard Theological School.
The March 18-26 tour has been planned and will be led by the Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson, who was involved in the early stages of the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign and was the Unitarian Universalist minister in Mississippi 1969-84. He led similar tours in 2004 and 2005.
The tour, by luxury motor coach, will include all admission charges, overnight accommodations, and most meals in the $1,000 cost. Visits with 1960s activists and videos on the bus will supplement the site visits. The tour will begin and end in Chicago, Illinois.
For full details and registration information, you can visit the Meadville Lombard website (www.meadville.edu http://www.meadville.edu> ) or write to the Academic Office, Meadville Lombard Theological School, 5701 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.
Registration is on a first-come basis with some of the 30 seats reserved for theological students who will be taking this as a credit course.
A participant in the 2004 Tour said, "the stories from the folks who were 'in the trenches' make the Movement come alive." Another participant described it as "seeing the Movement through the real experiences of real people."
Watertown Thanksgiving Service
The annual Watertown Interfaith Thanksgiving service will take place on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m. at St. John‘s Methodist Church, Mt Auburn Street, Watertown. Mark will be participating, and all the religious groups in Watertown are invited to this event sponsored by the Watertown Ministerial Association.
WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price
This 98-minute documentary takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel...
and shop. http://www.walmartmovie.com
WHEN: Tuesday, November 15 - 7:00pm
(please arrive early to help set up chairs)
WHERE: First Parish of Watertown - Parish Hall (downstairs!) 35 Church Street, Watertown MA 02472 corner of Church and Summer Streets, near Watertown Square
8:45 Q&A led by Mil Niepold *
* Mil is a labor and human rights consultant to corporations, NGOs and academia. Current clients include the European Commission, Oxfam America, Verité, Reebok, Calvert Social Investments, UNIFEM and World Monitors, Inc.
Please RSVP with the number of people attending to: hoerrner@hotmail.com
For more information, please contact: mil.niepold@comcast.net
Thanks to First Parish of Watertown for generously donating their space for
this event, and to MoveOn.org for organizing the nationwide coalition of
screenings of this important documentary.
Women and Work
Women and Work will meet on Tuesday, November 29th at 6:30pm in the conference room. This is a change from our usual meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month. There will be no December meeting.
Patsy Murray, a member of Women and Work, and a life coach will give us tools to design the seven environments in our life to support reaching our goals and/or changing a behavior. According to Patsy, designed environments reduce stress by setting things up to get done more easily and with less effort. Not sure what the seven environments are - come and explore with us. If you are interested in coming and are not on the e-mail list, please contact Joani Mountain at joanimountain@aol.com or call her at 617-596-1895.
New UU Class
Mark Harris will be leading a New UU class for newcomers to First Parish on Sunday, mornings November 13 and 20 at 9:30 a.m.
We will have sign-ups at the Newcomer Breakfast on November 6. Those who cannot attend the breakfast should contact Mark directly. This class familiarizes new people with our history and traditions and the ways in which the church functions. Come find out all you have ever wanted to know about UUism.
Newsletter of the First Parish of Watertown
Sermons and Topics
Sunday, November 6, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Plugging In” Mark W. Harris
How have computers and technology changed our lives? They make a big difference in the ministry in terms of what I do all day, but more than that they change our whole concept of what a person is or what a machine is. Which is it?
Greeters: Sarah McSweeney and John Chamberlain
Social Hour: Kathy and David Warren
Sunday, November 13, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Fish and Snails, Parental Travails....” Andrea Greenwood
Why do we go to church?, asked Patricia Fox, who purchased this sermon at last year’s service auction. Especially those of us who did not feel the need before we had kids? Maybe we go to answer questions about life and death and what it all means. Or maybe we go to escape all that meaning!
Greeters: Jean Merkl and John Gorman
Social Hour: Sarah McSweeney and John Chamberlain and Marilyn Boneau
Music: Debbie Thompson and her daughter, Ashima Scritt, cellists
Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
Thanksgiving Service
Our annual Thanksgiving Intergenerational Service will feature some special music, stories, and perhaps some eating and drinking as well. Guest at Your Table program begins.
