Our Latest News and Activities

June 14, 2026

 

Please join us on this third Sunday after Pentecost

at 8am or 10am

for worship in the Old North Sanctuary.

The 10am service will be livestreamed on our website, www.onchurch.org.

Rev. Christine Hribar's Sermon:

"The Best Way to Learn"

Scripture Reading:
Philippians 2:2-13



View the bulletin.

Make an online offering.

THIS WEEKEND

The 342nd Annual Meeting of the church will be held on Sunday, June 14 at 11 A.M. in the Sanctuary.

Agenda items include:

·   Approval of Minutes of the Annual Budget Meeting on Feb. 8, 2026

·   Recognition of Blair Lord, Treasurer

·   Prudential Board Update on Church Repairs

·   Approval of 2026-2027 Board Roster

·   Other Business

·   Retirement of Lisa Nahatis, Office Manager

·   Vote on Offer to Rev. Christine Hribar as Settled Associate Pastor (Half-Time)


Following the meeting, there will be a reception in Parish Hall to celebrate Lisa Nahatis on her retirement.



Copies of the Annual Report are available in the narthex and by clicking this LINK.

LEADERSHIP BOARD RECOMMENDS CALLING

REVEREND CHRISTINE HRIBAR TO

SETTLED ASSOCIATE PASTOR POSITION

Reverend Christine Hribar has served a critical role over the past two years as Old North’s Designated Term Associate Pastor. Her presence in the church school and pulpit as well with our successful and growing intergenerational programs have blessed this congregation, particularly our children and families.

Her initial call was a designated term of September 2024—September 2026. Following processes laid out by our denomination’s governing bodies, a Discernment Committee (Reverend Popperson, Roy Martin, Blair Lord, and Richard von Rueden) was formed to reflect on the last two years of ministry and determine next steps.

After obtaining feedback from the Deacons, the Christian Formation Ministry Board, and Reverend Popperson, the members of the Committee met with Reverend Hribar and also the full Leadership Board. Based on the evaluation and discussions, as well as the needs of the church at this time, the Leadership Board voted unanimously to recommend that Old North Church extend a call to Reverend Hribar to become Old North’s Settled Associate Pastor, a half-time position.

Please come to the annual meeting on June 14th following the 10 A.M. service, when the congregation will vote on formally calling Reverend Hribar into covenant with Old North as its Settled Associate Pastor.  

Leadership Board May Meeting minutes are available by 


clicking this LINK. The next Leadership Board meeting with our new 2026-2027 roster will be on Thursday, July 9th at 7pm.

We recognize and celebrate Lisa Nahatis as she retires from her role as Office Manager. She has provided Old North with dedicated, invaluable service for 24 years! Please join us at the annual meeting, when we will honor Lisa, and then join in a celebration in the Parish Hall of her and her work for ONC. If you would like to contribute to a monetary gift Lisa, you can give cash (in an envelope clearly labeled "gift for Lisa") or a check made out to Old North Church with "gift for Lisa" in the memo line. 


If you would like to send cards or notes to Lisa directly, please mail to:

Lisa Nahatis
10 Lebeau Dr 
Middleton, MA 01949 

SUMMER AT OLD NORTH

Photo Credit: Rev. Dr. Dennis Calhoun

Summer is here and time to move our eight o'clock service to Marblehead's beautiful Chandler Hovey Park, beginning Sunday, June 21st.  Once again, the Welcome/Nurturing Committee of the Community Life Ministry Board will be providing coffee and homemade goodies after the service. 

If you have never been to the lighthouse service, you might want to give it a try. Bring your own chairs or blankets, dress as you please, bring your furry friend....just come and immerse yourself in the beauty that God has created. Then stay for coffee and a chat with friends. As we have done in the past, and in keeping with the church's commitment to sustainability, all service goods used will be carried out and composted. Please bring your own coffee cups.

 

As in the past, if it is raining at 8 am, the service will be moved to the Sanctuary. Look for the sandwich board sign at the Devereux Beach entrance: if green, go to the Lighthouse; if red, the service will be held in the Sanctuary.  

