"If you are trying to transform a brutalized society into one where people can live in dignity and hope, you begin with the empowering of the most powerless. You build from the ground up."

― Adrienne Rich (1929 - 2012)

Sunday Services (Hybrid, 11am)

Apr 6   "The Bible in 15 Minutes"

..................Rev. Steve Wilson

In this sermon/lecture, we provide a quick expose on the Bible. Come for either a revelatory lesson or a refresher of the bible’s origins, and variations. Today’s service is a historic walk through the twists and turns of how the world’s perennial best-seller came to be. 

Apr 13   "Spring and the Rebirth of Hope"

.................Jim Scott and Martha Sandefer

Jim Scott is back and joined by his friend and collaborator Martha Sandefer. Jim and Martha will sing most of the songs together as they lead the service celebrating the spring and it’s inevitable spirit of renewal and rebirth.

Martha is the composer of Building A New Way, a much-loved song in our hymnbook, Singing the Journey. Jim’s songs in the hymnbooks and his activism, such as creating the Green Sanctuary program, have brought him recognition across the UU world. 

Apr 20    "TBA"

............... Stephanie Trudel

Apr 27   "Earth Day Celebration" 

............... Reb Yaakov "Trek" Reef

What does it mean for us to be a people of the Earth? Come join us in celebrating our Blue Boat Home! If you'd like to be a part of worship this Sunday, please contact Trek at treef@meadville.edu.

Rev. Steve Wilson began serving UU congregations in 2003 after completing his M.Div at Boston University. He recently returned from California to be with family and is our ¼ time minister. He balances humor, spirituality, and a deep commitment to service in his sermons and deeds. In addition to preaching 2x a month, he leads a writing class and an Adult RE class each month. Rev. Steve is also serving our pastoral care needs.

Stephanie Trudel is currently serving in her third year as Lay Minister at First Church UU of Leominster. She also serves on the board of the Montachusett Martin Luther King J. Coalition and is deeply committed to Social and Racial Justice. She finds peace and connection in nature. She also enjoys reading, poetry, gardening and Taylor Swift. 

Yaakov "Trek" Reef (he/they) is a guide, student, and teacher of wilderness spirituality and deep ecology. His work includes leading workshops, directing retreats, and serving as a guest in the pulpit at churches, synagogues, and meeting houses throughout the Northeast. Trek is an NAI Certified Interpretive Guide, a SOLO Certified Wilderness First Responder, and an ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Guide. Presently, they are an Aspirant Minister (sponsored by our congregation) studying for the Unitarian Universalist ministry and has begun a Masters of Divinity program at Meadville Lombard Theological School.

Jim Scott has visited more than 700 UU Churches across the US, Canada and UK, leading services, presenting benefit concerts, and offering workshops. Jim's songs are included in the UU Hymnbooks and his much loved “Gather the Spirit” has been sung across the denomination. Years of activism are reflected in Jim's work. His songs, poetry and short stories address issues of ecology, justice and peace with insight and gentle wit. Jim's musical-activist journeys have included concert collaborations with renowned Jazz, Classical, and Folk artists as well as numerous concerts with choirs. His list of published choral works continues to grow and his musical creativity includes soundtracks for PBS, a stage musical, and many recordings of songs.

Church Office Hours

Mon..9 - 2pm

Thur..9 - 2pm (Virtual)

Fri.....9 - 2pm 

May Newsletter Deadline

Sunday, Apr 27

If you have anything that you would like included in the May Billerica Banner, please submit it to Teresa.

Leave a note on the desk, in the mailbox, e-mail admin@uubillerica.org or call 978-663-2293.

Early submissions are appreciated! 

Did you know we have three separate newsletters?

Monthly - Billerica Banner (this one)

Weekly - Service Information and upcoming events

Social Justice - to stay apprised of the committee's actions

If you would like to change your subscription settings, send an email to admin@uubillerica.org

An opinion piece in the Washington Post mentioned Unitarianism as one of five strategies to combat angst about the upcoming Trump presidency. You may want to share with friends and loved ones with an invitation to join us for an event or service. Here’s an excerpt from the piece (it may be paywalled):

Don’t doomscroll about Trump. Do these five things instead by Perry Bacon, Jr.

“You might be angry and fearful of another four years of Donald Trump being president. That’s how I feel. I want to encourage you to channel some of that frustration into these five actions: ….

