The E-Bulletin Continuously Updated News from First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington, MA

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The E-Bulletin Continuously Updated News From First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington, MA

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Big Snow!

When snow comes, you may wonder if First Parish is open. In case of a storm on a Sunday, a notice is posted on the website by 7:30 am if worship and/or religious education classes are cancelled. An all- Martin Luther King Sunday First-Parish email is also sent out.

"Critical Hope" The decision to close on a Sunday is made by the Minister, Chair The Rev. Dr. William J. Gardiner and Vice Chair of the Parish Committee. Others who may be involved in the decision included the Chair of the Property Sunda, January 20 Committee,… 10 am Read More

Memoir Writing Group: "Writing Your Life -- One Story at a Time"

Lead by Rev. Jeanne Nieuwejaar Sabbatical Minister Beginning Sunday, February 3rd 12noon -2pm Hedge Room every other Sunday Pre-registration required

A new group for folks interested in Upcoming Racial Justice Coordinating Committee memoir writing will begin on Sunday, (RJCC) theatre & family programming! February 3, meeting 12noon- 2pm in the Hedge Room.The group will meet every other Sunday, led by Rev. Sunday, January 20 from 10:30 -11:30am Jeanne Nieuwejaar, Sabbatical Minister. It is hoped that… RJCC will host One Room Sunday School (Bailey Room) during the Service. More information Read More coming...

MLK Day Meet MA Rep Dave Rogers about Clean Energy and Climate Benkadi Drum and Dance: African Freedom Justice Policy Monday, January 21 from 10:30 - 11:30am Smith Hall - JFK… Tuesday January 22, 7-9pm with Rep. Dave Rogers (24rd Middlesex district) Read More A meeting with Rep. Sean Garballey (23rd Arlington Martin Luther King Commemoration Jan. 21 Middlesex district) that was scheduled for this Sunday had to be cancelled due to a family MLK Arlington Town Celebration - Monday, emergency. That meeting will be rescheduled Jan. 21 (Town Hall) soon. Town Choir! Under the direction of Paul White (jazz musician and music director at The Climate Action Working Group (CAWG) at People's Baptist Church in Boston) in singing First Parish is sponsoring a pair of meetings with choral arrangements of two spirituals and the members of the… leading a general gospel sing at… Read More Read More

Social Justice Dinner

“The Ties that Bind” – The UU Urban Ministry and Opera Saturday, Jan. 26 at 6pm unMet’s musical celebration of MLK Day Have you wondered about social justice January 20 at 3 pm activities at First Parish? Would you like to UU Urban Ministry’s Meetinghouse learn more about what various committees First Church in Roxbury are doing about racial justice, climate 10 Putnam Street justice, mass incarceration and more? Please come to our annual dinner to learn about these committees and Celebrate the work and legacy of Martin to socialize with others. The Social Justice Committee is providing a Luther King at “The Ties that Bind,” Opera vegetarian dinner and we encourage everyone to attend this… unMet’s family-friendly and critically acclaimed… Read More

ParCom's letter regarding Arlington's new Police Chief Arlington's Police Chief, Fred Ryan, announced in December that he was retiring. At its January 8 meeting, the Parish Committee voted to send a letter to Arlington's Town Manager, Adam Chapdelaine, expressing our appreciation for Chief Ryan's work and our hope that… Read More

A Revolution of Being: Opening your Mind and Heart to Who You Really Are

Next Meeting - January 22 Then Every Other Tuesday Religious Education Announcements 7pm - 9pm Please support the scholarship fund for our service trip to West Homer Room Virginia in upcoming weeks! Think about eating out at Not Your Average Joes on any Sunday in January. Bring a flier (or ask your Please come and join others in exploring waitron for one) and a portion of your tab will go to our fund the foundational guidance of the raising event. Or come to our Trivia Game Event on Saturday respected and well-known American January 23rd from 1-3 pm. Check out the Youth Group page of spiritual teacher, Adyashanti. With a Zen our weekly news or e-bulletin to learn more. Buddhist background, his own… Classroom Management… Read More Read More Show Tunes Community Sing