At the beginning of the summer boating, sailing and racing season we will participate in an ancient tradition: the Blessing of the Boats. As we gather in worship at the mouth of historic Marblehead harbor, we'll name and bless our boats (racing yachts, whalers, kayaks, dinghies, lobsterboats, etc!) Please pass this along so your friends, boat mates and sailing buddies will know they can join us. If you can't be there and want to include the name of your boat (or a friends' boat) please email them to Rev. Lindsay (lindsay@onchurch.org)

Our church has been proudly Open and Affirming to LGBTQ+ people since 2008. On this Sunday in Pride Month, we will re-commit ourselves to the work of sharing God's love with all people, and seeing God's image in all people. 

First Summer Intergenerational Dinner at the Goldthwait Reservation

Join us Wednesday July 8th, 5-6:30 for a picnic dinner. These beloved dinners are an opportunity for people of all ages to gather in a gorgeous setting. Feel free to bring a dish or just show up! Please RSVP to Rev. Christine (revchristinehribar@gmail.com). 

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

The Merrigan family invites you to an open house 
Celebration of Life for Don Merrigan on

Sunday, June 28

12:30-3:30 pm

Marblehead VFW Hall

321 West Shore Drive

A light luncheon will be served.

Please RSVP to 617-974-0244 or to merrigan.carol@gmail.com if you can join us.

MUSIC MINISTRY

OnWeGo is a collaboration between David Thorne Scott (voice/bass), Mark Shilansky (piano/voice), Sara Caswell (violin), and Eric Byers (guitar/voice) embracing jazz, popular, and world music, with an emphasis on vocal harmony and collective improvisation. Original songs are heard side by side with carefully chosen covers, in arrangements that feature the group members’ virtuoso playing and telepathic interplay.

Youtube videos:

https://www.youtube.com/@OnWeGoBand

Mark Shilansky

"Inventive, modern mainstream jazz pianist” (Jon Garelick, Boston Globe) Mark Shilansky provides melodic improvisation and infectious compositions on his own and to a host of jazz luminaries, as well as to the classroom, as a professor at Berklee College of Music and the University of New Hampshire. Shilansky’s recordings as a leader include 2007’s “Join the Club,” a mostly Latin Jazz affair featuring David Bowie saxist Donny McCaslin, and 2013’s “Fugue Mill,” the eponymous debut of his Jazz/Bluegrass/Celtic project, and “Greensky” (2023) an original modern jazz recording co-led with vibraphonist Rich Greenblatt, and he is featured on over 60 recordings as a keyboardist, vocalist, composer/arranger, or producer, and in performance as band member with such artists as the New York Voices, Luciana Souza, and Sean Jones. As an artist he embraces the history of the styles in which he works, while seeking connections between them as a way of expressing a personal musical vision, characterized by lush harmonies, the exploration of the line between composition and improvisation, and an ever-present sense of humor. His works have been recorded by Robin McKelle, Kim Nazarian, and by Jazz All-State and College ensembles around the world.  

David Thorne Scott is a singer and songwriter who “explores the intersection of Jazz and Americana, city and country, instrumentation and lyrics to create lush compositions and covers that are unifying, and healing, in their beauty.” (Eponymous Review) David has long been known for bringing a modern edge to the classics of the Great American Songbook. His album "Shade" was named a "Top 5 CD of the Year" by the Jazz Education Journal. Cadence Magazine said "he phrases like a saxophone player and is as slippery and hip as the young Mel Tormé." Herb Wong, one of the west coast's leading jazz experts, wrote “I haven’t been this moved by a performance of ‘For All We Know’ since Carmen McRae.” David's recent release is called "Thornewood", an album that explores the sweet spot between Jazz and Americana: Cole Porter and Harold Arlen placed next to John Denver and Townes Van Zandt. Special guests on the album include Paula Cole, Peter Eldridge, Jason Palmer, and Walter Smith III. David is a Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music.