… 2. Join a Unitarian Universalist congregation

If you’re part of a Christian, Muslim, Jewish or other religious group that meets regularly and engages politically, skip this. But there is a growing number of Americans, particularly on the left, who are religiously unaffiliated and not regularly congregating with people who share their values.

They should consider the Unitarian Universalists. I recently started regularly attending a UU service in Louisville. It’s much more political than the Christian churches I have previously been a member of. That turned me off at first. Since politics is essentially my job, I try (usually unsuccessfully) to avoid discussions of elections and government in my off-hours. And I was leery of a church whose openly liberal values would clearly turn off Trump supporters and therefore ensure a congregation that didn’t include many Republicans.

But before the election, church members engaged in politics in a practical way, encouraging congregants to go canvassing in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment here to create a school vouchers program. (It failed.) So at least on Sundays, I was in a community of people working on a concrete, discrete local issue, as opposed to nervously speculating about Vice President Kamala Harris’s poll numbers.

Post-election, I was relieved to be in a space where we openly discussed shared values and ideals we felt had been rejected by America in electing Trump, such as support of immigrants and LGBTQ+ people.”

A follow-up letter by Teresa Amabile 0f Amherst, Massachusetts was published a few weeks later in the Washington Post, December 15, 2024:

A source of renewal

I applaud the practical advice offered by Perry Bacon Jr. in his Nov. 27 column, “Don’t doomscroll about Trump. Do these five things instead.” And I wanted to expand on his second tip: “Join a Unitarian Universalist congregation.” Unitarian Universalist congregations are particularly well-suited to supporting wounded hearts, anxious minds and bodies itching to take action. And even a practicing Catholic like me can feel at home in one.

Unitarian Universalism is a “non-creedal” religion, meaning that it neither requires nor bars any particular theological beliefs. Rather, members covenant — promise each other — to strive to live by six shared values, all centered on love. Two of those values are especially relevant to the current U.S. political reality: “Equity: We declare that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love, and compassion”; and “Interdependence: We honor the interdependent web of all existence and acknowledge our place in it.”

Not only do members of our congregations explore the spiritual and philosophical meanings of these values but, in my experience, we also move toward collective action in living them daily. My own congregation has self-organizing groups of members leading us in actions to protect democracy, vulnerable immigrants, the Earth and more. Most actions are focused locally, but we believe that the effects will ripple out beyond this place and this time.

Being centered on love means that we strive to support each other and everyone we meet with compassionate presence through the struggles of both public and personal life. It means that we strive to work not out of anger, spite or hatred, but deep, caring respect for all our fellow beings, whatever their political opinions. It means that I, who believe in the divine nature of Jesus Christ, can share a pew on Sunday with a beloved atheist, finding deep fellowship and a shared commitment to making this country a better place for everyone.

I urge you to find a Unitarian Universalist congregation to visit or join. Whatever your religious background or beliefs, it might be just the right community for you, right now.

Minister’s Corner

Earth Day: An overdue conversation with ourselves

As a Pastor of a Unitarian Universalist Church there is no easier service to prepare for than the annual Earth Day sermon. No more information about any morally relevant topic pours in on us faster than the environmental impact of this or that.

And, in order to capture the pace and urgency of the topic, I would like to instruct all “Faith Matters” readers to read this fast. The problem is crucial, and the pace should feel a little frenetic. Ok, ready!

From Polar bears to pop bottles, bees to trees, asthma to asbestos,

…urgent info about carbon, coal, congestion, and climate change rush forward.

Pictures I can use for the cover of the order of service are everywhere.

The angles and content on what can and/or should be said are so plentiful that Earth Day-related news and appeals pile up in my physical and now digital recycling bin.

Yours too, I suspect.

It requires no effort at all to come up with something important to say from the pulpit about how we should change our behavior regarding our fragile home.

Ironically, this concern is due to the remarkable recent successes of humans. 

In a very short time frame, we have improved the quality, comfort, and longevity of life.

We as a species are, as the kids say, “crushing it.”

A true statement in both positive and negative ways.

The trouble is that our success, truly remarkable as it is, is threatening the place that birthed us and the only real place we can live.

Again, it’s ironic. Above all else the challenge of our generation, our era, our culture is to hold onto as many of the wonderful things we have worked to accomplish without destroying ourselves in the process. Given our newfound technological capacities and success as a species, of all the things on our collective wish list that we want to do, the only thing we NEED to do, is make any future success, sustainable.