Friday, January 25, 7pm (Parlor)

Come join us for familiar songs from Chicago, Godspell, Into the Woods, My Fair Lady, Oliver! and more. Lyrics and piano accompaniment will be provided; please bring a food item to share. Youth Group Announcements Read More As a reminder, no youth group this week because of MLK weekend! If you're planning to go on the service trip, scholarship applications are Youth group trivia night! due Tuesday, January 22, and registration is due Sunday, January 27th by 7pm. If you have any questions about either, please reach out to Saturday, January 26, from 1-3pm. Aisha, Tina, or Gabriella! And don't forever to go to NYAJ on Sunday!

Come test your knowledge of random facts! Enter with a team or come Aisha Ansano, Youth Program Coordinator, [email protected] hoping to find one. We'll be serving snacks, drinks, and trivia designed to stump! Can your team win the bragging rights? Read More

Play Reading Group (STAR Program)

January 29, February 26 and April 30 from 7-9pm (Grady room) Get in touch with your inner actor! This winter join us for a rollicking and enlightening evening of play reading!

We will meet the last Tuesday of the month on January 29, February 26 and April 30 from 7-9pm in the Grady room to…

Blood Drive

Saturday, February 2 Lectio Divina 8 am - 2 pm Tuesdays at 7 am to 8 am in the Parlor Please give! There is an unusually critical and Thursdays at 8 am to 9 am in the Parlor need for blood due to the recent adverse weather across the nation. Many drives Lectio Divina is a method of reading and had to be canceled, and many donors listening, lingering with, and sharing personal have been unable get in to open drives to responses to selected biblical texts. Diverse offer the more than 13,000 units needed responses to the text provide new insights and every day. Please bring a friend who… help us grow in… Read More Read More

Separated and Divorced Group

Sunday February 3, 6:30pm-8:30pm in the Hedge Room Are you recently (however you define the word) separated or divorced? Lay minister Loren Gomez is leading a two hour gathering to give you a chance to share your stories, to listen to those of others, and to learn from and support each other as…

About Our Minister's Sabbatical

Contact (by email) either Rev. Jeanne Nieuwejaar or Rev. Olav Nieuwejaar Giving First Recipient for January - The Black Lives of UU Rev. Marta Flanagan is on Sabbatical until April 16, Organizing Collective (BLUU) 2019. Sabbatical leaves are customary and part of a long tradition for Unitarian Universalist clergy. Formed in the wake of conversations among Black UUs at the July 2015 Our minister's sabbatical will offer extended time Movement for Black Lives Convening in for… Cleveland, OH, the Black Lives of UU Organizing Collective (BLUU) is Read More committed to three goals:

1)…

ArCS Cluster Expands Services

formerly Refugee Concerns Working Group

The ArCS Cluster now supports 18 local asylum seekers through our outreach programs! In addition to our hosting program, we have expanded our services to offer a Passages program focused on providing short-term Help the youth group by eating tasty food! support to… Read More Every Sunday in January, you can help the youth group fundraise for our upcoming service trip to West Virginia by eating at Not Your Arlington Food Pantry Aerage Joe's and letting them know you want to support the Arlington First Parish youth Every day, thousands of people in group. You can present this flyer, or simply tell Massachusetts suffer from hunger them! 15%… because they cannot afford adequate food. The Commonwealth has one of Read More the widest income gaps of any state in the country, and those on the low- income side of this gap are experiencing food insecurity at…

Read More Conversation circles during coffee hour - January 27

Would you like a smaller and quieter alternative to coffee hour?

Come talk in a small-group Conversation Circle after the Sunday service on January 27 and after each Sunday service in February.

11:45am - 12:30pm (Damon Room)

Everyone is welcome -- just show up!

