Friday, December 24, 2021 - virtual and in person events!

Rev. Hillary Collins-Gilpatrick, Minister

Sam Chandler, Music Director

Gwen Matthews, Director of Education & Communications

Sarah Witte, President of the Board

Sunday, December 26, 2021, 6:00 am - delivered virtually via email

Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, UUA President

From Rev. Hillary, Sam, Gwen, Mack, Andrea, and Todd

Rev. Hillary wishes all First U members and Friends a Happy New Year. She will be on break from Monday, December 27th through Monday, January 3rd and will not be checking her email regularly. If you have a pastoral emergency that requires immediate attention you can reach her at 207 740 3753 during this time. 

Come All Ye Faithful, Quasi-Faithful, and Questioning - Come to one of the First Universalist Church of Yarmouth's many holiday celebrations.

There are virtual and in person offerings, quieter times and more spirited. We hope that however you choose to celebrate these last weeks in December, you'll find a way that's meaningful to you.

Linked above are more details on each event. Links to participate virtually will be provided on our website and in future emails. Merry Festivities!

Small Groups are regularly occurring monthly or bi-monthly meetings of a small number of committed folks from our church who gather to check-in with one another, explore spiritual practices, and ponder theologically enriching questions. Our First U Small Groups are very meaningful to many people in our community and currently we have several openings in our current small groups for new members, as well as opportunities to create new groups.

Please email Rev. Hillary (Firstuminster@gmail.com) if you are interested in joining a group or learning more about Small Groups at First U. All are welcome to join!

Given the busy holiday season, we postponed the book group on pre-orthodox, early Christianity. We have also changed the book to be read. So, to continue the discussion of a non-orthodox look at the life and teachings of Jesus, please join an on-line, four-session reading of Karen King’s The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle. We will meet once a week from about January 14 to February 6 for an hour and a half on a day and time to be negotiated. Please email Andrew at andrewftonks@yahoo.com with your interest.

THE THUNDER: PERFECT MIND AND THE GOSPEL OF MARK

We will meet in person after church on Sunday January 9, from 12-1:30, to critically examine and creatively respond to excerpts from the earliest canonical gospel, Mark, and an extracanonical Coptic poem, The Thunder: Perfect Mind. Both texts feature powerful speakers who claim intimate access to the divine and speak to the complexities of life under the Greco-Roman empire in the ancient Mediterranean and North Africa. The excerpts we study will help us defamiliarize canonical Mark and open up questions about how both we and ancient people use story, poetry, and collective experience/gathering/experiences in community to question, confront, and negotiate with the powers that be.

Join in for a virtual Children's Chapel (for children in kindergarten through fourth grade) on Sunday, January 2nd from 9:30 - 10:00 am.

Please fill out this online registration form for all children and youth who will be participating in programs at First Universalist. Thank you!

Passing LD 1626 is about fairness and equity, values our congregation affirms and promotes in accordance with our first and second UU principles. For the last 40 years, even though tribes in Maine never ceded all rights guaranteed to them as federally recognized tribes, the state government and courts have used language in the 1980 settlement to treat the tribes as little more than municipalities and as less than the other 570 federally recognized tribes. Tribes in Maine have been unable to benefit from more than 150 federal laws passed since 1980, missing out on opportunities for economic development, increased access to health care, response to natural disasters, expanded environmental protections, action under the Violence Against Women Act against the epidemic of violence against native women, and so much more. LD 1626 would take tremendous steps to ensure that the Wabanaki tribes are generally treated like all other federally recognized tribes.

Maine UUs are organizing to support LD 1626. Find out how at www.muusan.org/stand-with-wabanaki. Go to MUUSAN.org to register for the January 8th MUUSAN Network meeting that will focus on tribal sovereignty and featuring Rep. Rena Newell (Passamaquoddy representative) as guest speaker. Read more.

Maine Unitarian Universalist State Advocacy Network is having their next network meeting on Saturday, January 8th from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm via Zoom. There will be a special focus on the Maine Tribal Sovereignty bill (LD 1626) with guest speaker Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative Rena Newell. Sign up to attend.

The Task Force is using a new testing system called Carestart, which requires a paper registration form. Please fill in the paperwork beforehand to speed up the process. You can find the link to download the form at bewellyarmouth.org.

Rev. Hillary: On Wednesdays from 12:00 - 1:00 pm Rev. Hillary will be holding an outside drop-in space at our church picnic tables. All are welcome to come by and check-in. (Weather permitting.) Throughout the week, Rev. Hillary will be holding office hours for individual conversations. These conversations can be on Zoom, over the phone, or in-person. Please reach out to Rev. Hillary directly to schedule a conversation, firstuminister@gmail.com. Note that Rev. Hillary is not available to meet on Saturdays and Mondays. See you soon!

Gwen: Once covid-19 numbers have moved down out of the "very high risk" zone, Gwen will be holding in person office hours from 1 - 3 pm on Wednesdays.