A task so simple and yet so hard.

Although the EPA is being gutted along with oversight on commerce and industry, I think what is really needed is to have a very difficult multi-generational conversation. One that stretches seven generations into the future, as some Native American traditions suggest, but also seven generations into the past.

The results of that conversation should be what we use to set policy.

I imagine a conversation with the generation that came of age during the industrial revolution might go like this…

The planes and the cars and the mines and the central air, and the frozen food, and all that you dreamed up and struggled so hard to put into place has worked. The vision has been largely successful and continues to spread around the globe.

Thank you, seriously thank you, we are grateful.

That was an awesome transformation

But, now there are roughly 8 billion of us, and…well…

I think you should sit down to hear this.

We have discovered that the life that we successfully built rests on the unexamined premise that the planet was infinite.

There is no need to feel defensive.

You/we could have never seen this coming

The truth is, we are grateful for so much of what you have handed us.

However, …and this is hard to say…. (our eyes turn down and bashfully we say) but we feel the need to go another way.” “Please forgive us.”

Can you imagine that?

For us to not ruin the earth, imagination will be required.

For change to happen, we humans are going to need events, tools, rituals, metaphors, images, and imagination to pull us along, so that we can begin to take seriously the ecological spot we are in.

Good news - there is potential for change.

Evidence that change could happen quickly is all around us, and disappointingly not.

Some of us are in denial. Some of us are angry. Some of us resistant. It’s all very reminiscent of Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s stages of grief.

As modern religious people, we need to introduce powerful images, that are intentional and emotionally move us to greater empathy with the planet.

I encourage you to pause to think about what images, what ideas we might employ to get our species more sustainable. As religious people, this is our new work.

Rev. Steve

The Billerica Interfaith Association is excited for the 2025 Spring Luncheons with worship service on Wednesday afternoons during the season of Lent. This year there will be 3 luncheons with faith communities collaborating to provide the buffet lunch and worship service. Each luncheon will be held at First Parish Church in our Parish Hall and Sanctuary. The luncheons begin at 11:45 and are followed by a short worship service from 12:30 to 1:00. All are welcome to these free community gatherings and encouraged to come to any or all of these luncheons, enjoy good food and fellowship and to bring family, neighbors, and friends!

During the last luncheon this year, our primary responsibility is set up and clean up. Volunteers should connect with Rev. Steve or Jeanne Landers.

April 2nd Hosts

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

Anjuman E-Ezzi (Masjid)

PYSANKY EGG DECORATING

Mondays during Lent | April 7th and 14th | 7-9pm | Parish Hall

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Thursday | Apr 10 | 7pm | Zoom

The Trustees meet once monthly on Zoom to discuss a wide variety of matters concerning the running of our congregation. All members of the congregation are warmly invited to attend these monthly meetings. If you have any ideas you’d like the Trustees to consider, please let a Trustee know and we will try to place it on the next agenda for discussion.

GORDON GIBB COMMUNITY LUNCH

Sat | Apr 12th | 11:30 - 1 | Parish Hall

BILLERICA CLEAN UP GREEN UP

Sat| Apr 26th | 10:00 - 12:00pm

Each year, Billerica residents are encouraged to spend a day cleaning up in their neighborhood, in local parks, and around town. Members of the church will be planting flowers, picking up yard debris, and more. Please sign up with Barbara Moloney.

The Sunshine Gals Kitchen, Inc. (a non-profit org. based in Billerica, focused on economic and social outreach for our residents) will be providing monthly luncheons for families living in Billerica. These luncheons will be homemade and served at the First Parish Church.

Everyone is welcome!

More Exciting Events!

Get ready to Meet the Moment at the 2025 General Assembly! We’re thrilled to share the first look at our schedule grid, featuring a blend of in-person and virtual programming designed to connect, inspire, and empower our Unitarian Universalist community. From transformative worship experiences to thought-provoking Learning Labs, powerful featured speakers, and the always-anticipated Ware Lecture, this year's program will have something for everyone. 

We’ll share more details in the coming months as our program takes shape! Remember, this schedule is subject to change, so stay tuned for updates and get ready to make the most of GA 2025 in Baltimore and online. We can’t wait to connect with you! 

Unitarian Universalists want to contribute to a pro-democracy movement in America. To do that, we must acquire the needed skills. We are therefore inviting you to a series of trainings to grow and strengthen your local networks.