These…

Stitch & Sew Women's Book Group - February 7 Thursdays, 10:30 am in Pierce The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin Join us for a weekly gathering of people to knit, Thursday, February 7 at 7:15pm (Damon) sew, talk, eat lunch and prepare items for the November Harvest Fair. We need ideas for knit, A national bestseller when it first appeared sew or other crafty things to make for the fair. in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the Everyone invited to come or let us know if you nation and gave passionate voice to the can prepare… emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's… Read More

Read More First Parish Men's Group

Listen to Past Sermons The First Parish Men's group provides a forum in which we help each other with spiritual, emotional, and personal questions and concerns. The web site has been updated and sermons from Discussion themes often interweave questions of this fall are now available for listening. security, identity, authenticity, and purpose. We Go to firstparish.info/index.php/worship-music/sermons provide a place where men can share… to click on a date and listen to a sermon. Read More Read More

Come ring our bells! The Handbell Choir welcomes all! Prayer Shawl Ministry

Thursdays, 7-8 pm in the Sanctuary Do you like to knit or crochet? Would you like Come ring chimes with us! The handbell to provide support to members of the choir rehearses in the Sanctuary on congregation? Participants in the First Parish Thursdays at 7 pm for just under an Prayer Shawl Ministry knit or crochet prayer hour before choir starts at 8 pm. You shawls for Marta or the Lay Ministers to give to are welcome to join us! We have plenty people who could use a “hug with blessings.” of chimes (3 octaves) but we could use If… a… Read More Read More

Moving forward with second minister search First Parish Music Programs Click here for more information on First Parish music programs for youth The congregation voted overwhelmingly in favor and adults. of moving forward with a search for a second minister, with 138 yes votes, 4 no votes, and 5 Concerts by First Parish Musicians abstentions. The Musical Connections page on the First Parish website provides The next step is to form a Second Minister information on concerts and events with First Parish musicians Search Committee, which will occur this spring, and to conduct an all- participating.… congregation… Read More Read More

Diversity/Inclusion Group Committee on Ministry: We're Ready to Listen All interested First Parish folks are invited to meetings of the As our congregation continues to Diversity/Inclusion Group (D/IG). Our mission: to work together to make grow, the idea of a shared ministry First Parish as welcome and inclusive as we can be and to assist becomes more and more important. outside efforts with a similar goal. We define diversity to… We, the members of the Committee on Ministry (COM), hope to facilitate Read More this by keeping the minister advised of concerns and successes within the congregation, as well as by… The Spire Read More January 2019!

The First Parish Meditation Groups Welcome You View or download current and past issues of The Spire. Looking for support for your meditation practice? Beginners and experienced Read More meditators welcome.

We hold drop-in meditations on Monday evenings, we meet in the Damon room, the door is open at 6 pm and the meditation starts at 6:15 pm and ends at 6:50 pm. For more info, Read More

Notes to Accompany Singing Toward Justice: A Songbook for First Parish May 15, 2018

In 2017, First Parish’s Music Committee and Racial Justice Coordinating Committee, each independently came up with the thought of creating a new songbook for First Parish that would expand the range of our congregational singing. The two…

Eleven lives... were taken in Pittsburgh by a man intent on killing Jewish people. In the face of any act of anti-Semitism, we stand with our Jewish neighbors. We stand against stereotyping, demonization, and acts of violence. We stand for compassion, understanding, and love.

Participate in Music at First Parish

The Music Committee and Music Director welcomes anyone interested in participating in music this year. There are a multitude of opportunities including the Adult Choir, Children’s Choir, Bell Choir, as well as instrumental groups such as the C-Winds and other ad hoc groups. For…

► Follow this link to use our online flowers signup form

The flowers that grace our Sanctuary on Sunday mornings are donated by parishioners, often with a special dedication that is printed in the order of service. The Flower Coordinator can assist in ordering an arrangement from…

Get Connected/Stay Connected with First Parish

We invite newcomers to First Parish to fill out a Connection Card to receive our weekly email bulletin, give us your contact information, and (if you wish) indicate your interest in various aspects of life in our community. You can find the Connection Cards every…

Send recommendations to [email protected]

Want more book recommendations? Click here for a list of books previously featured in this section.

