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This Black History Month, we're celebrating

our six Black-led partner organizations making history every day

through incredible and impactful work in their communities.

Learn more at oldsouth.org/black-history-month

THIS SUNDAY, February 5th, 2023

9AM

FIRST Worship 

Informal & Vibrant in the Gordon Chapel

Rick Spalding preaching

Coffee Hour following 


10AM Community Hour

Festival Choir Rehearsal

Old South Forum

Church School 

Sunday Bible Study

11AM

FESTIVAL Worship

Grand & Expressive in the Sanctuary

Rick Spalding preaching

Coffee Hour following


For links to bulletins

and the worship livestream

go to oldsouth.org/Sundays

OLD SOUTH FORUM

Sundays, 10 a.m., 2nd Floor Mary Norton Hall,

and on Zoom, password: Community

This casual, no-commitment, come-when-you-can forum hosts series on a variety of topics. Clergy, congregation members, and special guests share in leading sessions. During February we will learn more about our Christian Service and Outreach Grantees and program partners.

Alternatives for Community and Environment

February 5th

Alternatives for Community and Environment is committed to building the power of communities of color to fight environmental racism, create healthy sustainable communities and achieve environmental justice. Also learn about the Canopy of Care project, an exciting upcoming partnership between Old South's Climate Crisis Task Force, Speak for the Trees Boston and Habitat for Humanity.

Winter Walk

February 12th

common cathedral's Winter Walk raises awareness and funds to help end homelessness in our communities. Learn more about the history and goals of this amazing event, and then head outside to cheer on the OSC team as they cross the finish line.

Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition

February 19th

Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition is OSC's newest grantee and works to promote health, wellness, and an active lifestyle for the Mattapan community. We'll be joined by Executive Director, Shavel'le Olivier and Food Access Manager, Vickey Siggers. 


GBIO Housing Justice Teach In!

February 26th

This past Fall, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) adopted a multi-faceted, statewide Housing Justice Campaign focused on public housing, affordable rental and homeownership opportunity, and housing access. We define Housing Justice as the ability for all people to have safe, healthy, and clean places to live in their communities. We are seeking to improve housing access and quality for groups that have been unfairly denied it and to support financing, zoning, and ownership policies that help to close racial and class disparities in the housing market.

WORSHIP ON YOUTUBE LIVE

Not a fan of Vimeo? We have a way for you to tune in to worship! Simply go to youtube.com/OldSouthChurch to visit our YouTube page once we go live and the service will be the first video on your screen. You can also subscribe to us to receive notifications of when we're live.

HEALING WORSHIP

Sunday, February 12th, 5pm, on Zoom, Click here to join

Please join us to take a moment for rest and renewal in the presence of God and other spiritual companions gathering by Zoom. All are welcome to share this quiet space and lift up our concerns, our losses, our hurts, and our celebrations in the Healing Presence of God and one another.

JAZZ WORSHIP

Thursdays, 6pm, in the Gordon Chapel or at oldsouth.org/jazz

Join us on in Gordon Chapel on Thursday evening for Jazz Worship! You don’t have to be a jazz aficionado to feel at home - just someone who wants to immerse yourself in soulful music, inspiring words, and creative liturgy. It’s intimate and it’s welcoming. We start preludes shortly before 6:00 pm. Click here for a hard copy of the song titles, credits, and hymns to print in advance. 

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN NEWS

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PLEDGE YET?

Click here to learn more

Last Sunday’s Consecration Sunday isn’t the end! Pledges can still be made and are always dedicated to the work of Justice, Mercy, and Beauty, a gesture of Faithful Belonging - to God and to Each Other.

OLD SOUTH BY THE NUMBERS

As we gathered for our Consecration Sunday this past weekend and many of you pledged your support, we hope Old South By the Numbers helped you learn a bit about our budget and the congregational ANNUAL GIVING upon which it depends. This year we tried a whimsical way of passing along some information about our "ways and means."  Each week of the Stewardship Campaign we gave you a number (see below) that represented something special about Old South Church and how congregational support is used. See if you can figure out what this last number is!


220 is this week's number.

What do you think it represents?


Click here for the answer.

TRANSITION NEWS

WELCOME REV. ASHLEY J. POPPERSON

Rev. Ashley J. Popperson was the enthusiastic choice of the Search Group and unanimously approved by Council to be an Associate Minister at Old South. A seasoned pastor, a great organizer, a strong voice for justice and gifted and creative liturgist - a native of Colorado, now our neighbor in Jamaica Plain - Ashley will begin her ministry at Old South the week of February 8th. Read more about Ashley, and our call to her to join our staff and ministry by clicking here.

SENIOR CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR TRANSITION

Click here to read the full announcement

Our colleague, friend, and fellow church member Helen McCrady - Senior Administrator Extraordinaire and, in so many ways, weaver of the many-stranded, richly complex, ingeniously patterned tapestry that is the life of our church - has announced that she will step into a richly-deserved retirement at the threshold of this summer. Helen's last day in the office of which she has been such a superlative steward will be May 31st.


The Council has appointed Candace Kosturko to chair a Helen McCrady Celebration Committee - from whom you can expect to hear soon about plans for our joyful, grateful acknowledgement of all that Helen's service and company have meant to us. Meanwhile, the Staff and the Council are already at work on a process that will lead, we hope by Eastertide, to identifying a new Church Administrator; please pray for us!


Old South has weathered many changes across our storied history. Here's another - and, with your help, and the help of the still-speaking God, we'll rise to it. But we couldn't be the church we are now without Helen's faithful stewardship - and so on your behalf we say, not for the first time and not for the last: Thank you and God bless you, Helen!