Greeters: Jeff Miller and Aurora Sherman
Social Hour: Paula Chase and Holly Cachimuel
Music: Frank Grimes, soloist
November 2005
Sunday, November 27, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
“Religious Naturalism” Mark W. Harris
How has nature informed your faith? What is the interplay between the urban and nature? Can we find beauty in the city? Not paganism or humanism, religious naturalism looks to the sacred depths of nature and forges a mystic relationship to all of life.
Greeters: Julie Miller and Paul Dansereau
Social Hour: Cornelia Janke and Denise Carver
The Captain’s Log
Our 375th anniversary celebration is now at an end. It was quite a month. We can all be proud of the three wonderful events that capped off our celebration which began with Roger Thompson’s lecture in June. Between the Seven Times Salt concert, the Hall lecture, and the anniversary service (as well as the wonderful town wide celebration at the new Arsenal Center for the Arts), we have done our share of lifting up a truly amazing 375 years of history.
I thought of this history as I listened to Ron Heifetz along with 12 other FPW members at a special evening at the Wellesley Village Church on Monday, October 24. Heifetz, who is the founding director of the Center for Public leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, presented a new model of leadership - adaptive leadership - that recognizes the internal and external conflicts in our worlds and offers a different approach for leading. We hope to schedule some kind of follow-up on this.
A perfect example of adaptive leadership here was when the congregation voted to tear down the old meetinghouse, and entered a long term lease arrangement with the bank. The congregation chose to adapt to the changes in Watertown rather than doing things as they had always been done, which was clearly leading toward ultimate failure, as the numbers diminished and the building fell apart.
They planned for the future, and it clearly worked!
What kinds of adaptive leadership do we need now? What are we doing about making our faith known in Watertown? What role should our web site play, for instance? How can we tell others about our faith? How can we have a impact on our community? Heifetz talked about change in the context of biological evolution. When things change, they always bring more than 90% of the past with them as they forge into the future. Not that much needs to change, and we can take the best of the past, but if we are not perceptive enough to know what must adapt to changing worlds, then we become extinct. What innovations do we need? How do we avoid being dinosaurs?
Perhaps the greatest adaptive problem we have always faced and never resolved is the unwillingness of Unitarian Universalists to be evangelical about their faith. My predecessor David Rankin did have some success here in the 1960’s because he was willing to go door to door, but he was also willing to say I have this great faith that might be meaningful in your life. So it is a matter of both style and commitment. Commitment has been a problem because we often have not expected much of our members. I do it myself by saying, it is so easy to join - EASY may imply it doesn’t mean anything. Style has to do with the kind of people who traditionally come to our congregations. We may say it is a thinking person’s religion. That may be fine, but a lot of UUs want to feel, too. They want to get their hands dirty tackling a problem rather than just talking about a problem. What new skills could we develop to become a more vital, lively voice in the world?
#######
Some of you have asked me about historical tours of Mt. Auburn Cemetery, where I take people to the grave sites of a variety of famous UU people. If you have not gone on one before, I am taking some theological students on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 10:00 a.m. Let me know if you are interested.
Prior to this month, we only had one mail box at First Parish for email. Now if you wish to send me a private email at church on a confidential matter, you may send it to: minister@fpwatertown.org. Please feel free to email me at home as well. That address is available in the new fall directory, which you will find in the foyer of the church (blue cover)
Mark
November Book Club
Come support your FPW Book Club! The next selection is a short, easy read, but a fascinating story. “The Jew Store: A Family Memoir” by Stella Suberman. Join us on Tuesday, November 15 at 7pm. Speak to Jean Merkl or Kathy Warren for details.
Giving Box
The Giving Box for November and December will be the Food Pantry at the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center. This giving box will culminate with our annual Christmas gift program in December. Thanks to all who brought food for the Watertown Food Pantry.
Keep Door Open for Folk Dancers
I am asking all church members who have a key and come into the church on Thursday evenings to NOT lock the door behind them while the Folk Dancers are renting the downstairs space. The group has people coming in at various times form 7:45 to 11:00 pm. On Thursday,10/6, after the rental had started , a man (obviously a church member ) left the building , locked the door and left on a bicycle. Luckily someone from the dance noticed in time and unlocked the door again.