“If Beale Street Could Talk” – a powerful film

Loving while black . . . Directed by Barry Jenkins (the director of “Moonlight”) and based on a 1974 novel by James Baldwin, “If Beale Street Could Talk” is a love story and much more. Living in early 1970s Harlem, a young woman tells us about her beloved, their friendship…

“Diary of a Confused Immigrant” – January 27

Juliet Najjumba, an immigrant from Uganda, will share humorous stories, conversations, experiences, and questions related to their work to become an accepted citizen of the world. The presenter will narrate as well as act out various situations, with the help of some children…

Multi-faith Prayer Vigil for Immigrants at the Suffolk County House of Corrections – January 27

All are invited to join a prayer vigil outside the Suffolk County House of Corrections, where immigrants are being held as they wait for court dates related to immigration.

These monthly prayer vigils are conducted by… Read More

NAACP annual wine tasting & fundraiser – February 9

The Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP invites everyone to attend its annual wine tasting and fundraiser on Saturday, February 9, 3-7 p.m. at the Winchester Unitarian Society, located at 478 Main Street near Winchester Center.

This festive gathering will include…

“The Ties that Bind” – The UU Urban Ministry and Opera unMet’s musical celebration of MLK Day January 20, 3 pm

Celebrate the work and legacy of Martin Luther King at “The Ties that Bind,” Opera unMet’s family-friendly and critically acclaimed annual concert at the UU Urban Ministry’s Meetinghouse in Roxbury.

Through…

Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism – a conversation on January 27

As we ask ourselves many important questions going into the new year, the Winchester Unitarian Society invites us to reflect on the question Robin DiAngelo posed in her book, White Fragility – Why is it so hard for white people to talk…

Bayard Rustin – a gay man and obscured civil rights hero – speaks in a newly discovered recording

Bayard Rustin was one of the most effective organizers during the civil rights era, including of the 1963 March on Washington, but he was often kept behind the scenes and out of sight because he was a gay man. In a newly…

Native Americans especially impacted by the federal government shut-down

Generations ago Native American tribes signed treaties with the U.S. federal government in which they traded large swaths of their traditional lands for much smaller reservations – places where they could not survive without the treaties’ guarantees…

What the shutdown looks like in federal prisons

The federal Bureau of Prisons is operating without funding and has furloughed half of its staff. The remaining staff are working unpaid. And people incarcerated in federal prisons are completely dependent on the federal government for day-to-day survival.

Most…

The First Step Act – both a big step and a small step towards justice

The First Step Act, which Congress passed and President Trump signed shortly before Christmas, applies only to federal prisoners, who are almost a tenth of all prisoners in the U.S. While the large majority of prisoners are incarcerated under state…

Book Recommendation: Brown Girl Dreaming

I am born on a Tuesday at University Hospital

Columbus, Ohio

USA—

a country caught

between Black and White I am born not long from the time

or far from the place

where

my great-great-grandparents worked the deep rich land unfree dawn until dusk unpaid drank cool…

Overcoming Unconscious Bias – a training for adults and youth

Sunday, January 20, 2-4 pm Cary Memorial Library in Lexington

All of us harbor unconscious biases, even those of us with the best of intentions. The good news is that training can help us recognize our biases, challenge them, and replace them with inclusive…

Raising White Kids – a workshop on building skills for raising anti-racist children

Thursday, January 24, 7-9 pm Temple Isaiah in Lexington

This practical workshop is based on Jennifer Harvey’s book, Raising White Kids: Bringing up Children in a Racially Unjust America, which offers both general guidance and specific…

Local theater opportunities this winter

Miss You Like Hell January 11-27, A.R.T. - Oberon

A daughter who gets to stay. A mother who may have to go. The border wall that may come between them. Join this passionate, wild, and unforgettable female duo and the unexpected cadre of American originals they meet en route… Read More

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