This effort is c3 friendly and non-partisan, however, the issues at stake, the impacts, the consequences, all demand accurate description and analysis, so speakers will be unafraid to name the harms being done and approach as autocratic. 

If learning how to mobilize your networks for the pro-democracy movement of this era sounds important, join us!

All sessions will start at 8 p.m. ET and run for 2 hrs

Thu. March 27 • 1st Training: How did we get here? Introduction to organizing under creeping autocracy

Thu. April 3 • 2nd Training: Building to a critical mass locally (outreach)

Thu. April 10 • 3rd Training: How to talk to people you might disagree with

Thu. April 17 • 4th Training: Making Political Violence Backfire

Thu. April 24 • 5th Training: Mutual Aid & Structures for Stronger Local Organizing

Thu. May 1 • 6th Training: Advanced Strategic Organizing Skills

Thu. May 8 • 7th Training: Advanced Strategic Organizing Skills II

Each training will include a mini-action for you to take to start building power, with break-out rooms to plan the next steps, music, and more! The goal of each training is for you to feel empowered and equipped with the tools needed to take action. 

Join the learning and let's get ready to mobilize to demand democracy and protect our freedoms in this new challenging environment.

This is for our faith, our funds, our families, and our futures.

Humorous Dessert (Actual lines lifted from Church Bulletins)

* The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility. Ushers will eat latecomers.

* We are grateful for the help of those who cleaned up the grounds around the church building and the rector.

* A worm welcome to all who have come today.

* Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Nelson’s sermons.

Coffee Hour: We are returning to a rotating schedule of hosting. Please sign up for a Sunday in person or by letting Deirdre Leger know. 



Welcoming Committee: Greeters are needed! Greeters are often the first face visitors encounter at our church and can serve as a friendly welcome when they arrive.

BELLY DANCE CLASSES IN MAY!

Come and learn the basics of this ancient and graceful dance! We will meet on Wednesday evenings in May from 7pm to 8pm in the Parish Hall or Room 2.  Wear loose, comfortable clothing and bring a hip scarf if you have one. (Hip scarves will be available to borrow). Classes are Free with a $5 per class suggested donation to First Parish Church.  This is a great way to have fun while getting some exercise! Instructor, Brita Learned, has danced since the 1970s and heads up the church's belly dance troupe. All are welcome!

Minister Emeriti

Rev. Nannene Gowdy

Rev. Eugene “Woody” Widrick

¼ Time Minister

Rev. Steve Wilson

Music

Joohwa Parks, Organist

Liz Cardenas, Guitarist    

President, Barbara Moloney, 978.621.5732

babsmoloney1@gmail.com 

Vice President, Lisa O’Connor, 978.761.3539

loconnor466@gmail.com

Treasurer, Ann O'Connor, 508.878.4563

.anno6726@gmail.com

Clerk, Kenny English, 678.343.1133

ken_english83@yahoo.com

Matt Braga, 978.600.8015

matthieu.j.braga@gmail.com

Joyce Wilson, 978.609.5574

jawroy1111@gmail.com

Bob Leger, 978.488.8741 bob_leger@verizon.net

Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association

The Unitarian Universalist Association will devote its resources to and use its organizational powers for religious, educational, and humanitarian purposes. Its primary purposes are:

• to assist congregations in their vital ministries,
• to support and train leaders both lay and professional,
• to foster lifelong faith formation and spiritual development,
• to heal historic injustices,
• to support and encourage the creation of new Unitarian Universalist communities, and
• to advance our Unitarian Universalist values in the world. 

As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our Association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love. Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love. Inseparable from one another, these shared values are:  Interdependence, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Generosity, and Justice. 

The Mission of the First Parish Church...

is to open its doors to all people who seek a religious home where the Unitarian Universalist Principles are upheld. We respect our diversity of views, as we encourage full participation in all aspects of our parish life. 

This Congregation affirms and promotes the full participation of persons in all our activities and endeavors, including membership, programming, hiring practices, and the calling of religious professionals, without regard to race, color, gender, physical or mental challenge, affectional or sexual orientation, age, class, national origin, or political affiliation. Our goal is to nurture: An intergenerational sense of community; Individual responsibility; Spiritual inquiry; Moral reflection; Sensitivity to others; Personal growth; Social outreach and public service; A just world

Thus do we honor the gathering of this Church in 1658 by those who sought to walk with God.