We aspire to be a Beacon of…..

 … Liberal Religion

Remembering our Beloved Dead

Every year during our celebration of the Universalist holy day All Souls, we remember the good news that our family and friends who have died are still connected to us in the Love which holds us all, and we read aloud the names of loved ones who have died since last All Souls Sunday. If you have lost family or friends this year and would like to have them remembered, please send their names to the church.

Minister's Community Office Hours

Join the minister for conversation at the Lucky Finn on Thursday October 31, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Bring your ideas, your thoughts, your questions. Have friends who might be interested in learning more about Unitarian Universalism and First Parish - bring them along!

Do You Love a Victorian Christmas?

Then help to plan our worship in December! As part of our focus on our Unitarian Universalist tradition in Religious Education our worship for the Advent and Christmas seasons will look at A Christmas Carol, by the English Unitarian Charles Dickens.  As the chimes marked the turning of Ebeneezer Scrooge from resentment, fear, and isolation to renewed life, joy, passion, generosity, humility and love, so can these seasons be a time of renewal for us. 

Please join the Religious Services Committee on Monday October 21 at 7 p.m. at the church as we brainstorm what this series might look like, feel like, sound like, maybe even smell like in our sanctuary!  Please speak with the minister or chair of the Religious Services Committee, if you have thoughts or ideas.

From the Religious Education Director

On Sunday, October 13 ^th , we will have a “Blessing of the Animals” service; during this fun time we get to meet each other’s pets. We will also hear stories of beloved animals we have known but are no longer physically with us. Animals touch us in a profound way which we will recognize and honor during our worship service Sunday.

I had a friend, during my childhood, who was a dog trainer and later went on to train German Shepherds for the Massachusetts State Police. He told me the first thing he learned about dogs is that they like discipline. The second thing he learned is that they love to play. Personally, I like the relationship we have with animals in which they share their fun with us. Their ability to play reminds us that we need time to play ourselves.

Pets and animals in general help to comfort us in times of stress and tragedy. Our pets show us unconditional love whether we are happy or sad but especially when life events bring us down. Pets just seem to know how to show comfort and a sense of caring for our deepest hurts.

We will have songs about animals, a blessing for the animals and I will give a short reflection on the “soul” of an animal. The word animalis literally, in Latin, means to have a soul; to ancient scholars the anima or soul was the spirit or life found in an animal or a human. I will talk about how our mutual traits we share with our pets helps to connect ours souls to one another. See you in church with friends, family and pets.

Peace

Community Book Discussion on Diversity

Our next "read" will be There, There by Tommy Orange. Published in 2018, it follows a large cast of Native Americans living in the area of Oakland, CA, as their paths take them to a community pow wow . There, There was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Literature. The New York Times headlined their review of the book: "Yes, Tommy Orange's New Novel Really Is That Good" ( https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/books/review/tommy-orange-there-there.html ). John Scopelleti, Chair of the English Department at Scituate High School, will lead the discussion of the book on Wednesday October 23, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Scituate Town Library. There are many copies of the novel in the OCLN system.

The book explores the themes of Native peoples living in urban spaces, and issues of ambivalence and complexity related to Natives' struggles with identity and authenticity. There There was favorably received, and was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize. ^[2] The book was also awarded a Gold Medal for First Fiction by the California Book Awards .

... Strong Community

Unity Dinner - Tonight, Wednesday October 9, at 6:30 pm

Make sure to mark your calendars for tonight, Wednesday, 10/9/19 for the first gathering of the Unity Alliance for the new year! 

 

All women of the church, friends and friends of friends, are invited to our dinners! We enjoy food and fellowship in a relaxed atmosphere in the Old Sloop Room four times during the church year. 

 

Socializing begins at 6:30 pm and a delicious meal is served at 7:00 pm in the Old Sloop Room at the church. The hostesses provide the food, and the rest of us pay a $5 fee at the door. We all provide the fellowship!!

 

All proceeds help us make our many gifts both within and outside our congregation.

 

Please join us! Let any of the hostesses know you will be joining us!

 

Hope to see you Wednesday night!

Good Food! Good Company! Celebrate !

What more could you want for an evening! On Saturday October 19, 5:30-7 p.m., children, youth, and adults are invited to a potluck supper at First Parish to thank our Director of Religious Education for the past 14 months and to say good-by to him and his wife as they leave us to minister at the United Parish of Carver. Please bring a main dish, salad, dessert, bread or beverage to share. 

Save the Date - The Snowflake Fair is on Saturday December 7, 2019

  The Snowflake Fair is our biggest fund-raiser of the church year. It’s an event that unites us in fellowship and fun! Last year we raised an unprecedented amount and hope to build upon that success in support of the works of our congregation. This year’s fair is scheduled for Saturday, December 7, from 9 am. to 2 pm.

