This morning's service will highlight the work of our Escalating Inequality Task Force and serve as preparation for the presentation here on October 14 by Chuck Collins, author of 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It. As you may know, income inequality is an issue with which the Unitarian Universalist Association is currently grappling. Harold's sermon will be both a personal and a biblical reflection on the topic.

 

Sunday, October 18 at 10:30 a.m.

"The Beginnings of Unitarianism in America"

This morning's sermon, at the request of our History Committee, will explore the origins of Unitarianism in America and here at the First Religious Society. American Unitarianism was a liberalizing movement within Puritan Congregationalism. The sermon will investigate some of the issues involved in the transition from Congregationalism to Unitarianism. The music will reflect the history of the American Unitarian Church in the late 18th and 19th centuries, and will include an anthem sung here at FRS in the 1860s.  Today's ushers, chalice lighters, and coffee hour hosts are members of the History Committee. Even some of the treats at coffee hour will be similar to those eaten by early Unitarians!

Also today, Ken Kretsch will give a Journey of Faith. And e njoy Soup Sunday during Coffee Hour, your choice of several soups and chili, $5 a bowl. --Harold Babcock

Chalice Circles get great response

We have 80 people signed up for our new Chalice Circles program. Circles begin meeting this month. Missed the sign-up? You can add your name to a waiting list in case slots open up during the year. Chalice Circles will re-form next fall.

 

Meetinghouse & steeple preservation project

It's been pretty quiet around the steeple these last couple of weeks. As much work as could be done prior to arrival of the important materials has been done. Sourcing those important materials has taken a while. You can't buy 25' lengths of 12x12 white oak at your local lumberyard! 

 

All of the timbers for the posts, girts and wind braces have been milled for us in Ohio and they will be on a truck this week, with arrival likely next week. Read more... 

 

Add your thanks for Vicki

A book of thanks for our recently retired office administrator, Vicki Dyer (pictured holding the flowers), will be available in the office this week for you to add your own message. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 9am-1pm.

 

Help others through the Parish Friends

The Parish Friends group helps fellow parishioners with home and rehab visits, cards, rides to church and health care appointments, hot meals, and errands for shut-­ins. Over 50 volunteers make up the group. A new volunteer decides which aspect of care they feel most comfortable with. Some of the volunteers are folks who have received help themselves.  If you'd like to join the Parish Friends, please contact Nicole Salemi, X401.

 

Rethinking Leadership Council

The recently formed Leadership Task Force has been charged by the Parish Board to review the functions of the Leadership Council and recommend strategies for enhancing communication, leadership, and collaboration among programs and committees of the church. We have been working with staff from the UUA who are helping us look at different models. Read more...

 

Exhibit your art in the Tiny Gallery

FRS has a small gallery space at the bottom of the meeting house stairs. Over 60 church members and friends have exhibited their art and creations there since 2008. If you can create it, we want to see it--photography, quilts, paintings, collages, sculpture, digital art. To reserve a month in the Tiny Gallery, contact Bettina Turner  or Nicole Salemi.

 

I was born in Kansas City and as a boy a very large Episcopal church was a major part of my life: Sunday school, boys' choir, and later joining my father in the adult choir. I became an acolyte, the Episcopalian term for altar boy. But when I was fourteen my science teacher started making more sense than my Sunday school teacher, and I decided I was an atheist. When I went off to college, I was done with church.  Or so I thought. Read more ...

Common Read: Just Mercy 

Are you up for a powerful, inspiring, and at times depressing read about our prison system?  The UU 2015-2016 Common Read is Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, has dedicated his legal career to defending people over whom the system has run roughshod. Congregations, groups, and individuals are invited to purchase the book or find it in a public library and begin reading. A discussion guide  is available.

Saturday Morning Meditation 

Free instruction and practice in Vipashyana Meditation is offered at FRS by Thoughtful Life Studies,  October 10, 17, 24, and 31, 10-11:30am in the Lower Meeting House. The meditation focus for October is "Inquiry into the Nature of Body, Mind, and Phenomena" with Mary Kay Dyer as facilitator. Each session includes readings, discussion, and 24 minutes of meditation.    

Support gun sense through quilt project

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America brings the "Mother's Dream Quilt Project" to Massachusetts as a stop on its national tour. The most recent addition to the Quilt Project, the "Boston Peace Quilt," includes the blocks created at the FRS Quilting Bee in February.

Monday, October 19 at Boston City Hall Mezzanine (9am-5pm)

Tuesday, October 20 at Boston City Hall Mezzanine (7:30am-3pm)

Thursday, October 22 at UMass Medical Center, Faculty Conference Room (5-7pm)

Monday, October 26 at University Crossing at UMass Lowell (8am-7pm)

 

Unitarian Univeralists meet with world religions

The 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions  will meet October 15-19 in Salt Lake City. The Unitarian Universalist Association will be represented by a number of people, including Rev. Eric Cherry. Eric was a guest minister here at FRS last February. Learn more at the UUA International Blog.