Please help me to ensure the downstairs door stays open on Thursday evenings.
Thank You,
Brigitte Bender
Rental Representative
Musical Musings
Thanks to all the singers!!! Many thanks to members of the Waltham and FPW congregations for singing with us for the 375th celebration. It was a great success and really fun! How wonderful to have four strong sections...especially the tenors and basses!
I want to thank Guy Urban for producing a readable score and parts for the singers...as well as numbering the pages to make rehearsals go
smoother. Guy, you were such a great help!
I am looking forward to having another choir sing on December 11th when we will be joined by the Youth Choir. Again, we will have
only two rehearsals.., so please save the dates ...Dec. 5th and rehearsal and service on Dec. 11th.
Patricia DeVore, Music Director
Clean Up Day
The Buildings and Grounds Committee
are looking for volunteers who are willing to commit a few hours of time to the FPW Fall Workday on Saturday Nov. 5. Most of
the work (all, if it is raining) will be indoors, and will involve cleaning, painting, rearranging, milling, and socializing. So check your calendars and if you have some time available between 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM on Saturday Nov.5, You can sign up electronically with an e-mail to Nick Haddad at nickhaddad@earthlink.net
Among Us
A warm welcome to three new members:
Susan Guidrey and Valy McDonald
Celeste Oliva.
We hope to schedule a new member welcome for early December. There is occasional confusion about how one becomes a member. In order to be a voting member of the church, you must sign the membership book. Please speak to Mark Harris if you wish to join.
R.E.flections by a chaliceDREamer
by Roberta Altamari
As the season of thanks quickly approaches, I find it increasingly hard to forget the season of anniversary celebration that we just finished. The more I think about our 375-year history, the more I am truly thankful to be a part of this incredible community.
To prepare for my part of Anniversary Sunday, I dove into our historical stories. I found it fascinating! The first interesting fact I discovered was that we haven't been Unitarian Universalist for all this time. We didn't become Unitarian until 1835. For the 200 years before that, we were the town's church as town meetings and church happened in the same space. You had to be a church member to vote on town affairs and you didn't get to pick what church you went to. And becoming a member was much harder than simply signing your name in a book like we do now!
Many people cringe to think that our roots go back to our Puritan founders. Puritans were known to be judgmental and harsh. But it is important to look at our historical stories with the understanding that things happened in the context of the time period people were living. Our ancestors were products and prophets of their times. As we let go of our "modern day" judgments, we might find some gifts that each story brought to our church. Like the gift of democracy and freedom that the Puritans gave us. To this day, our church is led in a democratic style that keeps the power and decision making in the hands of our community. Major decisions at First Parish happen by us and not some distant King or religious leader. We aren't like some of our Catholic neighbors who are having their religious leaders closing their churches against their wishes. And that's something to be very thankful for.
Fast forward through more than half of our church's lifetime and we begin to meet our Unitarian ancestors. And some of these people are pretty amazing. We've got Convers Francis who led us to become Unitarian and was friendly with famous Unitarians like Emerson and Parker. And don't forget his famous sister, Lydia Maria Child, and the little known fact that it was his idea to have Social Hour food after church. Then later we've got John Weiss who was both a First Parish minister preaching the value of science and the founder of our public library.
The 20th century saw some struggle for individuals and the church. But we survived with the dedication of people like Rev. David Rankin who walked around Watertown spreading the good word of our faith and the kindness of folks like Helen Robinson Wright who often put her Unitarian faith into action by helping local people in need and hardships. Their hard work on our behalf is another something to be very thankful for.
I shouldn't spend too much time of retelling our history because most of you have heard it already. We shared it in many ways during our anniversary celebrations. One thing I really ended up liking about our anniversary worship service was hearing this history from the perspective of someone not from Watertown. At first, I was surprised that Mark got Rev. John Buehrens to preach the sermon on this very important day. No offense to Rev. Buehrens as he's the author of my favorite UU book, but I thought our own UU history guru should be preaching for this significant event. Mark knows it, he has lived through a small piece of it, and he loves it - I trusted that he would do our special anniversary justice. But in the end he did honor the event very well by organizing an absolutely wonderful service and by including Rev. Buehrens.