SENIOR MINISTER SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE

Click here to read the full update

This month, the Old South Church Senior Minister Search Committee has started interviewing candidates in discernment about our Senior Minister position. As you know, we spent the fall reviewing profiles and letters of interest and selected a small group of ministers that we felt might be a good fit for our congregation. By the end of February, we anticipate that we will be ready to choose a smaller set of candidates with whom we would like to engage more deeply. We will be extending invitations to that smaller group to join us in Boston this spring for longer in-person meetings. We are working together as a committee now to craft a collection of experiences for the in-person visits that will permit the kind of mutual discernment this process requires. We hope to be ready to introduce a final candidate to the congregation before summer!

GROWING AND LIVING IN COMMUNITY

WE MAKE THE ROAD...

          to a compassionate, just society  

                      abcdefghijklmnopqrs  ... BY WALKING!

Sunday, February 12th, 8:30am, Email Rick Spalding to register

Old South is one of the proud sponsors of the WinterWalk - a chance for us to show our unhoused neighbors that this city cares about the,, and to express our commitment to do what we can do to ease their struggles. We're aiming for a team of 40 Old South walkers! (Your registration fee is covered by our sponsorship - but the Walk welcomes additional donations to make more resources available to our neighbors in need.) Arrive at Old South by 8:45 a.m.next Sunday morning ... walk whatever part of the 40-minute route works for you ... enjoy a grab'n'go breakfast ... and be back at Old South in time for Festival Worship at 11:00 a.m.! Sometimes we pray by walking. And sometimes, because we walk, things get better.

COMPOSER DAVID HURD JOINS US FOR WORSHIP

Sunday, February 12th

At Festival Worship Old South’s music ministry will present a hymn festival led by, and featuring the works of, Dr. David Hurd — widely recognized as among the foremost church musicians and concert organists in the United States. Dr. Hurd is the composer of dozens of hymns, choral works, settings of the liturgy, and organ works — many of which we’re sure to sample during the service! Following 39 years as Director of Chapel Music, Organist, and Professor of Church Music at General Theological Seminary in New York City, Dr. Hurd now serves as Organist-Choirmaster of the famed Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square. His Hymn Festival at Old South, which will see our Festival Choir joined by the Old South Brass, will be a glorious celebration of Dr. Hurd’s groundbreaking career and creative artistry.

CONNECTIONS LUNCHEON

Sunday, February 12th, following Festival Worship, 4th Floor Guild Room

Contact Rev. Katherine Schofield for more information, in-person only

To be a member of Old South Church is to enter the company of Revolutionary Era heroes, abolitionists, suffragettes, anti-poverty crusaders, and poets. Our saints include Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Phillis Wheatley... and maybe you! Want to learn more about the life of this community of faith and break bread with other newcomers and church members? Join our Connections Info Session!

MARTHA SCHICK'S ORDINATION!

Wednesday, February 15th, 7pm, in the Gordon Chapel

All are welcome to take part in joyful worship as our own Martha Schick is ordained to the ministry. She has been called to the Pastoral Residency Program at the Wellesley Village Church.

SUNDAY BIBLE STUDY 

Sundays, 10am, 4th Floor Phillis Wheatley Room,

click here to join via Zoom, password: BibleStudy

Delve into the day’s scripture passage heard in worship. This no-homework Bible study delights in taking a scholarly look at ancient texts. Don’t leave your questions at the door; we need them. For more information contact Katherine Schofield

THROUGH THE BIBLE

Thursdays, 7pm, 4th Floor Phillis Wheatley Room and on Zoom

Join us as we journey at a reflective and thorough pace through the Hebrew Bible. We are excited to welcome a new Bible Study Instructor to lead this group. Andrew Vosburgh, a student at Harvard Divinity School, has a deep appreciation of biblical hermeneutics and is well versed in ancient languages so will bring many gifts to the group. 

GREEN TIP: Moments of Hope from 2022

Solar power in Europe has soared by almost 50 per cent in 2022, according to a new report from industry group SolarPower Europe. It reveals that the EU installed a record-breaking 41.4 GW of solar this year - enough to power the equivalent of 12.4 million homes.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

"Serving on the committees showed me the dedication and the hard work that members offer to enhance this community."


Watch the video to hear Ashton Goodfield's Stewardship Reflection.

Worship recordings & transcripts

VIRTUAL JAZZ WORSHIP

Missed last night's Jazz Worship? Visit the link below to watch the service. Also, check out our SoundCloud to listen to all of the Willie Sordillo Ensemble's Jazz Coffee House music. It's free! 

Yesterday's Jazz Worship
Sound Cloud
OTHER INFORMATION

COVID PRECAUTIONS 

  • Masking is optional.
  • Masks are available at the front desk for those who choose to wear one.
  • We strongly encourage everyone to be fully vaxxed and boosted, to attend to handwashing, and to refrain from entering the building if you have so much as a sniffle.


MASKED SECTIONS OF THE SANCTUARY AND CHAPEL

Did you know that we have masked sections in the Sanctuary and Chapel? We do! It's in the left transept (under the balcony) of the Sanctuary. In the Gordon Chapel, the Columbarium is the designated section. In both sections, masks are required. If you still aren't sure how to get to either section, ask an usher!

SANCTUARY IN THE CITY

Our Sanctuary in this City is open to visitors for prayer and reflection.

Monday-Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.; Fridays 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.;

and Weekends, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Corey Spence, Weekday Receptionist, Old South Church