Grammy® Nominee Sara Caswell “is a brilliant world-class violinist...one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars” according to the late David Baker, internationally-renowned jazz educator and Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Rooted in an early exposure to a variety of musical genres, Sara’s technical facility intertwined with her gift for lyricism continue to attract growing attention to her artistry as a jazz soloist, sideman, and teacher. Voted into the DownBeat Magazine Critics and Readers Polls every year since 2013, Sara has released three highly-acclaimed albums under her own name – The Way to You (2023), But Beautiful(2005), and First Song (2000). She has been part of groups led by esperanza spalding (Chamber Music Society), Linda Oh (Aventurine), and has performed and/or recorded with artists and ensembles including Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, John Patitucci, Donny McCaslin, Henry Threadgill, Dave Stryker, Helen Sung, Miho Hazama, Christian Sands, Regina Carter, Kishi Bashi, and Bruce Springsteen. She is a member of Joseph Brent's 9 Horses trio, Chuck Owen's The Jazz Surge, and the Caswell Sisters Quintet (a group she co-leads with her sister, vocalist Rachel Caswell). In 2013, Sara and Rachel joined forces with Grammy®-nominated jazz pianist Fred Hersch and recorded the album Alive in the Singing Air to rave reviews and its selection by jazz critic Thomas Cunniffe as one of the year's “Best Vocal CDs” on Jazz History Online. Sara has performed at Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, SFJazz, Blue Note (NYC and Tokyo), and at jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, and Montreux. Sara is Currently on faculty at the Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, The New School, and New York University. Sara’s artistry and unique sound led international recording artist/violinist Mark O’Connor to write: “Most good violinists will never experience what Sara creates with her instrument. It is beautifully refined emotion that lifts the spirit…Jazz violin needs a universal ambassador...a player who can pick up where the last generation left off. Sara  is well on her way to extending that tradition to touch new audiences.” 

Eric Byers’ extraordinary proficiency and versatility as a guitarist and composer/arranger have been heard on recordings and in concert halls (including at Berklee College of Music where he serves as a professor of Harmony and Jazz Composition) and clubs around the world, with artists like Dave and Maureen Budway, George Russell, Jr, The Fifth Dimension, Lydia Harrell, No Static (New England’s Premier Steely Dan tribute band), Adrian Sicam, and Andrea Capozzoli. 

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

Open House about the Marblehead Comprehensive Master Plan June 13, 11am-1pm

Imagine Marblehead 10 years from now. What do you see? 


Rev. Lindsay is serving as the clergy representative on the Marblehead Community Master Plan Advisory Group, which is working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Committee to help create recommendations for Marblehead in the coming decades (according to MAPC, “a master plan is a strategic framework that guides the future physical and economic development of a town or city based on the community's vision and goals.”) Church member Dave Weber is also on the Advisory Group. Come to this open house at Abbott Library to learn more about the Comprehensive Master Plan and to share your input!

Life & Living Course Continues

We are meeting on June 28, to discuss “Friendships” – it is our last session prior to a summer break and we will start up again this coming Fall. There is a timeless Swedish proverb: “Shared joy is double joy. Shared sorrow is half sorrow”. I believe this captures the power of human connection. Close friends enhance our lives.


As always we gather in person in the Great Room of Old North Church’s Stacey Street Office, from 11:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., or on-line via the Zoom link below.

 

Topic: Life and Living

Time: This is a recurring meeting 
Join Zoom Meeting by clicking HERE


Meeting ID: 894 6648 8441

Passcode: 979357 

ONGOING EVENTS

A Look Back at New Member Sunday 
(June 7, 2026)

Photo Credit: Herb Motley

The Narthex Display for Spring/Summer

America's 250th!

"First Church Members in the Revolution”

In honor of America’s birthday, the narthex display through the summer features historical members of the congregation who were heroes in the cause for Independence as well as modern ones who portray them.

A monastic practice of scripture, reflection and prayer dating back to the 4th century, at Old North lectio divina has been adapted and practiced for more than ten years every Tuesday morning from 9 to about 10:30 am. We all take turns being the leader to select the readings.

We have welcomed newcomers, some not from Old North, who seem to find soul food in the practice and the shared reflections that are part of it. 


We meet at 9 am both in person in the “Great Room” on Stacey St. and on Zoom.


We begin each meeting with a context-setting call to worship. Then we pair a scripture reading with a poem, chosen by the leader for the day and read aloud. We then move into 21 minutes of silent meditation, marked by chimes, and finally we share in “safe space” our responses – personal and intellectual. We end each session with prayers for healing and the Lord’s Prayer.



It is a rich time of being together in community and quite like no other. We invite you to give it a try.

Rev. Lindsay is available to meet with you for pastoral care, to discuss church matters, or simply to get to know you. You can schedule time with her at https://calendly.com/lindsaypopper


You may reach Rev. Lindsay at her email address, lindsay@onchurch.org or at 781-631-1244 x102

You can access Rev. Christine’s calendar online as well to schedule time with her:  https://calendly.com/christine-hribar


 She can be found in her office location in the Stacey Street office known as the “Beals Room” (across from the Great Room). Rev. Christine may also be reached at her email address, revchristinehribar@gmail.com or at 781-631-1244 x105