In the big scheme of UU churches across the country, we may be small but we sure do have a long and colorful past. As a past president of the UUA, Rev. Buehrens knew that and highlighted some of the shining stars that came from our congregation. But what was most impressive for me was how Rev. Buehrens made our past relevant to modern times by using it as an example of how we need to be careful to insure our survival in the future. We are a church in a "transient" town where people come and go more frequently than other towns. That means we lose church members more often than the average UU church because they move away. That means we must have a consistent and constant understanding of our need to always be welcoming to potential new members. That means we must strive to find a balance in our programming that interests new visitors and longtime members alike.
We also need to continue to be welcoming to new friends after the first visit. It's important to consider the perspective of newer members in all of our church programming. Something as simple as the way we automatically schedule greeting responsibilities to new friends can be quite surprising to the someone when they first see their name assigned. Do we need a welcome to First Parish letter that summarizes these types of details for new friends? On a similar note, maybe we should make the process for joining our church clear and easily accessible to new folks coming in. We currently have people making great contributions of time and money to First Parish, yet they still haven't signed the membership book. Do they realize that signing the book is simply a statement that they want to be active members of the First Parish community? If they are already doing the harder parts of pledging and volunteering, they already are active ... so what stops them from taking the simple step of signing their name?
So in honor of this upcoming season of thanks, may we take a moment to show appreciation for the lessons and gifts we receive from our past. May we give thanks to everyone who is helping us create a vibrant and growing present. And may we look ahead to our future with hope and gratitude that the actions we are doing today will insure our healthy survival. Blessed be.
Announcements:
Donate your surplus Halloween candy!
Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. Please remember to bring your surplus Halloween candy to church on one of the next two Sundays (November 6 or 13th) as we will donate it to Birthday Wishes to be used in piñatas and goodie bags for the birthday parties of children living in homeless shelters.
Our next Potluck and Sing-A-Long ...
Thanks so everyone who joined us for our first potluck and sing-a-long for all ages in October. Due to the great enjoyment for all those attending, we will do another one on Saturday, November 26th at 6pm. EVERYONE (regardless of talent) is very welcome to join us. If you have a copy of Rise Up Singing, please bring it.
Holiday Pageant is coming ..
Children of all ages are welcome to join us on Sunday, November 27th at 10AM to begin planning the pageant. There are a wide variety of parts ranging from parade marchers to nice solo acts to interest different kids. If you want to be in the pageant but can't make it that Sunday, please let Roberta know your interests before this meeting and we'll save you a part.
A Midshipman’s Musings
As I mentioned last month, I have been spending half of my Sundays teaching the Our Whole Lives (OWL) curriculum to Waltham and Watertown’s 7th-9th graders with Elizabeth Tappan-deFrees. Some of you may not be familiar with this curriculum, and so I thought I would share what it is and what we do.
OWL is a lifespan sexuality education course that was developed by the UUA and United Church of Christ. Its underlying principle is that sexuality is a lifelong experience. We do not become sexual beings only at a certain age; we are always sexual beings. That is why there are several age-appropriate curriculums that span from Kindergarten to Adults.
Sexuality is defined in OWL in terms of 6 categories, known as the circles of sexuality. These categories are Sensuality (relationship with our bodies and the bodies of others), Intimacy (our emotional connection to others), Sexual Identity (gender roles and identity, and sexual orientation), Sexual Health and Reproduction (physiology facts), and Sexualization (using sexuality to influence, control or manipulate others).
We are also using a supplement to the curriculum entitled “Sexuality and our Faith.” This addition to OWL focuses on relating the lessons to our faith as UU’s. It reminds us that there is a spiritual dimension to our sexuality. Because of this, we do a chalice lighting and a chalice extinguishing at the beginning and end of every session.
Each session is very different. Throughout the program we do readings, mini-lectures, discussions, gender breakout groups, play games, do art projects, and view slides. All activities are designed to process information, as well as prepare them to make healthy choices in their lives.
This program is really important, because youth do not often get to talk about sexuality in a healthy way. They may receive the facts at school, but they also receive a lot of misinformation from peers. OWL serves to separate the myths from the facts, as well as understand the issues surrounding sexuality. We do not know what situations our OWL participants may face, but we hope that through the program, they will be bettered prepared to deal with them.