 

There are many ways to participate: cooking food for the baked good table or luncheon, crafting items to sell, selling raffle tickets or by helping to make wreaths and beaded snowflake or lending a hand as a fair worker.

Whether you’re new to the church or an old hand, we’d like you to help out and share all your wonderful talents and ideas with Team Snowflake. Watch for the link to a sign-up genius in the What's Happening.

 

-Team Snowflake

Pizza Potluck and Game Night - Friday October 25, 6:00 to 9:00

Come enjoy a night of pizza, potluck and games. Bring a game or two that you enjoy or a deck of cards. We’ll order pizzas (pass the hat), or you can bring whatever you want to eat. Please bring non-alcoholic drinks.

First Parish Needs Your Help!

Thank you to all who responded to last week's requests for help. Here's how you can serve our church and strengthen our community this week. 

We need:

Coffee Hour

We would like to reorganize the hosting of coffee hour in a way that everyone, working in teams, is involved. The advantage: the responsibilities are shared by many rather than one or two people. We will assign the groups and ask them to host on a given Sunday. The phone numbers and emails for team members will be provided. Each group will consist of four to six people. Rather than having one person who makes the coffee, we will all learn! Anyone who is unable to be on a team, please let us know. This will start in November and schedules will be sent out soon.

The team will set the table, provide snacks, make the coffee, clean the dishes, and empty the trash. The team will also be expected to bring the half and half and the juice.

We would also like to encourage simplicity of food that you offer for coffee hour. Fewer plates means easier cleanup and less waste. KIS (Keep it Simple)

We have a "food safe" kitchen per the Scituate Board of Health.

Suggestions for this new approach are welcome!

-Coffee Hour Coordinator

Save the Date for Peter Krasinski and

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Saturday November 2, 2019 at 7:30 pm

Here is a link to the flyer, please print it out and post it in stores and businesses which accept community notices, and anywhere else people might be interested. Hunchback Flyer

Transformative Service

Scituate Food Pantry -Volunteers Needed for October

The month of October is our church's time to support the Scituate Food Pantry. We are called upon to provide one person on Tuesdays 9:30-12:30 and/or Thursdays 3:00-6:00 pm each week of October. The work is mainly dating donated goods and filling orders for clients. There is some lifting and bending required. On the month that we provide volunteers to the food pantry, we are requested to either have a fund raiser or a food drive.

The Scituate Food Pantry also provides an opportunity for High School students to do  Community Service. High school students will be "working" at the Pantry on Wednesday afternoons from  3:00 pm - 5:00 pm. The students will be dating the donated products and helping with other related jobs.

Church volunteers have been bringing donations to the Pantry on Tuesday mornings. Going forward, the Pantry would like the donations to be brought to the Pantry on Wednesday by 3:00 pm so that the sorting and dating can be done by the students.

 

The Food Pantry requests the following for the holidays:

Holiday Foods Needed

 Stuffing mix

Mashed potatoes box

Turkey gravy

Cranberry sauce

Yams can

Corn can

Fruit cocktail

Jello

Quick breads or muffin mix

Brownie or cake mix

Our plan this month is to collect and build a wall of food across the chancel in the sanctuary. Please contact me at church or at 781-378-1562, if you have any questions. 

Thank you!

Bottle and Can Fund Raiser

The opportunity came up for First Parish to partner with St. Luke’s church, next month, for what we affectionately know of as “Dump Duty.” We have signed on for November 1 ^st through November17th.

For those who are new to this fun activity, it means sorting the redeemable bottles and cans at the transfer station and turning them in at the redemption center in Cohasset. Shifts are usually 3 hrs, but we can vary those to fit a sorter’s schedule. We make sure that an experienced sorter will be with newcomers, to show them the ropes. 

The Men’s Ministry is taking the lead on this, however we will be asking for help from all of the willing folks from our church.

There will be more discussion and reminders about this in the upcoming weeks. In addition, First Parish is signed up for the month of March 2020. 

-Bottles & Cans Coordinator

Our Mission

Liberal Faith: We commit to participate side-by-side across generations  in worship, religious education, social activities, environmental protection,

and social justice work—learning, sharing, and growing together. 

Strong Community : We commit to care for one another, nurture the light that shines within each of us, and support each other’s individual search for truth and meaning.

 

Transformative Service: We commit to pursue diversity, justice, equality, reason, and discourse;

provide inspiration through music, creativity, and the arts;

and work cooperatively to affect positive change in our community and beyond.