Blessed Be,
Darrick
Magnets
Do you want to add to your refrigerator magnet collection? First Parish now has new refrigerator magnets printed in honor of ur 375th anniversary. Thanks to Bobbie Brown for arranging this. Take one home! Better yet, why not give a magnet to that neighbor or friend of yours who would just love to be part of FPW. You can pick up a magnet this Sunday!
Sunday Covenant Group
The Sunday Covenant Group remains open to new members. We had five at our last meeting, and would like a couple more. Our next meeting will focus on the topic: Death and Immortality. The date is Sunday, November 20, but we are trying a new time. It will be after church at 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., so that people will not have to make two trips on a Sunday. Hope to see you there!
The First Parish Service Auction!
Auction bidding has begun! Only one more Sunday for silent bidding - Look after church
on November 6 (downstairs during social hour), at all the great items in the booklet beautifully prepared by Jean Merkl. Each item has a bid sheet and you can make a bid right then. On November 12th there will be a Pot luck Dinner at 5:30 (Please bring main dish, salad or dessert) and a live Auction at 7:00. There will be 20 items auctioned off live in wild First Parish style and the rest will be won in the silent auction by the highest bidder (close of bidding will be at the time the live auction begins). There will be childcare the night of the auction. Everyone (kids too!) is welcome to participate even if you can’t make it on the 12th. The booklet is now available at coffee hour. We emailed it out as well. This year the dinner begins at an earlier time, and we are auctioning off fewer items live, so that things will move along quickly. It’s a great way to get to know others and have some fun!
See you on the 12th
Women and Work
Women and Work will meet on Tuesday, November 29th at 6:30pm in the conference room. This is a change from our usual meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month. There will be no December meeting.
Patsy Murray, a member of Women and Work, and a life coach will give us tools to design the seven environments in our life to support reaching our goals and/or changing a behavior. According to Patsy, designed environments reduce stress by setting things up to get done more easily and with less effort.
Not sure what the seven environments are - come and explore with us. If you are interested in coming and are not on the e-mail list, please contact Joani Mountain at joanimountain@aol.com or call her at 617-596-1895.
LOOK - Minns Lecture at First Parish
One of the prestigious MINNS LECTURES for 2005 will be given here in Watertown: (see November 17 below)
THE BOSTON RELIGION
Special Themes Celebrating 375 Years !
Nov. 8 “The Boston Religion:” in Slides and Commentary (7:00 p.m.)
Kings Chapel House, 64 Beacon St.
Nov. 10 “Congregational Life: From Standing Order to Free Association”
(10:30, a.m.)
First Church, Roxbury, John Eliot Square
Nov. 15 “Transcendentalism and Its Transformations” (7:00 p.m.)
First Church, Boston, 66 Marlborough St.
Nov. 17 “From Unsectarian Sect to Multifaith Faith” (7:00 p.m.)
First Parish, Watertown, 35 Church St.
Lecturer: Rev Peter T. Richardson, author of The Boston Religion: Unitarianism In Its Capital City, and Four Spiritualities: A
Psychology of Contemporary Spiritual Choice, and several other titles. He is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society,
Secretary of the U. S. Chapter of I.A.R.F. and President of the Maine Association of Psychological Type. Peter is a friend of Mark and Andrea’s and emeritus minister in Andover
He preached here a couple of years ago.
Earthquake Relief
This has been a difficult year for people around the globe with tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes. The UU Service Committee has set up a fund in response to the recent earthquake in Pakistan, where thousands are without homes. Some 2.5 million people are without homes. People are dying of exposure and untreated wounds. Thousands are living out in the open in their destroyed
villages, without adequate food, water, or medical care in rapidly dropping temperatures and frequent rainstorms. There simply are not enough doctors, tents, blankets, and medical supplies going out to people yet. It is essential to step up the aid distribution effort now. Donations to the UUSC-UUA South Asia Earthquake Relief Fund can be made online or by mail at P.O. Box 845259, Boston, MA 02284-5259. For more information about the UUSC-UUA response to the earthquake or to make a donation online, visit our website, www.uusc.org.
See Chicago!
The congregation of Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist invites you to join us for a weekend getaway to the city of Chicago, June 2 – 4, 2006. For the two nights of your stay, you’ll be hosted by members of Countryside’s friendly and welcoming congregation in the northwest suburbs. Your weekend includes hearty dinners with entertainment, breakfast at your host's home, and a full-day visit to the city.
The highlight of the weekend is the city’s celebrated architecture. Countryside has arranged for our guests to enjoy two of the best architecture tours the city has to offer. See the soaring towers of the downtown area, acclaimed landmarks, and the new Millennium Park, which features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists, and designers.
After a busy Saturday in the city, you’ll appreciate the peaceful setting of Countryside’s award-winning building and prairie garden. For details on this unique opportunity, email ccuu@ccuu.org or call 847-359-8440, ext. 1.
Experience The People and Places Of The Civil Rights Movement
Some of the places of the civil rights movement are readily accessible: the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, the church whose burning drew Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman to Philadelphia, Mississippi. But fewer and fewer of the people who gave such places their meaning survive to talk with us. Both places and people are included in a tour being offered in March of 2006 by Meadville Lombard Theological School.
The March 18-26 tour has been planned and will be led by the Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson, who was involved in the early stages of the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign and was the Unitarian Universalist minister in Mississippi 1969-84. He led similar tours in 2004 and 2005.
The tour, by luxury motor coach, will include all admission charges, overnight accommodations, and most meals in the $1,000 cost. Visits with 1960s activists and videos on the bus will supplement the site visits. The tour will begin and end in Chicago, Illinois.
For full details and registration information, you can visit the Meadville Lombard website (www.meadville.edu http://www.meadville.edu> ) or write to the Academic Office, Meadville Lombard Theological School, 5701 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.
Registration is on a first-come basis with some of the 30 seats reserved for theological students who will be taking this as a credit course.
A participant in the 2004 Tour said, "the stories from the folks who were 'in the trenches' make the Movement come alive." Another participant described it as "seeing the Movement through the real experiences of real people."
Watertown Thanksgiving Service
The annual Watertown Interfaith Thanksgiving service will take place on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m. at St. John‘s Methodist Church, Mt Auburn Street, Watertown. Mark will be participating, and all the religious groups in Watertown are invited to this event sponsored by the Watertown Ministerial Association.
WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price
This 98-minute documentary takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel...
and shop. http://www.walmartmovie.com
WHEN: Tuesday, November 15 - 7:00pm
(please arrive early to help set up chairs)
WHERE: First Parish of Watertown - Parish Hall (downstairs!) 35 Church Street, Watertown MA 02472 corner of Church and Summer Streets, near Watertown Square
8:45 Q&A led by Mil Niepold *
* Mil is a labor and human rights consultant to corporations, NGOs and academia. Current clients include the European Commission, Oxfam America, Verité, Reebok, Calvert Social Investments, UNIFEM and World Monitors, Inc.
Please RSVP with the number of people attending to: hoerrner@hotmail.com
For more information, please contact: mil.niepold@comcast.net
Thanks to First Parish of Watertown for generously donating their space for
this event, and to MoveOn.org for organizing the nationwide coalition of
screenings of this important documentary.
Women and Work
Women and Work will meet on Tuesday, November 29th at 6:30pm in the conference room. This is a change from our usual meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month. There will be no December meeting.
Patsy Murray, a member of Women and Work, and a life coach will give us tools to design the seven environments in our life to support reaching our goals and/or changing a behavior. According to Patsy, designed environments reduce stress by setting things up to get done more easily and with less effort. Not sure what the seven environments are - come and explore with us. If you are interested in coming and are not on the e-mail list, please contact Joani Mountain at joanimountain@aol.com or call her at 617-596-1895.
New UU Class
Mark Harris will be leading a New UU class for newcomers to First Parish on Sunday, mornings November 13 and 20 at 9:30 a.m.
We will have sign-ups at the Newcomer Breakfast on November 6. Those who cannot attend the breakfast should contact Mark directly. This class familiarizes new people with our history and traditions and the ways in which the church functions. Come find out all you have ever wanted to know about UUism.